Show f agu I 1 dab 1 c f a afa croon B rea lit in V N 0 16 S alc 4 an 41 A PRO A A an in P az e a 7 C 4 4 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON IN N AUGUST 3 1911 1014 1 the first ocean steamer passer passed through the panama canal newly completed at a cost or of and hailed ns as one of the greatest engineering feats of all ages sixteen years later inter finds the united states engaged in another 0 vast engineering project which is to leneat the big ditch gaj opened in down in he jungles 3 of nicaragua a force of 0 army en engineers i led by maj alaj dan L I 1 sultan U S A of oxford miss is cutting its way through the tropical vegetation of mat region and sun pj ing a route tor for a proposed ocean to ocean canal across nicaragua tinny many americans no couet will wonder it if this additional addition il link between the pacific and the atlantic alantic lantic weans means ill that at there s something wrong with the panama Ia naina canal and that those were spent in vain As a matter of 0 fact it means nothing of the kind idna the industrial expansion ot of the united sames and tile the greatly increased volume of trade with ith the latin american republics time bae brought about such un an increase ot of shipping through li the canal that thai already engineers and economists are beginning to fear that in a few more years it will no longer be able to accommodate tills this vast volume when it was first constructed ted it was believed that it would be sufficient for our needs for at least a century now within one sixth of that blie it Is already operating f at about 75 per cent capacity so preliminary work on the nicaraguan canal Is under way in the hope that it will be available tor for use by the time the panama bennal ennal is running at per cent capacity since this batem latem project will reduce by three days the lie time necessary for a vessel to go from a port on one coast to a port on another it seems likely that the construction of 0 this new canal will so far as it Is possible to predict now solve our shipping problem foi all time to come there is another reason for the construction construct lon of the nicaraguan canal which Is defensive as well as economic it will be a strong link in our national defense in that it will provide a supplementary canal which would be available in case anything should happen to the one through panama in this age of highly scientific warfare an airplane might drop a single bomb which would render the panama canal useless for months and this interruption of sea communication between the atlantic and pacific coast might easily bring disaster ta to the nation having two canals obviously reduces that thai danger one half As alador sultans engineers cut their way through the nicaraguan Mcara guan jungle their expedition is more than a symbol of tile the fact that th united states under an engineer president Is providing for the future needs of the nation elation for the nicaraguan canal looks both forward and backward the expedition is IQ the outward sign that the iwer year quest for a speedy route to the east which inspired columbus to sail away into the unknown still engages the interests and el ef forts of the nation that genoese sailor has been called the father of this project and balboa cortez and other spanish explorers its godfathers god fathers if constantinople had not passed froin chris tian hands into moslem posse possession silon in 1453 closing the land routes to india and the orient the discovery of the american continent night have been postponed tor for centuries sines sine its discovery the search for a shorter route between the two great oceans has been ceaseless scarcely a generation erat lon lias has passed since the fourth voyage ol of columbus when natives ol of the vest est inaus informed fl film lie he was a catrow cat row place between the seas that ir or another tation has not concer neol itself with nith bridging brIdgi nj that narrow place of the early explorer cortez deenis to nave have been the first who reco recognized need the fuel that the narrow place was not the strait they had expected to ind fino uis ills plans to construct a canal by way of tehuantepec cut short by the treachery of his followers were dorried aried on by ills his cousin alvaro de C croc who submitted plans by four fol routes by w I 1 darlen pel or panama canam I 1 0 fery ery rot roi cs which lec chef so much atten tic in the nineteenth century in wt 1 philip lip 11 had find a sursey suney made through in ill of 1 rn n unfavorable report lie he Is said lo 10 lune hue pr lir e cited the problem to the hie friars tim the aars ven mote more perplexed than he king finally quoted the f V 1111 ip iv li him what flat god hath joined together lot no nian tut asunder king philip therefore ab f amock jw decided to abandon all attempts to divorce the two tio continents As early as 1825 we find our own country alive to the importance of an canal this was the beginning of the era of multitudinous projects of road and canal building buil diny within our own borders the following year the republic of central america entered into a contract with aaron tl 11 palmer an american ho unsuccessfully endeavored to organize a company tor for the purpose of constructing BL al isthmian canal the same year england sent john bailey to make surveys and to negotiate for a concession bailey proposed a route gh nicaragua from sao juan now Grey town toNn to lake nicaragua and thence to san juan del sur on the Paci pacific ills negotiations for a concession were unsuccessful in president sent a mission to examine previously proposed routes in nicaragua and panama with ith a view to determining the practicability of the different dil terent projects the results reported were acre unsatisfactory and in january jackson reported to congress that it was not expedient to enter into the necessary negotiations at that tim lim the following year the mayor ot of new york rity ity aaron clark and others memorialized congress recommending that negotiations be opened between new granada now colombia central america and the powers of I europe drope for the purpose of 0 entering into a general agreement tor for tl promotion of a canal to connect the atlantic and the pacific fic president van burens agent recommended the nicaragua agut route ns na the most practicable the republic of new granada in tile the same year 1818 granted a concession to it french company whose report was so attractive that in september 1843 a french officer was sent to investigate Invest gate ile he recommended a canal from limon bay to tile the Chil chagdes chagres gres river below gatun galun to the bay of vaca de monte the estimated cost was so hl high h that the hie project was dro dropped plied and the concession was forfeited the termination of out our vur with mexico adding california to the union and a settlement of the northwestern boundary question by which the united states came cintr possession of oregon together with the dise discovery overy of gold in the new territory emphasized thi commercial necessity tor for a canal the difficulties dangers and exorbitant cost ot of the existing means of transportation aroused the government to action of a treat treaty y granting right of transit across the isthmus ot of panama were exchanged with new granada in june 1818 A subsequent treaty with nicaragua by which in exchange for an exclusive conces we were to alii aid and protect tia in nil defensive wars failed of ratification in congress later a beaded by cornelius vanderbilt secured the exclusive right of 0 excavating a ship canal from Grey towo to any point on the pacific col 0 vf ill ds of philadelphia chief engineer for the company reached a conclusion that a canal by the nicaragua route was practicable only by following the valley of the san juan river to lake ali ano from that lake a choice of t southwesterly or northwesterly course uis ills report computed in iki which has been bieu the basis for nil all subsequent surveys sjur veys was submitted to tile the topographical engineers ol of the united states army col J J abert und and col W V turnbull bull amorally fm fu orally on the alan recommending some chunges s anti and modi ficat ions the corporation failed tu tike take decisive action and the contract was for forfeited felted the civil war precluded for several years any further american attempts toward canal bull building oling in president grants first message to congress recommended an american canal on american soil to ia constructed by tue american people congress promptly responded by provid providing providen ln g for further exploration in 1872 a 9 commission was appointed consisting of gen A A humphreys chief of engineers united states army C P 11 patterson superintendent of the coat coa t survey nd coni com clire ammen chief of the lureau bureau of navigation of he united states nay navy alter after a careful si vey of the previously proposed routes to in 1876 they unanimously recommended the nicaragua route A french corporation in which count ferdinand de lesseps builder of the suez canal was a member was organized after extensive surveys and considerable difference of opinion the company finally in 1879 decided upon a sea level canal from the gulf of limon to the bay of panama another company was organized in 1881 with de lesseps as its head and work was started unforeseen in the work and troubles in floan financing ring developed and in issa the company passed into the hands bands of a receiver after having excavated some cubic yards ol of earth in the file meantime antime issa a canal treaty between the united states and nicaragua was negotiated while pending ratification in the senate 1885 it was withdrawn with draNn by the president for the reason that the proposed perpetual alliance with nicaragua was contrary to our foreign policy in interest terest in the project was now extremely active and international in its scope each successive year almost tte the making of a new treaty the granting of a new concession and the pursuance of burthe surveys in 1894 a new french company was organized which offered to sell its rights and property to the united states the american commis commission which had bad previously recommended the cute chiefly because the price of 1091 00 set by the french was considered altered their recommendations ions 41 ii favor of 0 the panama route on january IS 18 1902 at a new dew figure of the story of the actual construction of the panama canal by gen george W goethals and his assi assistants stints is too well known to need repetition here suffice it s so say that thai tile the first ocean steamer passed through it on august 3 1914 the day that farne and erman exchanged declara eions of war since then the v mp HP of traffic u b become so great that interest in a second canal by way of nicaragua has been actively revived A treaty with nicaragua signed by them in 1914 ratified by bi us in 1916 1010 secured to the united states exclusive rights it ir perpetuity for the con st ruction of hucl a canal through nicaragua in tile the fall of pursuant to a congressional resolution a bat battalion tallon of engineer troops of the united states army consisting of three companies a bead headquarters quarters and a service platoon was sent to nicaragua in september two others one from the first engineers at fort dupont dela a 0 second from the twenty ninth engineers at fort humphreys va a arrived there early in november in ull all there lire are some men and 25 boffl cers on IB tills this duty their duties consist or of bringing thc jhc old sur leys up to date and to make such additional surveys and scientific investigations ln estimations with the two year period them that shou nr 90 gom om o M at some future time lime decide to exor exer else its construction construe lion may tie tc start with ill a minimum of delay play Q by lV estern 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