Show A GREAT undertaking we live in an age of wonders what seemed insurmountable obstacles to our worthy forefathers is but childs play to their posterity skeptics but a few decades ago laughed at and ridiculed the idea of the bible being an authentic history using the incident mentioned therein concerning the prophet causing iron to swim as one of their main arguments to dav masses of iron float on the water as easy as cork boats what our grandfathers threw up their hands in astonishment at arp malter of fact affairs now a day the world lias undergone a miraculous change since the last century and inhabitants are receiving more ot the divine rays of science as the years are added to her age simultaneously with these developments and marvelous is the proposed nicaragua shiu canal undoubtedly the project will bo a success yet very few are aware probably ot the object in building this ship canal and the amount of labor and means it will involve in its accomplishment As early as 1872 73 there was a survey of alie line of the projected canal under the direction of the american confess and a survey resurvey re two years ago another large surveying party aft new york last month and aliis has excited nw interest in this proposed work for two oceans the proposed line of thia canal according to the survey of civil engineer A G menocal of the united states navy extends from gre utown on the caribbean sea to breto on the pacific a distance of one hundred and sixty miles the san juan kiver from tirey town to lake nicaragua for sixty four miles is utilized y slack water and three ship locks and lakis nicaragua for fifty miles is the middle portion of the line this lake is ninety miles long and thirty five to forty miles wide the distance from lake nicaragua to brato is thirty eight miles in this part of the line four locks are required including a tide level lock at bratu on the pacific side alie lockage lift of the three locks on the san juan river is one hundred feet the lake ia the summit level and there are four locks including the tide level lock on the pacific side with R lockage lift of one hundred and ten feet these locks are proposed ti be six hundred feet long sixty five feet broad and thirty feet deep and lake twenty eight to seventy feet in depth the time estimated for the passage of a ship from ocean to ocean on this proposed canal is thirty hours abr alie largest class of vessels there can be passed through this canal daily thirty two vessels and yearly vessels or about tons the cost of this canal complete with improved li arbors at grey town and breto and electric lights its entire length so as to move i hibb in the night time is 64 comprising for the construction of the beven locks and for improving the harbor at breto and for improving the harbor at it is calculated to take fifteen minutes to fill the other lock of fifty three feet lift and eleven minutes to fill the other lock water with forty fire minutes time required for each ship lockage this proposed canal will have more capacity than the suez canal it will be both wider and deeper it will largely diminish the sailing distance between san francisco and new york and europe and will cause less loss of life as ia yearly chronicled with ships sailing around cape horn it will be a grand acquini to the commercial world when it is completed and it is to be hoped that it will not suffer the ridicule that is being heaped upon the panama fizzle through its promoter mr de lesseps the suez canal did him credit this latest adventure has robbed him of it and h heaping ridicule on him in ita place |