| Show TIE 1 I NIAUGUAN CANAL Difficulties of Construction Not So Serious a Reported WOULD COST A HUNDRED MILLION The Cal CouiniUlon llai Note Inlihrd III Work Ilrtwieu tlio Luke nod the 1nclllc New YorkMorch 2Frnk SWash burn has returned from Central America Amer-ica where he went with a party otto 13 ot-to investigate the feasibility of the Nicaraguan canal construction Among the party were K 1 Cralgn of Chicago and L B Cooley an authority on shlpeanals and the chief engineer of the Chicago Drainage canal Accent Inlaying these mn were the rpreell tatves ot nine contracting firms who halo ben asked to make a proposition proposi-tion to the syndicate represented by 121 Cralgn for the constiuotlon of tho Nlcrgua canal Mr Wnahbur said last night the committee would be ready to report to the syndicate In about a month As a summnry ot our opinion Ito lidded I may say that from nearly oil point of vlw our Impressions were I mar favorable than we anticipated I and we found conditions better than have been heretofore reported Th 1 matters which bear directly I upon the question of the practicability of the mrnal 8 construction and the cost and cnoa olltreton the case of Its maintenance are cllmat lo conditions rainfall labor and the governments of Nlcrgua and Cost lien As regards the climate there seems to bo no reason why the work cannot b as well conducted so far asa as-a health of the lalnirers Is concerned m In I tho more favored portions of our own country Our ohseraUon con l Inc us that the difficulties due to rainfall are fully offset by l the frosts In the northern part bf our country WI locnl that the native laborers and shovellers are excellent pickers heler ant the record of imported labor from Jamaica and the Southern States Is I excellent 1 should b remembered that no labor ran accomplish as much In that country as In our own This fact however Is I partially offset by terser wages 1 Is Impossible to stay whnt the late of wn es would be when 20000 or 30000 men are required tOt employment on the canal but at the present time common lalr In Nicaragua Nicara-gua receives what Is equivalent to 50 cents In gold a day The republic or Nicaragua 11 be Affected by the canal In a rate degree than Costa Ica The cOllerat e party which was 11 I Iwer until a Iw years Ago and the Moral I party mlitch In I now In power RIO enthllate friend 9 ot the mal They at course realize the trmndou ndnlllge whIch the canal would cnnn bring toB nil eC people ot Nicaragua JHt iirai0rnmeDU > f lC4stiuJclcaviJewaL the advantages of the canal similarly though In a less I degree 1 the expressions ex-pressions received from the president and his cabinet were friendly to the eaMIbut we surmised that the present strained relations and consequent jwouols between Nicaragua land Costa Rica prevented the stim < active Interest on the part of PresHer Igles las of Cot lien as was present In the attitude of President Zelayi at Nicaragua Them om to be no fever exceptIng except-Ing nt Ortytown the Atlantic port of tie canal mhere we are assured that a fatal case Is the exception where men observe the ordinary rules of health ant abstain from the excess Iva use of alcohol Of 2COO labomm engaged en-gaged for a year on a twenty mile mil road through the swamI from ani three died Gryown only thr die WORK OP THC COMMISSION New York March IA letter I to the Herald from lllxas Nicaragua saSI i The canal commission has finished Its work on the division of the cnol project between Lake Nlcarug and the Pacific and will cross the lake all the Victoria on u special trip today or tomorrow The relulollar out bak delayed the commission five days the Victoria not being available as the government 1 using he steamer few transporting troops A preliminary report on the canal lit eject could be made should It be requested for the session of Congress It would state that the canal Is wholly feasible although specific reports an to the more Important features could 10t be made The cot of the canal based on the study and observation made up to the present time Is reckoned at about one hundred million Arriving at San Carlos the party w Ill g down the Ran Juan river as far as Ochoa proceeding from this point Into Clr tovn over the line of the canal The line has been cleared and Clo several well provisioned camps es I tnbllshed for the use ot Admiral Walker and his party The rmmls lion will make thorough observations of the topography of the country generally gen-erally a well as of that Immediately concerned In the canal line J W O Walker and his party have moved their camp from Pan Pablo on the La Jar and are now verl miles further westward th canal line being cleared Inland from the lake for about six miles The party I working under Instructions In-structions to determine that the canal line as laid nt present Is the only line and the cross sections aril being ran line one thousand feet on either side of tin ln The canal eompanys cross sections wr run 100 teet Tho Present survey mill consequently result II I a tape graphical map showing two thollaand feet width across the Western division rave In localities where the higher land prevails prevalo The present Is the dry Pennon on tho western side and I In I nn oJen qulon hehr mork on the rotor east sl life or work on the dry went adds In I preler ble Walkers party ins experienced great difficulty In cutting Its way through the r heavy nderbrus anti tile progrems hOB hen consider abh retarded M In con equence The Alert whose owners tire to make a survey atllrlUi similar work to that now being done by the officers of the Newport at Orejtown Arrived at Ban Iuan del Star on the night ot February The Alert wan detained 1 nt Acapulco in her voyage down floin San Irn risen for n week II Consequence nt the InKs of rut Young IIllt Hnnu in Ills survey rand soundings at tile hll lake haq made some Interesting hurt 111Mnt illocoverles Rurs ot the coast line have 1elopo1 the foe that the shore line nf the lowe r end run mt Into the lake five Tot lea further than exltn MOPS show I In lth r word the lalie nt this point In I five miles shorter than I has Previously been held to In lletVt Hands has also found a 30fool t channel running three miles nearer to the Ran Juan river entrance at Ban Carlos than pont Plans or charts Ilia This would mean a reduction at three miles In the amount ot dredging i L 1 L to be done from the river In deepwater deep-water In the lake While camped at L Flor the commission com-mission studied the coast line at Ililto Th ro Is no harbor nt Hrljo There Is merely an Indentation of the coast lino but the eontuclon anti Maintenance of a harbor are not regarded as difficult diffi-cult On this point nearly all the experts ex-perts who have studied the situation tire agreed The details alone remain to be worked out and the Individual opinions 01 the comlllon to b wehl b enweld oil Into one I m Ill net rulr earl the time for the commission to come to a conclusion In regard to the hnrhor nt Urlto that It will to reach a conclusion a to the La Flor feature ot the canal companys project The Ludlnvv commission com-mission of 1891 refused to consider adam a-dam a this point at all In eneQIne of the unsatisfactory results of the canal companj Itorlngs and suggrat ed another route for the relief In this trinity It will probably be months before the commission Inlh Its Ills cusslons of this feature The views of the members vary eonldrhly An Interesting compromise fo the situation situa-tion has been suggested I would con truct two dams one at IA Vice and one at n point just west of the divide Sle mi eat of r1 Flor Th eastern dim would be on Mother ground rand nbout forty feet high Hy this Core promise two basin mould be I et rated Instead of on and the La I lor Ism would become a muchletna formid r undertaking The cnl upon lt strllth ondrnermenifflity would her much decreased This suggests that comprimalse when fully workett out I may possibly become the rommls on s solution of the problem of the western dlvlplon should It I develop that It Is aslhli In all Its Aspects anti shnuldl no better solution hn found Final conclusions on thN point however am well a on other Important features 01 the line will not he reached until the ports of the various parties whose work bears so materially upon the hole canal project have hen made |
