Show mf canal cla a hay f c ea 11 F m I 1 21 j 7 J 4 c d 4 k fa 10 by ELNO ELMO WATSON N AUGUST 3 1914 the first ocean steamer ste niner passed through the panama newly completed at a cost of 0 o and hailed as one odthe of the greatest engineering feats of all ages sixteen years later finds the united states engaged in another vast engineering project which Is to supplement the big ditch oi opened in 1014 down in he jungles LJ of nicaragua a force of army engineers led by maj dan 1 ultan V U 8 A of oxford miss Is cutting its way through the tropical of that region reglo nand and surveying a route for a proposed ocean to ocean canal across NI nicaragua ara gua al many any americans no doubt will wonder it if t this his additional addition ni link between the he pacific and the ati lanile means means that there s g something wrong with the panama canal and that thai those were spent in vain As a matter of foci fact it means nothing of the kind the rhe industrial of the united states and and the greatly increased volume of trade with the latin american republics have brou brought git about such inch an 3 ti through r ough the canal aliat and economists are beginning to fear that in a few more epars it will no long longer r be able to accommodate this vast volume when it was first constructed ted it was believed that it would be sufficient for our needs for far a least a century now within one sixth of that tine it Is already ope operating rating a at about 75 per ceni cent i apac enaty alty so preliminary work on the canal djs Is under way tn in the hope that it will be available for use by the time the panama canal ls Is running at per cent capacity since tills this latent project will reduce by three days the ali 9 enec essary for a vessel to go from froin a port on one coast toa to a port on another it seems seems likely that the construction ruction of this new canal will so far as it Is possible to predict now bolye our shipping problem foi all time to td come there Is another reason tor for the consi construction ruction of the nicaraguan canal which Is defensive as well as economic it will be a strong link jn our national defense tn in that it will provide a supplementary nica tary canal which would be available in case anything should happen to theion the one e through panama ania in this age of highly scientific warfare an airplane might drop a single bomb which would render rendert the be panama canal useless for months months and this interruption of sea between the atlantic and pacific coast might easily bring disaster to the nation nailon having two canals reduces that danger one ona halt half As major sultans engl engineers cut thi their r way through jungle their expedition Is more more than a symbol of the fact that th united states under an an en engineer kineer president Is providing for the future needs of the nation for the alc 1 j araguas ca calaf 7 naf looks both forward and backward the expedition its Is the outward sign that the year quest tor for a speedy route to the t east which inspired columbus to calliway liway sail sal away into the unknown still engaged enga engages gei the interests and ef forts odthe of the notion nation that Geno genoese genobie eie sailor has been called the father ather of this project and balboa Bal lioa cortez and other spanish explorers its godfathers god fathers if constantinople had idof not passed from christian chrisan an hands into moslem possession li in closing the land routes to india band and the orient the discovery of the tha Aine american rican continent night have been postponed for centuries since the r search nich for 9 shorter route between the two s great oceans has been beeh ceaseless scarcely a generation has passed since the fourth voyage of 0 columbus when ot of the chev N est injures inures in formea ahn he was naring n aring a bairow place bei tween the seas that ir r or another tation has y dof not concerned itself with that narrow place of the early explorer cortez deenis to have been the first ars who reco gifted the fact that the nar narrow jihee place was not the strait they had expected to fina His plans in to construct u canal by way aitay af pf of tehuantepec cut by them the treachery ot his followers were i 1 on by his cousin alyaro biroc who pitted plans by four routes by wa darlen darle n nl nicaragua ani bufi or panama H tal aery L otes receive rece het so much lc in t e century in 1567 philip had bad a survey nade made through in of n unfavorable favorable report he Is sal sald d ta to have pr ir e cited led the problem bouie friars fr tars the lars furs ven more perplexed than man t lie icing finally quoted the i ip tures turcs to tn him what god hath joined together let IP no nam put houder king phillp philip therefore F Z 9 V iv J J decided to abandon all qt Rt tempts to divorce the two continents As earl 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 within our own borders the following year the republic of central america entered into a contract with aaron H palmer an american who unsuccessfully endeavored to organize a company tor for the purpose of coniti constructing acting ati an isthmian canal the same year england sent rjohn bailey to make surveys and to negotiate for a concession bailey proposed a route through gb nicaragua from san juan now Grey town to lake alea nicaragua rogue and thence to san junn juan del sur on the Paci pacific his i negotiations tor fo r a concession were unsuccessful in 1835 president sent a mission to examine previously proposed routes rentes in nicaragua and panama with a view to determining the practicability of the different projects the results reported were unsatisfactory and in january 1837 jackson reported to congress that it was not expedient to enter into the necessary negotiations at that tam the following year the mayor of nw new york elty city aaron dark and others memorialized congress recommending that negotiations be opened bet between wen new granada now columbia colombia cen central aral america and the powers of europe for the purpose of entering into a general agreement for th promotion of a canal to connect the atlantic and the Pact pacific president van burens agent recommended the nicaragua route na as the roost practicable the republic of new granada in the same year 1838 granted a concession to a french company whose report I 1 was so attractive that in september 1843 a french officer was ns sent bent to investigate he recommended a canal from limon buy bay to the Cli Cl agres ingres river below gaton to the buy bay of vaca de monte the estimated cost was sa so high that the project was dropped and the concession was forfeited the termination of our war with mexico adding california to the union and a settlement of the northwestern boundary question by which the united states came inti anti possession of oregon together with the discovery of gold I 1 in D the new territory emphasized th commercial necessity tor for a canal the difficulties dnn dan gers and exorbitant cost of the existing means of transportation aroused the boie anicent to action ratifications of of a treaty granting right of bf transit across accost the isthmus ol of panama were exchanged with new granada in juve june 1818 18 18 A subsequent treaty with nicaragua by which in exchange tor for an exclusive concession we were to aid and protect un in all defensive wars failed of ratification in congress later a cor corporation potation headed beaded by cornelius van derblik secured the exclusive highl of excava excavating tin 9 a arhip ship can canal alfrom from Grey Urey town lown to lo a any fay point an on t the he pacific col 0 W fillds of philadelphia chief engineer for the company reached a conclusion tuat that alvanah a canal by the nicaragua route was practicable only by following the valley of the san juan river to lake and from that lake a chalce bf southwesterly or northwesterly course his report computed in 1852 which has aeeti the basis for all subsequent sur surveys su iveys pys was ans submitted to the topographical englum engineers ers ol of the united states army col 3 J abort abert and col W turnbull bull reported favorably on nal the lie plan recommending some chunges and modifications the corpo corporation i ration fall failed 1 I to take decisive action and the contract was forfeited the civil war ar precluded for several years any further american attempts toward canal building in 1869 pres president adent grants first message to congress recommended an american canal on american soil to bab construct r by tue american people congress promptly responded by providing for further furt lier exploration in 1872 a commission was appointed consisting of gen A A humphreys chief of eugine engineers ers united states army J J P patterson superintendent of the coat survey nd comi coar clore danial ammen chief of the lureau bureau of navigation of the united states nay after a careful si vey of the previously proposed routes in 1870 they unanimously recommended the nicaragua route A french corporation in which count ferdinand delesseps builder of the suez canal was a member was organized after extensive surveys and considerable difference of opinion the company finally in 1870 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 n financing developed and in 1889 the corn com pany passed into the hands of a receiver after having excavated some cubic yards ot of earth in the meantime 1884 a canal treaty between the united states and nicaragua wis was negotiated while pending ratification in the senate 1885 it was withdrawn by the president for the reason that the proposed perpetual alliance with nicaragua was contrary to our foreign policy interest in the project was now extremely active and international in its scope each successive year almost witnessed the 0 making of a new fr treaty enty 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 erty to the united states the american commission which had previously recommended the nicaraguan aute ute chiefly because causette cau sethe the price of set by the french was considered exorbitant altered their recon recommendations ions in 11 favor of the panama route on january 18 1902 at a new figure of the story of the actual construction of the panama canal by gen george W goethals and ills his assistant Is too well known to need re repetition etl here suffice it so say thal thai the first ocean steamer basiel passed through it 0 on august 3 1814 1914 the day that frnncis and erman exchanged declarations of war since then the v me of traffic li become so grent that interest lnier est in a second canal by way of nicaragua has been actively revived A treaty with signed by them in irl 1914 t ratified by us in 1916 secured to the united states exclusive right sh perpetuity for the ca con strut lon of such u 6 canal through nicaragua in the fall of 1929 pursuant to a congressional resolution a battalion of engineer tr troops oops of the united states army consisting of three companies a headquarters headquarter i and a service platoon was sent to nicaragua in september two others one from I 1 the first engineers at fort dupont dela a second from the twenty ninth engineers tit at fort humphreys va ft or arrived rived there early in november in all ail there are some men and 25 ofil ob acerson cers on tills this duty their duties consist of bringing tin OIL old surveys up to date ind and to make such additional addition ni surveys and scientific in investigations vestern t ions with the two year period them that shou nr mr at some future time deci decide deto to exer eer ci privilege construction bonstra may inny tc fcc started with a minimum of delay VZ by western newspaper union ayt ak |