Show PLAN FOR CANAL IN N NICARAGUA army engineers chart best route and sites for locks and dams Grey town toNn nicaragua an american canal across nicaragua long a dream of shipping men and political and military strategists kill ill pass through a further planning ng stage this summer when united states army engineers will complete a thorough survey of the route and report on construction problems und and probable cost says the new york times for months the engineers have been living in tropical jungles dodging disease and watching out for insurrectionists while their diamond drills have been biting suto into the earth to show them where to put their dams and locks their survey one of tile the most exhaustive studies of a canal problem ever made has been based upon the experience per peri lence ence gained through tile the building of the panama canal and upon the great increase in engineering technique since the panama canal was completed the building of a canal across nicaragua was considered feasible to long before the shorter sli orter cut across panama was as begun in fact a private american company began construction st there as long ago as 1887 there was a time when the united states came close to authorizing a nicaragua canal but so it Is said a volcano begun began to smoke about that time and the government was persuaded to to the panama route now the project is again to the hie fore because it is contended that the panama canal will eventually he be unable to handle all the ocean bradic between the caribbean and the pacific safeguard for the future the panama canal can all be improved to increase its capacity from tops lops of n ahe annually dually to 4 to tons or perhaps slightly inore and it is not expected that so ho much tonnage will pass through it for ten or twenty years but cien now there are peric periods ids such as when the fleet passes through ahen the lie canal approaches seem cr crowded oded A new dew conal would it is asserted provide indefinitely for the future and would also ghenn alternative route in case of war ar and the destruction st of now existing means of quick communication bet between cen the oceans the effect of a nicaraguan canil canal on the trade and of the central american republics it Is also predicted would be beneficial the present survey which has been carded can led out by maj daniel 1 I sultan lias has been going forward iab with such precision flint the topographical work has fins been completed and only some drilling remains to be done one gen adgar jadwin chairman of the canal hoard board and sydney P B williamson ll li amson senior chilian member of the board will soon inspect the work it is understood that flint the san juan valley route will he be selected as tile best although it Is seven in miles iles longer than the deseado route recommended by the admiral walker commission 30 years ugo ago it Is believed to be more economical the estimated cost of the canal by the valley route would be about length of valley route the length of the canal proper by this route would be miles from brito the western terminus the line of the canal would follow tile the valley of the rio klo grande to the vc western stern continental divide feet above the sea which would be crossed by a cut A light flight of three locks each 1200 feet long and wide arranged as a unit at the western end of the cut would raise ships to the level of lake nica gaui which for vi working purposes it varies with nith the seasons is considered as feet above the sea from the continental dlyde the canal would follow the valley of the las lajas river to lake nica raughn thus completing the first 10 16 miles of the journey the lake an expanse of about 2700 square miles deep enough to afford alloi d gation by ocean steamships in most of the portion affected by the canal project would he be utilized for 70 wiles miles by the ships the last il 14 of these miles being dredged to afford sufficient depth it Is estimated that cubic feet of water would he be drawn from froin the ohp lake inke for eich cad ship transit through the locks |