THE KEY OF THE PACIFIC.

CHAPTER I.

THE THREE MAIN SCHEMES.

COLLOWING the discovery of gold in California

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and the opening up of the Pacific coast, interest was naturally revived in the question of providing an alternative route, safer, more rapid, and less costly, to that round Cape Horn, or across the wild country and passes of the Rockies. The result was the construction of the Panama railroad in the period between 1850 and 1855. A reconnaissance of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec was carried out, and negotiations were also entered into with Nicaragua to support a company which had obtained from that republic the right to build a canal, and in the interval to establish-overland, and by existing waters via the San Juan and Lake Nicaragua-a means of transit between the Atlantic and Pacific. The survey of this route, made for Cornelius Vanderbilt and his associates, was executed by Colonel O. W. Childs, of Philadelphia, a distinguished officer of the United States His studies fully conformed to the requirements

army.

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of engineering science, and are remarkable for their

accuracy.

From 1870 to 1876, during the presidency of General Grant, renewed activity was shown by the United States. Government in exploring the isthmus, and in 1879 work on the Panama route was begun by de Lesseps, only to be abandoned ten years later.

There resulted about the year 1879 three well-defined schemes, arrived at by a process of elimination, namely, those of Panama, Nicaragua, and Tehuantepec. The notorious Panama Canal may now be pronounced nearly moribund, if not actually dead. The Tehuantepec shiprailway passed, at least for the time, out of sight and favour with the death of its illustrious designer, Captain Eads, of Mississippi fame. The Nicaragua Canal holds the field, and although, owing to causes given later, the actual work is in abeyance, strenuous efforts are being made to secure the active support of the United States Government, and are likely to be crowned with success, in which case the work will be prosecuted with vigour. The canal is a necessity of the time, and cannot now long be delayed.

THE PANAMA CANAL.

It is unnecessary to give any but a brief notice to the Panama Canal, but the salient points in its history must be noted.

De Lesseps held that a sea-level ship-canal could be constructed across the isthmus at Panama, and that it was

the shortest practicable line between the oceans, the length of the route being 465 miles, and the altitude to be overcome about 300 feet.' He was opposed by many eminent engineers, including M. Lavalley, who spoke in prophetic language of la grande inconnue de la Chagres. But the Congress of 1879, summoned by Lesseps, supported le grand Français, and the work, designed without locks, was inaugurated in 1879, the actual excavation being commenced two years later. In 1887 the impracticability of a level canal, at least with the financial means available or in prospect, at length became so evident that Lesseps and his colleagues were compelled to abandon the idea, and M. Eiffel was called in and designed a series of locks. After many vicissitudes, work finally ceased in March, 1889, owing to want of funds. The magnitude of the enterprise is shown by the following official figures of the liquidator, dated July, 1890:

There is no need to go over the ground of the débâcle, the history of which has never been fully told, and never will. The company could only show work done to the value of something like £28,000,000, the difference (over

The railway has an elevation of 296 feet, with a summit cut of

30 feet.