THE PANAMA ROUTE FOR A SHIP CANAL. 255 



the latter part of 1887 when it became evident that the sea level plan of 

 canal was not feasible with the resources at command. Changes were 

 soon made in the plans, and it was concluded to expedite the completion 

 of the canal by the introduction of locks, deferring the change to a 

 sea-level canal until some period when conditions would be sufficiently 

 favorable to enable the company to attain that end. Work was prose- 

 cuted under this modified plan until 1889, when the company became 

 bankrupt and was dissolved by judgment of the French Court, called 

 the Tribunal Civil de la Seine, on February 4, 1889. An officer 

 called the liquidator, corresponding quite closely to a receiver in this 

 country, was appointed by the court to take charge of the company's 

 affairs. At no time was the project of completing the canal abandoned, 

 but the liquidator gradually curtailed operations and finally suspended 

 the work on Mav 15, 1889. 



He determined to take into careful consideration the feasibility of 

 the project, and to that end appointed a 'commission d'etudes,' com- 

 posed of eleven French and foreign engineers, headed by Inspector- 

 General Guillemain, director of the ^cole Rationale des Ponts et 

 Chaussees. This commission visited the isthmus and made a careful 

 study of the entire enterprise, and subsequently submitted a plan for 

 the canal involving locks. The cost of completing the entire work was 

 estimated to be $112,500,000, but the sum of $62,100,000 more was 

 added to cover administration and financing, making a total of $174,- 

 600,000. This commission also gave an approximate estimate of the 

 value of the work done and of the plant at $87,300,000, to which some 

 have attached much more importance than did the commission itself. 

 The latter appears simply to have made the 'estimate' one half of the 

 total cost of completing the work added to that of financing and admin- 

 istration, as a loose appproximation, calling it an 'intuitive estimate'; 

 in other words, it was simply a guess, based upon such information as 

 had been gained in connection with the work done on the isthmus. 



By this time, the period specified for completion under the original 

 Wyse Concession had nearly expired. The liquidator then sought from 

 the Colombian Government an extension of ten years, which was 

 granted under the Colombian law dated December 26, 1890. This 

 extension was based upon the provision that a new company should be 

 formed and work on the canal resumed not later than February 28, 

 1S93. The latter condition was not fulfilled, and a second extension 

 was obtained on April 4, 1893, which provided that the ten-year 

 extension of time granted in 1890 might begin to run at any time prior 

 to October 31, 1894, but not later than that date. When it became 

 apparent that the provisions of this last extension would not be carried 

 out an agreement between the Colombian Government and the new 

 Panama Company was entered into on April 26, 1900, which extended 



