THE PAX AM A ROUTE FOE A SHIP CANAL. 259 



from which a feeder about ten miles long, partly an open canal and 

 partly in tunnels or pipe, would conduct the water from the reservoir 

 thus formed to the summit level. 



Although the plan, as described, was adopted, the 'Comite Tech- 

 nique* apparently favored a modification by which a much deeper 

 excavation through Culebra Hill would be made, thus omitting the 

 locks at both Obispo and Paraiso, and making the level of the artifi- 

 cial lake Bohio the summit level of the canal. In this modified plan 

 the bottom of the summit level would be about 32 feet above the sea, 

 and the minimum elevation of the summit level 61.5 feet above the 

 sea. This modification of plan had the material advantage of eliminat- 

 ing both the Obispo and Paraiso locks. The total estimated cost of 

 completing the canal under this plan was about $105,500,000. Al- 

 though the Alhajuela feeder would be omitted, the Alhajuela reservoir 

 would be retained as an agent for controlling the Chagres floods and 

 to form a reserve water supply. The difference in costs of these two 

 plans was comparatively small, but the additional time required to 

 complete that with the lower summit level was probably one of the 

 main considerations in its rejection by the committee having it under 

 consideration. 



This brings the project up to the time when the Isthmian Canal 

 Commission was created in 1899 and when the forces of the new 

 Panama Canal Company were employed either in taking care of the 

 enormous amount of plant bequeathed to it by the old company or in 

 the great excavation at Emperador and Culebra. The total excavation 

 of all classes, made up to the time when that commission rendered its 

 report, amounted to about 77,000,000 cu. yds. 



The work of the commission consisted of a comprehensive and 

 detailed examination of the entire project and all its accessories, as 

 contemplated by the new Panama Canal Company, and any modifica- 

 tions of its plans either as to alignment, elevations or subsidiary works, 

 which it might determine advisable to recommend. In the execution 

 of this work it was necessary among other things to send engineering 

 parties on the line of the Panama route for the purpose of making such 

 surveys and examinations as might be necessary to confirm estimates 

 of the new Panama Canal Company as to quantities, elevations or other 

 physical features of the line selected, or required in modifications of 

 alignment or plans. In order to accomplish this portion of its work 

 the commission placed five working parties on the Panama route with 

 twenty engineers and other assistants and forty-one laborers. 



The commission adopted for the purposes of its plans and estimates 

 the route selected by the new Panama Canal Company, which is essen- 

 tially that of the old company. Starting from the six-fathom contour 

 in the harbor of Colon the line follows the low marshy ground adjoin- 



