3 i2 THE PANAMA ROUTE FOR A SHIP CANAL. 



water of unlimited width will produce a much higher rate of movement 

 than the same power applied to the same ship in a restricted water- 

 way, especially when the draft of the ship is but little less than the 

 depth of the water. These considerations have important bearings 

 both upon the dimensions of a ship canal and upon the time required 

 to pass through it. They were most carefully considered by the com- 

 mission, as were also such other matters as the delay incurred in passing 

 through the locks on each line, the latter including the delay of slowing 

 or approaching the lock and of increasing speed after passing it, the 

 time of opening and closing the gates, and the time of emptying and 

 filling the locks. It is also evident that ships of various sizes will re- 

 quire different times for their passage. After giving due weight to all 

 these considerations it was found that what may be called an average 

 ship would require twelve hours for passing through the Panama canal, 

 and thirty-three hours for passing through the Nicaragua canal. Ap- 

 proximately speaking, therefore, it may be stated that an average pas- 

 sage through the former water-way will require but one third the time 

 needed for the latter. 



The time in which an isthmian canal may be completed and ready 

 for traffic is an element of the problem of much importance. There 

 are two features of the work to be done at Panama, each of which is of 

 sufficient magnitude to affect to a controlling extent the time required 

 for the construction of the canal, viz., the Bohio dam and the Culebra 

 cut. Both of these portions of the work may, however, be prosecuted 

 concurrently, and with entire independence of each other. There are 

 no such features on the Nicaragua route, although the cut through the 

 divide west of the lake is probably the largest single work on that route. 

 In considering this feature of the matter it is well to observe that the 

 total amount of excavation and embankment of all grades on the 

 Nicaragua route is practially 228,000,000 cu. yds., while that remaining 

 to be done on the Panama route is but little more than 97,000,000 

 cu. yds. or 43 per cent, of the former. 



The commission has estimated ten years for the completion of the 

 canal on the Panama route and eight years for the Nicaragua route, 

 including in both cases the time required for preparation and that con- 

 sumed by unforeseen delays. The writer believes that the actual cir- 

 cumstances attending work on the two routes would justify an exchange 

 of these time relations. There is great concentration of work in the 

 Culebra-Emperador cut, on the Panama route, covering about forty- 

 five per cent, of the total excavation of all grades (43,000,000 cu. yds.), 

 which is distributed over a distance of about seven miles with the 

 location of greatest intensity at Culebra. This demands efficient 

 organization and special plant so administered as to reduce the working 

 force to an absolute minimum by the employment of machinery to the 



