THE PANAMA llOUTJ: FOK A SIIIP CANAL. 539 



obtained for his coiifpan^^ in L8T8 a concession I'l-oni the CA)h)nit)ian 

 Government, conferr}iro-,tlK' requisite rights and ])i'ivileiL;es for tiie 

 construction of a ship canal on the Panama loute and the authority to 

 do such oth(M' tilings as might ^)o necessary or a(l\isa))le in coTuiection 

 with that project. This concession is oi-dinariiy known as the Wyse 

 concession. 



A general ])lan for this trans-Jsthmian canal was the subject of con- 

 sideration at an international scit'iititic congress conxcned in Paris in 

 May, 18Ti*, and composed of b'55 delegates from France, (Jermany, 

 Great Britain, tho Tnited States, and other countries, hut the major- 

 ity of whom were French. This congress was con\-ene(l imder the 

 auspices of Ferdinand (l(> Lesseps, and after remaining in session I'or 

 two weeks a decision, not unanimous, was i-eached that an intiU'na- 

 tional canal ought to be located on the Panama rout(\ and that it 

 should be a sea-levtd canal without locks, l^hc^ fact was a])parently 

 overlooked that the rang(^ ])etwcen high and low tides in the I)ay of 

 Panama, al)out 20 f(H^t, was so great as to require a tidal lock at that 

 terminus. 



A conq)any entitU^d " (lom])agnie l^ni\erselle dn Canal Interocea- 

 nicpie'' was organized, with Fei'dinand de Lesseps sis ])resi(lent, inun<v 

 diately after the adjournment of the international congress. The 

 purpose of this conq)any was the construction and o))eration of the 

 canal, and it pui'chased the Wyse concession from the original com- 

 pany for the sum of l(),(ioo, (»(»() fi'ancs. An immediate but unsuccess- 

 ful atteni})! was made to iinance the company in August, bsTl*. This 

 necessitated a second attempt, which was made in December, ISSO, 

 with success, as the (Mitire issue of <!()(), O()0 shares of nOO francs each 

 was sold. Two years were then devotcnl to examinations and sur\'eys 

 and preliminary work upon t\\o canal, ])ut it was iss."! hefoi'c opei'a- 

 tions upon a larg(>- scal(> were Ix^gun. The })lan adopted and followed 

 by this company was that of a sea-levcd canal, allording a depth of 

 29.5 feet and a bottom width of 72 feet. It was estimated that the 

 necessai'v excaxation would amount to 1 57,* '( )<>.(»( 10 cubic yai'ds. 



The .\tlantic tei'iuiinis of this canal route was located at Colon, and 

 at Panama on the Pacific side. The line passed through the low 

 grounds just north of jVloid-cey Hill to (iatun. (! miles from the Atlan- 

 tic terminus, and where it lii-st met tlu^ ('hagics I\i\-er. For a dis- 

 tance of 21 miles it followed the general course of tln^ Cliagres to 

 Obispo, but left it at the latter point and ])assing u[) tlu^ \'alley of a 

 small tributary cut through the continental di\ide at Cul(d)ra, and 

 descended thence by the valley <>f the Rio (iraruh^ to the mouth of 

 that river where it enters Panama W.vy. The total length of this line 

 from 30 feet depth in the ,\tlantic to the same depth in tln^ Pacific 

 was about -t7 miles. Tlu^ maxinuun lu^ight of the contiiKMital di\ide 

 on the center line of the canal in the Culebra cut was about y>o-i feet 

 above the sea, which 'is a little higluM- than the lowest point of the 



