398 



NICARAGUA. 



NORTHWEST TERRITORIES OF CANADA. 



war or warlike materials used in the canal except 

 in case of accidental hindrance of the transit, and 

 in such case the transit shall be resumed with all 

 possible despatch. 5. The provisions of this ar- 

 ticle shall apply to waters adjacent to the canal 

 within three marine miles of either end. Vessels 

 of war of a belligerent nation shall not remain 

 in such waters longer than twenty-four hours at 

 any one time except in case of distress, and in 

 such case shall depart as soon as possible, but a 

 vessel of war of one belligerent shall not depart 

 within twenty-four hours from the departure of 

 a vessel of war of the other belligerent. 6. The 

 plant, establishments, buildings, and all works 

 necessary to the construction, maintenance, and 

 operation of the canal shall be deemed to be parts 

 thereof for the purposes of this treaty, and in time 

 of war, as in time of peace, shall enjoy complete 

 immunity from attack or injury by belligerents 

 and from acts calculated to impair their useful- 

 ness as part of the canal. 



By the fourth article it is agreed between the 

 contracting parties that no change of sovereignty 

 or of international relations of the country or 

 countries traversed by the ship canal shall affect 

 the general principle of neutralization or the ob- 

 ligations of the contracting parties. The fifth and 

 last article provides for the exchange of ratifica- 

 tions at the earliest possible time within six 

 months of the signature of the treaty, the ex- 

 change to take place either in Washington or in 

 London. 



The canal commissioners, after examining both 

 routes and the plans and estimates previously 

 made for the completion of the Panama Canal 

 and the construction of one by the Nicaragua 

 route, concluded that the Nicaragua Canal could 

 be built for $63,500,000 less than the purchase and 

 completion of the Panama Canal would cost, tak- 

 ing the latest and lowest price set by the Panama 

 Canal Company on its franchise and uncompleted 

 excavations. The valuation placed by the com- 

 mission on the Panama property was $40,000,000. 

 The total cost for a Nicaragua canal 183.66 miles 

 in length, 300 feet wide, and 35 feet deep, with 4 

 double locks on each side of Lake Nicaragua and 

 a great dam at Conchuda for regulating the flow 

 of the San Juan river in wet and dry seasons by 

 means of sluices, including a great harbor at 

 Greytown protected by jetties and one at Brito, 

 on the Pacific side, with a jetty, and also 100 

 miles of railroad at $75,000 a mile for the con- 

 veyance of materials, is estimated at $189,864,- 

 002. The harbor at Greytown, which had 50 feet 

 of water in the middle of the last century, is little 

 better than a lagoon, having nowhere more than 

 half that depth, and only 6 feet of water over the 

 bar. Much less dredging will be necessary at 

 Brito, where the silting is slight compared with 

 Greytown, and the cost of maintenance is there- 

 fore much less. The entrance to the canal on 

 both sides will be 500 feet wide and 35 feet deep, 

 and each harbor will have a turning basin 1,800 

 feet broad, and both will be protected by jetties 

 3,500 feet long. Lake Nicaragua is 100 miles long 

 and 45 miles wide. For 59 miles the canal runs 

 through its bed, and for 50 miles in the channel of 

 the San Juan river. For 22 miles the lake must 

 be dredged out to give the required depth. The 

 enormous dam on the San Juan river will control 

 the fluctuation of level in the lake, which is 110 

 feet above the sea in flood and 97 feet in dry 

 weather. The site of the dam is just above the 

 point where the San Carlos river flows into the 

 other, discharging from 100.000 to 200,000 cubic 

 feet of water a second. The dam will cost $4,000,- 

 000, but the cost at the site originally selected 



would be $15,000,000. The auxiliary waste way 

 will add $2,000,000 to the cost. From Greytown 

 harbor to the first lock the canal runs for 7 miles 

 through swamp, and will cost, including the ex- 

 pense of diverting the San Juan and San Juanillo 

 rivers, over $5,000,000. The lock will cost nearly 

 $6,000,000; the section of 11 miles from there to 

 the next lock, including embankments, approach 

 walls, waste way, and the lock itself, will cost 

 nearly $1,000,000 a mile; in the next section of 

 17 miles the cost rises to $1,250,000 a mile. Be- 

 tween the third and fourth locks is a short section 

 of 2f miles, and after another section of 5 miles 

 to the fifth lock the canal merges in the San 

 Juan river above the Conchuda dam. These short 

 sections with the dam between them will cost 

 over $2,000,000 a mile; the San Juan section, a 

 little under 50 miles, not $500,000 a mile; the 

 Lake Nicaragua section of 70J miles, a little over 

 $112,500 a mile, no dredging being needed for 50J 

 miles where the route passes through the middle 

 of the lake. West of the lake for nine miles to 

 the fifth lock the ground rises up to the divide, 

 and here heavy excavation must be made for the 

 canal bed and for great receiving basins inter- 

 cepting the Rio Grande, Las Lajas, and Chocolata 

 rivers, so that the total cost of this section will 

 be above $24,500,000, and $7,500,000 more for the 

 2J miles, and including the sixth lock, and over 

 $7,000,000 more for two miles to and including 

 the seventh lock. To the eighth and last lock it 

 is 2J miles, and this section will cost nearly $6,- 

 000,000. In the rapid descent the canal follows 

 the valley of the Rio Grande river, which it is 

 necessary to divert from its channel in the sec- 

 tions between the sixth and the last locks. The 

 eighth lock lets vessels down into salt water | 

 mile from Brito harbor, and this end section will 

 cost $500,000. For engineering sanitation, police, 

 and contingencies the estimate of $158,220,000 for 

 construction is increased 20 per cent., or $31,614,- 

 000. In the earlier surveys the route was 3 miles 

 longer and the plans called for one more lock. 

 The length of canal to be cut is about 74 miles, 

 the length of river and lake 110 miles. There are 

 several deep cuts, one of 200 feet near the Con- 

 chuda dam, one of 297 feet at Tamborcito, 26 

 miles from Greytown, through a ridge of hard 

 rock 3,000 feet thick near the San Juan river. The 

 canal is to have a system of double locks, so that 

 in case one is disabled or closed for repairs traffic 

 will not be interrupted. 



NORTH CAROLINA. (See under UNITED 

 STATES.) 



NORTH DAKOTA. (See under UNITED 

 STATES.) 



NORTHWEST TERRITORIES OF CAN- 

 ADA. Population in 1901, 220,000. Capital, 

 Regina. This part of the Dominion comprises the 

 districts of Assiniboia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, 

 and Athabasca, with the unorganized divisions 

 of Franklin, Keewatin, Mackenzie, and Ungava, 

 and embraces 2,497,427 square miles. 



Government. The Government has changed 

 considerably, in a constitutional sense, *in recent 

 years. F. W. G. Haultain, B. A., has, however, 

 been the leading figure in its Council and Execu- 

 tive Committee and finally in its Assembly since 

 1887. In October, 1897, he became the Territorial 

 Premier, and in the beginning of 1901 he was also 

 Attorney-General and Commissioner of Educa- 

 tion. With him were J. H. Ross as Commissioner 

 of Public Works and Treasurer and G. H. V. 

 Bulyea as Commissioner of Agriculture and Ter- 

 ritorial Secretary. During preceding years Messrs. 

 Hillyard Mitchell, J. R. Neff, and C. A. Magrath 

 had been associated with him in the Government. 



