152 Book of Engineering 



Atlantic. A large section of the United 

 States people expressed the opinion that 

 this should be a great national undertaking, 

 carried through at whatever cost might be 

 necessary, and that it should not be regarded 

 primarily as a money making concern. 



A commission was appointed to go into 

 the whole question, and they at first found 

 in favour of a canal which would include 

 Lake Nicaragua, which, whilst not so diffi- 

 cult in some respects as the one planned 

 by de Lesseps, would nevertheless mean a 

 length of over 183 miles to be navigated 

 between ocean and ocean. The cost was 

 estimated at 40,000,000, which was less 

 than had been squandered upon the un- 

 finished French venture. 



When the liquidators of the French com- 

 pany heard of this counter proposal they 

 became very anxious to sell their enterprise, 

 such as it was, to the United States govern- 

 ment, and finally President Roosevelt came 

 to terms which saved a little for the poor 

 French shareholders. The next step was to 

 come to an agreement with the Colombian 



