The Nicaragua Canal 



29 



will have a width of one hundred and 

 eighty feet. 



Starting from the Atlantic terminus the 

 canal may be described as consisting of 

 three stages : first, a period of ascent for 

 a distance of fifty miles from Greytown 

 till it enters the San Juan at a point about 

 two miles above the mouth of the San 

 Carlos River. This stage must be exca- 

 vated. Second, a period of one hundred 

 and twentv miles of high level, the level 



Second. The excavation of the canal 

 prism in the swamp sections between 

 Greytown and the Florida Lagoon. 



Third. The heavy cutting near Boca 

 San Carlos and at Tamborcito. 



Fourth. The construction of the large 

 dam at or near Boca San Carlos in con- 

 nection with the regulation of the summit 

 level. 



Fifth. The Locks. 



Some fifty years ago there was a 



Map Showing Route of Nicaragua Canal as Proposed by Isthmian 



Canal Commission. 



of Lake Nicaragua, secured by means of 

 an immense masonry dam which will ex- 

 tend the level of the lake fifty miles down 

 the San Juan. This stage consists of im- 

 proved river and lake channels. Third, 

 a period of descent from the lake level to 

 the Pacific through the continental divide. 

 This stage, seventeen miles, must also be 

 excavated. 



The salient engineering problems con- 

 nected with the Nicaragua Canal project 

 as outlined by the Commission are as fol- 

 lows: 



First. The construction of harbors at 

 the termini of the canal. 



good harbor at Greytown, the east- 

 ern terminus of the canal, with thirty 

 feet of water at the anchorage and 

 about the same depth in the entrance. 

 The entrance to this harbor where it then 

 existed, has been obliterated and the har- 

 bor itself is now a lagoon almost entirely 

 enclosed, of restricted area, with only 

 about half the depth of water in it that 

 formerly existed. Vessels for Greytown 

 are now compelled to anchor in the offing 

 and discharge their cargoes on lighters 

 which are taken into the lagoon across a 

 bar having a depth of less than six feet of 

 water. As the prevailing trade winds are 



