A Trip to Panama and Darien, 311 



on the 29tli of May, 1879, that the construction of an inter- 

 oceanic canal was possible and that it should be built from the 

 Gulf of Liraon to the Bay of Panama. 



The tide-level scheme was adopted and the following dimen- 

 sions decided upon, viz : Length, 45.5 miles ; depth, 28 feet ; 

 width at water line 164 feet, and width at bottom 72 feet. 



The route determined upon was about the same as that of the 

 railroad, that is along the valleys of the Chagres and Obispo, 

 crossing the divide at the Culebra pass and then descending to 

 the Pacific along the course of the Rio Grande. The profile 

 which is reproduced from " Science," shows the state of progress 

 on January 1st, 1888, and the amount of excavation that has been 

 done since that time would make but a slight difference in the 

 appearance of the profile. The portion shown in black is what 

 has been removed along the axis of the canal and represents an 

 expenditure of over 1385,000,000 and seven years' labor. The 

 reasons that make the scheme impracticable are briefly these, 

 some of which were known before the work was commenced, and 

 all of which should have been understood. 



The first great difficulty is in cutting through the ridge cul- 

 minating at Culebra where the original surface was 354 feet 

 above the bed of the proposed canal. It was never known what 

 the geological formation of this ridge was until the different 

 strata were laid bare by the workman's pick, and the slope 

 adopted, \\ to 1, was found to be insufiicient in the less compact 

 formations, even at the comparatively shallow depth that was 

 reached, and many and serious landslides were of frequent occur- 

 rence. 



Another serious difficulty was the disposition of the excavated 

 material, for upon the completion of a sea-level course this chan- 

 nel would naturally drain all the country hitherto ti'ibutary to the 

 Chagres and Rio Grande, and any substance not removed to a 

 great distance would eventually be washed back again into the 

 canal. But perhaps the greatest difficulty was in the control of 

 the immense surface drainage. The Chagres river during the dry 

 season is, where it crosses the line of the canal near Gamboa, only 

 about two feet deep and 250 feet wide, but during a flood the 

 depth becomes as much as forty feet, the width 1,500 feet, and 

 the volume of water discharged 160,000 cubic feet per second. 

 The bed of the river is here "42 feet above sea level, or 70 feet 

 above what the bottom of canal would have been. Now add to 



