16 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



A TRANS-CUBA CANAL 



A COLOSSAL UNDERTAKING NORTHERN TERMINAL AT CARDENAS AND 



ITS SOUTHERN IN COCHINOS BAY 



The approaching completion of the Panama Canal has hrought forward a project for 

 a canal across the island of Cuba, designed to shorten the route between Panama and 

 the principal North Atlantic ports, as well as to foster the internal commerce of Cuba. 

 The Revista Municipal of Habana contains an article giving much interesting informa- 

 tion in this matter. 



As regards Cuban interests alone, this project is by no means of recent date, for a 

 century and a half ago the building of such a canal was proposed to facilitate internal 

 commerce between the ports on the southern and northern coasts of Cuba. As an 

 illustration of the advantages to be attained by water between Havana and Cienfuegos 

 would be reduced from 953 miles to about 120 miles. 



As far back as 1767, a royal decree notes the receipt by the Spanish government of 

 "new special charts and also a general chart of the north coast of Cuba," relating to 

 the matter of the Cuban canal, and in 1776, the cost of a navigable canal between 

 Havana and the Batabano River was estimated at $1,200,000, a figure that naturally 

 refers to other times and conditions. An old chart in the archives of the Sociedad 

 Economica de Amigos de Pais, shows the proposed course of a canal along this route, 

 as planned by Francisco and Felix Lemaur in 179S, by order of a royal commission 

 appointed to provide new means for the economic development of the island. Three 

 years earlier, in 1795, the Real Junta de Fomento y Navigacion, the department charged 

 with the maintenance and improvements of communications by land and water, advocated 

 the execution of what was even then termed "the old project of the Conde de Macuriges," 

 regarding the construction of "a navigable canal to unite the Gijines and Almendares 

 Rivers." It provided for the nivelization of the tract between these rivers and the 

 dock-yard of Havana, traversing the heights of the Cerro near the Puente de la 

 Zanga. 

 The political complications in which Spain was involved and the unsettled state of 



things in Cuba has 

 interfered hereto- 

 fore with its se- 

 rious considera- 

 tion. Now, how- 

 ever, the interest 

 of the Cubans has 

 been aroused in 

 this matter by the 

 hope and expecta- 

 tion that great ad- 

 vantages would ac- 

 crue for Cuba if 

 the canal should 

 be constructed. Of 

 this, the writer 

 says : 



"Cuba is situated 

 immediately in Pa- 

 nama's zone of in- 

 fluence : moreover, 

 its entire length 

 faces the Panama 

 Canal, so that an 

 imaginary line 

 Fernandez^ drawn between 



this interoceanic 

 port and New 

 York crosses ap- 

 proximately the 

 middle of the is- 

 land. . . This being 

 the case, a Cuban 

 canal, supplemen- 





'^ CAYO BIANCO 



Ala), ..I I];- M-n 



Casilda 



iiir tlie trnns-Ciiha canal 



