THE PRESENT STATE OF THE NICARAGUA CANAL 
By General A. W. Greely, 
Chief Signal Officer, United States Army 
The economic, physical, political, and strategic advantages of 
the Nicaragua canal have been so fully dwelt upon that their 
• presentation here is not called for, especially in view of the forth- 
coming report to Congress of the National Commission on this 
interoceanic waterway. This article is viewed as supjdementarv 
to the articles on the Panama Canal Route and the Tehuantepec 
Ship Railway, in order that the readers of The National Geo- 
graphic Magazine may know the amount of work done on the 
Nicaragua canal to date, its possible cost as given by the corpo- 
ration engineers, and also as estimated by the National Commis- 
sion, which latter forecast b}'- the press is subject to correction. 
The following summaiy covers the main features of the work. 
The concession for the canal was granted by Nicaragua to tbe 
IMaritime Canal Company of Nicaragua, incori)orated under act 
of Congress February 20, 1889, which comjiany reports annu- 
ally to the Secretary of the Interior. Statements relative to 
work done are drawn from its ro})ort of Decemlier 3, 1892. This 
corporation contracted with the Nicaragua Construction Com- 
I)any for the construction of the canal. In the s})ring of 1889 
detailed surveys of canal, locks, harbors, etc., were com])letcd, 
the final location of the route was jiractically determined, and, 
after jn-eliminary oi)crations, the work of actual construction 
began October 9, 1889. To restore Greytown harbor a break- 
water extending 1,000 feet into tbe ocean was built and lilled 
in with hrush mattresses, rock, and hydraulic-cement concrete. 
A channel of 10 feet formed naturally, which was increased by 
dredging to 15 feet, and thus maintained until tin* accretions to 
the beach on the windward side of the jetty reaehed its outward 
extremity, when the sand ])assed to leeward and partially clos(‘(l 
the new entrance. Five groU])S of ])erman(‘nt buildings were 
erected near San Juan, ineluding olliees, hospitals, storehouses, 
etc., which covered an area of 1 i{ acres. In addition, freight 
wharves, machine sho|»s, etc., were Imilt, and the more impoi- 
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