The Mandingo Route 



65 



willing to undertake and construct at 

 such a moderate cost that the entire ex- 

 pense of the canal would be less than by 

 ■either the Panama or Nicaragua route. 

 Electric lights would make the tunnel 

 bright as day, deep shafts would venti- 

 late it, and an electric trolley pull the 

 vessels back and forth. 



The company proposes to build the 

 canal without financial assistance from 

 the United States Government further 

 than a guarantee of its bonds as the 

 work progresses. In return for this 

 guarantee the United States is to have 

 free transit for all warships for 100 

 3'ears. 



The company has not obtained any 

 ■concession from the Colombian Govern- 

 ment, as the Panama concession does 

 not expire until 1910. The matter of a 

 ■concession is, however, for the present, 

 immaterial. The great question is, 

 which is the best and most enduring 

 route. When the route has been found 

 that possesses the greatest certainty of 

 keeping open at all times and for all 

 time, the matter of a concession can be 

 arranged. 



General E. W. Serrell, the consulting 

 •engineer of the company, and the man 

 who has planned this Mandingo route, 

 has been a famous engineer for half a 

 century. In 1 848 he was assistant engi- 

 neer to the Panama Survey ; in 1850, 

 the chief engineer in the construction of 

 the Niagara bridge ; later he was the 

 chief engineer in the construction of the 

 Hoosac tunnel, and he has been asso- 

 ciated with many other great public 

 works. 



The American Isthmus Ship Canal 

 Company has issued a preliminary state- 

 ment setting forth their arguments in 

 favor of the Mandingo route. Practi- 

 cally their entire statement is printed 

 below. It is so positive that it deserves 

 most careful consideration. The map 

 that follows the statement is a copy of 

 the map prepared by the company to 

 accompany the statement. 



STATEMENT OF AMERICAN ISTHMUS 

 SHIP CANAL COMPANY CONCERNING 

 PROPOSED MANDINGO ROUTE. 



' ' The American Isthmus Ship Canal 

 Company, incorporated under the laws 

 of the State of New Jersey on the 30th 

 day of June, 1899, proposes to con- 

 struct and operate a tide-water sea-level 

 ship canal across the Isthmus of Darien, 

 in the Mandingo country, a straight 

 line, without locks or tide-gates, 29^ 

 miles long, from a good harbor in the 

 Gulf of San Bias, on the Atlantic side, 

 nearly south, to a good harbor back of 

 the Pearl Islands on the Pacific side. 



' ' Having completed its preliminary 

 work, this company now proposes to 

 show that its enterprise is the ideal canal. 

 It proposes to build and op- 

 erate the canal itself, under proper 

 supervision, however, of the United 

 States Government. 



' ' It asks no appropriation from the 

 Congress. It seeks to take no dollar 

 from the public funds. It asks that 

 the United States Government shall 

 guarantee its bonds, in principal and 

 interest, as the property acquired and 

 work done under government super- 

 vision justifies, and it offers as an equiv- 

 alent for such guarantee free transit 

 for vessels belonging to the United 

 States through its canal for one hun- 

 dred years. 



' ' The various proposed lines may be 

 generally classified in two groups — first, 

 sea-level tide- water canals ; second, ca- 

 nals depending upon impounded water, 

 with locks and tide-gates. 



' ' The advantages of the former are 

 manifest and scarcely need enumera- 

 tion, while the disadvantages of the 

 latter, both in construction and opera- 

 tion, are equally beyond discussion. It 

 is only necessary to refer to the succes- 

 sive reports of the commissions of re- 

 cent years to clearly see this point. To 

 depend upon rain water impounded by 

 dams, in a country where every rain- 



