The Mandingo Route 



67 



to present mechanical devices, whatever 

 may have been the case at an earlier 

 period of the inquiry ? The answer is 

 most emphatically, No. 



" By existing appliances, by means of 

 machinery now in the market and in 

 successful operation, this tunnel can be 

 quickly and economically built, and with 

 certainty and safety economically oper- 

 ated. It is a work, says an eminent 

 authority, ' not of difficulty, but of 

 magnitude,' and when it is recollected 

 that its magnitude is insignificant as 

 compared with the engineering work in- 

 volved in its competitors, it will, we 

 think, be apparent that the tunnel is no 

 real objection to the line. 



' ' We have exhibited our studies for 

 this tunnel to eminent engineers and 

 have received the most flattering in- 

 dorsement, which will in due time be 

 made public, and we shall show that 

 experienced and responsible contractors 

 are willing to build our canal within 

 our estimates, and to give satisfactory 

 bonds to that effect. 



' ' We are of opinion that, although full 

 faith and credit should be given to the 

 opinions of competent engineers, the 

 cost of an enterprise can never be cer- 

 tainly fixed until responsible contractors 

 have named the price at which they 

 will undertake it. 



" The following are the points upon 

 which the Mandingo route depends for 

 your approval : 



"First. Its length is but 29^ miles. 



' ' Second. It is a perfectly straight line 

 from ocean to ocean. 



"Third It possesses perfect natural 

 harbors, large enough and deep enough 

 for commerce. 



"Fourth. It has no locks nor tide-gates 

 nor dams, but is essentially a part of the 

 water system of the world, where ship- 

 ping can pass without hindrance ordela} 7 . 



"Fifth. It does not depend upon im- 

 pounded water, with all the contingen- 

 cies involved in such dependence, but 

 becomes, on the contrary, from the mo- 

 ment of its completion a portion of the 

 ocean. 



"Sixth. It can be constructed, ready 

 for operation, in not more than three 

 years. 



"Seventh. Its capacity, under all con- 

 ditions of tide and weather, allows the 

 passage of 288 ships per day under a 

 headway of one mile. 



"Eighth. Electric trolleys will propel 

 shipping through the canal with cer- 

 tainty, regularity, and safety. 



' 'Ninth. The time of transit for steam- 

 ships under their own steam in the open 

 cuts and by trolley through the tunnel 

 will be three and a half hours ; for ships 

 not using their own motive power the 

 time by trolley towage will be five 

 hours. 



" Tenth. The distance to and from all 

 South Pacific ports is shorter and the 

 time needed less. To all North Pacific 

 and insular ports the certainty and 

 rapidity of transit will give it a time 

 . advantage which more than balances its 

 slight disadvantage in distance. 



' 'Finally. The American Isthmus Ship 

 Canal Company asks no money from 

 the Treasury of the United States. It 

 proposes to give to the commerce of the 

 world ideal transit from ocean to ocean 

 at a moderate and just price, and to the 

 Government of the United States in ex- 

 change for the guarantee of its bonds 

 free transit for one hundred years for 

 the national ships. 



" By examining the following tabular 

 statement the points of difference be- 

 tween the Mandingo and the Nicaragua 

 and the Panama lines are readily meas- 

 ured. 



