66 



The National Geographic Magazine 



One of the Hospital Buildings on the Hill Back of Panama 



the Caribbean end of which is on the 

 Gulf of San Bias, is about sixty miles 

 east of Colon. This route has the dis- 

 tinguishing characteristic of being lo- 

 cated on probably the shortest line 

 between the tide waters of the two 

 oceans on the Isthmus, this distance 

 being scarcely thirty miles. The short 

 length of this line has secured for it a 

 number of earnest advocates. It also 

 was subject to survey by the engineer- 

 ing parties of the Isthmian Commission. 

 The elevation of the divide at this cross- 

 ing is so great as to necessitate the con- 

 sideration of a ship tunnel from five to 

 seven miles long, the canal being planned 

 as a sea-level waterway. The great 

 cost of a canal on this line and the haz- 



ards attending such a construction as a 

 ship tunnel rendered this route, like the 

 Caledonia line, neither practicable nor 

 feasible, compared with the Panama 

 route. 



Many surveys and examinations have 

 been made at different crossings of the 

 Central American isthmus between Te- 

 huantepec, in Mexico, and the eastern 

 limit of the Republic of Panama. As- 

 earnest and as enthusiastic as the sup- 

 porters of other routes have been, the 

 most complete and exact surveys and 

 estimates have shown that the Panama 

 route embodies the greatest number of 

 advantages of any line ever considered 

 for a ship canal between the two oceans. 

 It is a tribute to the sagacity and goodi 



