428 The National Geographic Magazine 



party with full information as to where 

 the America wintered and what had 

 been accomplished during the winter 

 and the first part of the spring. Un- 

 fortunately, as above stated, we were 

 unable to connect with this party or 

 reach land. A most careful watch was 

 kept aboard the Frithjof both night and 

 day for any trace or sign of the expe- 

 dition, but nothing whatever was found 

 during the entire period which we spent 

 in the ice. 



' ' I have every reason to believe that 

 the America reached Franz Josef Land 

 last year, that winter quarters was es- 

 tablished, and that the sledge journey 

 was made this spring. Of course, I 

 have no absolute knowledge that such 

 was the case, but am strongly convinced 

 that the original plans have been car- 

 ried out. 



' ' We have no anxiety as to the wel- 

 fare of the men other than the natural 

 chances that all explorers take in such 

 a perilous undertaking. The expedi- 

 tion has been thoroughly equipped and 

 has an abundance of food. In addi- 

 tion to what they carried last year, they 

 have additional large stores to fall back 

 upon in case of necessity in several 

 camps or depots in Franz Josef Land 

 Archipelago. In addition to the food, 

 they are thoroughly equipped to kill 

 game, which abound in that country 

 during certain periods of the year. 



"All the mail sent to the members of 

 the expedition, and which was carried 

 by the writer, has been placed in her- 

 metically sealed tins and deposited in 

 the Tromsoe Private Bank. 



" It is Mr Ziegler's intention to send 

 out a strong vessel next year for the 

 purpose of continuing the work and 

 reaching the members now in the field. ' ' 



THE CHAGRES RIVER 



THE Chief Engineer of the Panama 

 Canal, J. F. Wallace, has an- 

 nounced that the problem of how to 

 handle the waters of the Chagres River 

 has been solved by a party of American 



engineers, who have found a way of 

 diverting the waters of the Chagres 

 River into the Pacific Ocean. What 

 to do with the turbulent floods of the 

 Chagres River has hitherto been the 

 most perplexing question which con- 

 fronted the engineers. The most feas- 

 ible solutions, until now, had been either 

 to build an enormous dam and spillway 

 costing many millions of dollars, and 

 even then not satisfactory, or to dig a 

 channel 600 feet wide and 40 feet deep. 

 Mr. Wallace estimates that by diverting 

 the river to the Pacific by this newly 

 discovered route at least $20,000,000 

 will be saved over the previous plans. 



Mr. Wallace states that the expedition 

 which found the new waterway was led 

 by Engineer George Ehle. Mr. Ehle 

 has been in Panama three or four years. 

 Four months ago he, with a party of 

 young American engineers, most of 

 them just out of college, was sent to 

 explore the headwaters of the Chagres 

 River. They were abandoned in the 

 tropical jungle by their native helpers, 

 and had to carry on their backs the 

 packs that the natives had abandoned. 

 They cut their way foot by foot through 

 the dense tropical growth along the 

 river. They had maps that had been 

 made by the French engineers, but they 

 found rivers where none were indicated 

 on the maps, and found none where 

 they were indicated. About twelve 

 miles from the canal they found a river 

 on the Pacific slope of the mountains 

 not platted on the maps, by which the 

 waters of the Chagres can be carried to 

 the Pacific Ocean. 



The Isthmus of Panama* — When the 

 present able sanitary corps which has 

 charge of bettering the health conditions 

 in the isthmus has carried out its plans 

 for the improvement of the canal strip 

 and the cities of Panama and Colon, 

 there is no reason why the isthmus 

 should not be one of the healthiest 

 places in the world, is the opinion of 

 U. S. Minister John Barrett, of Panama, 

 expressed in a recent report. Mr Bar- 



