NICARAGUA AND THE ISTHMIAN ROUTES 257 



western portions of the route. The work accomplished, however, 

 represented only a small fraction of the funds subscribed, the 

 balance being squandered in corruption and reckless extrava- 

 gance. The scandals occasioned thereby led to the bankruptcy 

 of the company and the suspension of the work. The sums act- 

 ually subscribed and put into this work are variously stated as 

 more or less than $260,000,000, not more than one-fifth of which 

 is represented by actual construction. 



On the reorganization of the company a balance of about 

 twenty million dollars remained available for surveys and con- 

 struction. The sea-level plan was abandoned, more complete 

 surveys were made, and plans drawn up for a lock-canal, which 

 is to be supplied with water from reservoirs to be constructed 

 on theChagres river. A small force is and has been for several 

 years at work on construction, and the project is not by any 

 means abandoned, though it is admitted that it will cost over 

 $100,000,000 to complete the canal under any possible plan. 



Nicaragua Route. — The advantages offered by this route for 

 interoceanic communication were recognized at a very early 

 period, and surveys were ordered by the crown of Spain as early 

 as 1524, but were not executed. In later years several super- 

 ficial examinations were made and many conflicting statements 

 rendered, but all the really useful knowledge of this isthmus is 

 of recent date. Nothing reliable and definite as to distances 

 and elevations was obtained until 1850, when Col. O. W. Childs 

 was sent there by the Atlantic and Pacific Ship-Canal Company. 

 He made a reconnaissance of the entire strip of land between 

 the Pacific and Lake Nicaragua, and made surveys of several 

 routes to connect them. That from Salinas bay to Sapoa river 

 he examined and condemned on account of the great elevation 

 to be overcome. The favorite route of Louis Napoleon, by way 

 of Lake Managua, he also condemned on account of its elevation 

 and great length. His examination led him to the conclusion 

 " that the line leading from the mouth of Las Lajas to the Pacific 

 a! Brito presented more favorable conditions for the construction 

 of a canal than any other." The correctness of this conclusion 

 is now universally acknowledged. 



Colonel Childs estimated for the construction of a canal with 

 a continuous depth of 17 feet. He proposed to hold the lake 

 permanently at Ids feet above sea-level, and to overcome this 

 elevation by 1 1 locks on each side, with a maximum lift of eight 

 feet; the summit was to We controlled by dams at Castillo on 



