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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



will afford convenient passage of ships of the 

 greatest tonnage and draft now in use." 



In event the provisions for the pur- 

 chase and for securing the necessary 

 concession from Colombia could not be 

 carried out, the President was author- 

 ized to secure the rights necessary for 

 the construction of the Nicaraguan 

 Canal. 



The law also provided, after the fore- 

 going arrangements had been perfected, 

 that— 



"the President shall then, through the Isthmian 

 Canal Commission . . . cause to be ex- 

 cavated, constructed, and completed a canal 

 from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. 

 Such canal shall be of sufficient capacity and 

 depth as shall afford convenient passage for 

 vessels of the largest tonnage and greatest 

 draft now in use, and such as may be reason- 

 ably anticipated." 



To enable the President to carry out 

 these provisions certain sums were ap- 

 propriated and a bond issue, not to ex- 

 ceed one hundred and thirty millions of 

 dollars, was authorized. By this act 

 Congress, in accepting the estimates ac- 

 companying the report of the commis- 

 sion of 1 901, adopted the type proposed 

 by the board, or a lock canal. 



Pursuant to the legislation, negotia- 

 tions were entered into with Colombia 

 and with the New Panama Canal Com- 

 pany, with the end that a treaty was 

 made with the Republic of Panama grant- 

 ing to the United States control of a 

 10-mile strip, constituting the Canal Zone, 

 with the right to construct, maintain, and 

 operate a canal. This treaty was ratified 

 by the Republic of Panama on December 

 2, 1903, and by the United States on 

 February 23, 1904. 



The formal transfer of the property 

 of the New Panama Canal Company on 

 the Isthmus was made on May 4, 1904, 

 after which the United States began the 

 organization of a force for the construc- 

 tion of the lock type of canal, in the 

 meantime continuing the excavation by 

 utilizing the French material and equip- 

 ment and such labor as was procurable 

 on the Isthmus. 



THE) INTERNATIONAL BOARD OF EXPERTS 



The question of a sea-level canal was 

 again agitated, and secured such recog- 

 nition that the President convened an 

 international board of engineers, con- 

 sisting of 13 members, to assemble at 

 Washington on the 1st day of Septem- 

 ber, 1905, for the purpose of considering 

 the various plans for the construction of 

 the canal that would be submitted to it. 



The plans submitted may be briefly 

 summarized as — ■ 



(1) That of the commission of 1901, 

 which has already been explained. 



(2) A lock canal with terminal lakes 

 proposed by Mr Lindon W. Bates, and 

 for which three projects were proposed. 

 The one which he appeared to favor con- 

 templated a summit level of 62 feet 

 above the sea, created by a dam at Bohio, 

 and an intermediate level of 33^ feet 

 above mean tide, effected by a dam at 

 Mindi. This plan provided four locks — 

 at Mindi, Bohio, Pedro Miguel, and 

 Sosa. A variant of the plan contem- 

 plated a dam at Gatun instead of at 

 Bohio, showing that, at least for a 30- 

 foot head, the Gatun location was not 

 considered by him as unfavorable or 

 offering any difficulties respecting the 

 foundations. His other plans were mod- 

 ifications of this, the summit levels being 

 27 or 62 feet, but in each instance the 

 lock type was advocated. 



(3) The plan proposed by Mr Bunau- 

 Varilla carried out the ideas of the first 

 French company, namely, the construc- 

 tion of a lock canal with a summit level 

 130 feet above mean tide, to be ultimately 

 converted into a sea-level canal, or what 

 he calls the Straits of Panama. The 

 locks were to be constructed so that as 

 the levels were deepened by dredging 

 they could be eliminated, navigation con- 

 tinuing during the enlargement and 

 transformation. The material removed 

 by the dredges was to be deposited in 

 the lake formed of the upper Chagres 

 River by a dam at Gamboa, and any 

 suitable locations in the various pools 

 between the locks. In commenting on 



