Evening Star Newspaper, June 29, 1930, Page 75

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JUNE 29, 1930. 3 —— “Uncle Sam’s Billion-Dollar Ditch Whether or Nof the Government Decides fo Build a Second Canal Linking Atlantic and Pacific Oceans Depends on the Report of United States Army Engineers Now at Work on - the Year-and-a-Half Survey of a Route-Through Nicaragua. The gigantic problem of a new canal across Central America is graphically shown by the artist’s sketch of how the Nicaraguan route would look from high in the air, Nearly four times as long as the Panama route, there are natural features which make the work easier, and it is 160 miles north of the present ditch. BY DON SUTTON. NCLE SAM is about to don overalls, spit on his hands, take up his shovel and again assume the roie of the world’s greatest ditch digger. For down in the swamp lowlands and wolcanic highlands of Nicaragua, not far north of the Panama Canal, trained Yankee eyes are squinting through transits, khaki- shirted engineers are bent over drawing boards in improvised jungle draughting rooms, United States Army surveying instruments flash and gleam in the tropical sunlight—all heralding the digging of another *“big ditch” between the Atlantic and the Pacific. ‘The mightiest engineering project of all time —the building of a canal approximately 183 miles long, that will shorten by a whole day the navigable distance between the east and the west coasts of the United States—is in the offing. A peace-time expeditionary force of Ameri- can Army engineers has ventured into sun- baked fastnesses where only recently fierce guerrilla warfare took its unhappy toll of lives and international good will. By automobile, airplane, ox-cart, railroad, lake steamers, out- board motors and native cayucas they are mov- ing, inch by inch, rod by rod, degree by degree, over the proposed route of the new canal. When they return, probably a year and a half from now, they will give Congress an accu- rate estimate of what the tremendous project will cost. They will know what difficulties must be surmounted in its construction. They can estimate how long the canal would be in the building and what advantage it would offer to American defense in event of war and to Amer- ican trade in times of peace. BU’I‘ on these subjects, even now, the Govern- ment is not wholly in the dark. For con- sideration of an interoceanic waterway through Nicaragua is nothing new, nor is this the first survey to be made of such a route. As far back as 1826 the United States Govern- ment was interested in the possibility of a Nicaraguan canal, and sent one John Bailey there to make a survey. He cruised about geo- graphically and laid out pretty much the same route that is still favored. Between then and 1899 there were several other surveys. And once, following a survey by Menogal in 1855, work on a canal actually was started by the Maritime Canal Co. of Nicaragua, which suc- cumbed finally, not to natural obstacles but to financial ones. . Then in 1899-1901 came the survey by the Isthmian Canal Commission. This still pro- vides the most accurate data on the proposed Nicaraguan route. The commission not only made a survey but prepared a project which was formally presented to Congress. It was estimated at that time that a canal ' through Nicaragua would flatten Uncle Sam’s "'pockethook by $190,000,000. Now, because the costs of material and labor have soared, esti- mates for the gigantic ditch-digging feat run as high as a billion dollars. And that accounts for the fact that many fiery phrases echoed ' 'thrbugh ' the corridors of the Capitol and dubi- ous frowns furrowed the brows of many of the Nation’s lawmakers last year before Congress ‘consented even to a $150,000 appropriation for & survey ‘of the route by Army engineers. For 113 miles the proposed Nicaraguan canal would be cut through land and river. Naviga- tion of the other 70 miles would be a matter of dredging a channel through the little known Lake of Nicaragua, which, incidentally, is the largest body of fresh water between Michigan and Peru. The Panama Canal is only 50 miles long. The Isthmian Canal Commission recom- mended the following route: The Atlantic end of the canal was to be at Greytown, where two jetties and a harbor 2 miles long were to be constructed. From there the canal was to run along ihe north side of the San Juan River for 44 miles, separated from it in places by dykes. Four locks were to be located in this stretch. Then the canal was to enter the San Juan River, which was to be changed into an arm of Lake Nicaragua, 50 miles long, by a dam at Conchuda. The channel across the Lake of Nicaragua, 70 miles, was to be dredged. Then the canal was to pass through the Continental Divide, west of Lake Nicaragua, and drop to the level of the Pacific by four locks (16 miles). There was to be a dredged harbor and a jetty at Brito, on the Pacific side. HIS route, in fact, was recommended in preference to that through the Isthmus of Panama. The Nicaraguan project was favored partly because the French at that time were demanding an exorbitant price to release their holdings in Panama and because there were treaty difficulties with Colombia. Both of these obstacles were removed and the Panama route won out. Army engineers naturally are thoroughly alive to the somewhat formidable natural obstacles that must be overcome by the engineer builders in the construction of a Nicaraguan waterway, but they deny that they are any greater than those which faced the pioneer canal builders in Panama. The problem of sanitation in Nica- ragua, for inmstance, they describe as mere “child’s play” in comparison with the problem which confronted Gen. Gorgas in cleaning up malaria-ridden Panama. Malaria is not unduly prevalent in Nicaragua, they say, and already American medical men have done much to lessen the peril of disease there. The engineering problems would be multi- fold. The eastern coast of Nicaragua is low, swampy, and the weedy San Juan River pur- sues a serpentine course through uninhabited jungle. In contrast the Pacific coast is high .and rocky. Between Brito Head, a promontory 248 feet high, and-still another promontory there is a swamp which must be scooped out to form a harbor. . Greytown Harbor, on the extreme eastern side, was once a busy port, with water suffi- ciently deep to admit the decrepit American river steamers which, having outlived their use- fulness on the Mississippi, were pressed into tropic service in their old age. But now the harbor is filled up by volcanic debris which the San Juan River carried down from the volcanoes to the west, and most of the river traffic is by canoe or by gasoline launch. In Greytown Harbor at the Atlantic end of the proposed route. Technical - Sergt. Bakewell is shown at work on ‘a survey of the harbor, It will be no mean feat, of course, to canalize the river. But only for a distance of 24 miles will engineers be faced by the task of actually digging through dry land. Half of this part of the excavation work will be done through the lowlands near the east coast, and the other half through the highlands which separate the lake from the Paclific. - el THE highest elevation through which the canal must be cut is a ridge between the Desiado and San Juan rivers at Tamborcito. This ridge is about 300 feet above sea level at & point which one proposed route would inter- sect; about 220 feet at another. In contrast the elevation of the highest points of excava« tion in the Panama Canal was 534 feet. Tamborcito Ridge in Nicaragua is composed of hard rock and flanked on both sides by swamps, while the Culebra summit in Panama is of rock and earth that slides rapidly. In fact, large quantities slid into the excavated prism during the after construction. From this, engineers say, it is manifest that the difficul- ties of piercing Tamborcito will be insignificant as compared with those encountered at Culebra. The Panama Canal was 10 years in building. Although the Nicaraguan project is larger, the route is more distributed, and for this reason might be completed in less time. From sea to sea the Panama Canal is 133 . miles shorter than the Nicaraguan canal would be. It has less summit elevation and less curve ature. The time of travel through the Paname Canal, including three hours of waiting fo# the right of way, is about 13 hours. Estimateq on the time necessary to pass through a Nicae raguan canal vary eonsiderably. However, it if evident that, except for the items of risks oe unexpected delays, the Nicaraguan route is mord advantageous for all commerce except that tq or from the west coast of South America. Between United States Pacific and Atlantig ports the Nicraguan route is shorter by about one day. The same advantage would be true of travel between Atlantic ports and the Orient, For United States Gulf ports, Nicaragua is shorter by. about two days. For commerce between North Atlantic ports and the west coast of South America, the Panama route is shorter by about two days; between Gulf ports and the western coast of South America it ig shorter by about ong day. Figures show tha§ under these comparisons a Nicaraguan canal would be shorter in time for about 79 per cené of the traffic, and thus would take traffic away, from Panama unless tolls were so adjusted as to prevent this. i A,REPORT which was prepared under thd supervision of Maj. Gen. Edgar Jadwin, chief of Army Engineers, for submission to the President and the cabinet says: “One of the chief reasons for the Panamg Canal was national defense. Now a part of the canal is carried on the books as_an arbitrary proportion of the cost representing its value from a national defense standpoint. A second canal would, of course, have a national defense value, in that there would be two routes'from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and two routes would have to be destroyed to cut off interoceanic eommunication. (Copyright, 1930.)