The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 25, 1899, Page 24

24 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JUNE 25, 1899. %D XOX M & ox XX &% HE success sci ce. ¢ the Karwiese n the accom- gineering feat seen pear insignifi- stupendous effort oz The eet, > Pacific a River or As a mat- e routes of S OEOROROES X OROROKO ORI OQ PROF. GEORGE DAVIDSON OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. I consider the Xarwiese canal scheme both visionary as regards the route proposed and fallacious from the stand- point of an engineer. e dense undergrowth and ger 1l character of the isth- mus are such as to render all surveys more or less inaccu- rate, but hardly sufficient to account for the marked differ- ence in distances as laid down iese and the accredited 3 the same ground made by experienced Govern- ment engineers. Making an approximate es- te of distances, it is fif- teen miles from the Pacific Ocean to the head of San Mi- guel Bay, the Pacific harbor of the proposed canal; from the head of San Miguel Bay to Chipigana, a town at the head of Darien harbor is twen- ty miles; from Chipigaua up stream to the junction of the Tuyra with the Chucunague, twenty-seven miles; up the Tuyra to the mouth of the Aputi at tide water, ten miles. This is the head of tide water, and from here on to the head- waters of the Aputi and base of the Cardilliere Mountains a canal would undoubtedly be required, twenty miles; then a canal tunnel of seven miles through the mountains; a canal to be cut from the mouth of the tunnel down the Tunela to Port Cuti, or tide water, twenty miles more. This would give at least forty- seven miles of difficult canal work, seven of which would be a tunnel through an uncer- tain formation. From Port Cuti on to the Atlantic would be ten miles further. ti b4 * & Wt ® & x & % PXPRDXD * ® * & L OHD > ARWIESE - an Iq;mense Canal Tunnel Become a Reality? e ; TR e ey x;.‘A‘ g g, — e | REAR | ADMIRAL JoHn G. WALkER. OUR !ull-rigged ships sailing abreast through a gigantic tunnel nearly two miles long end made bright a8 day by innumerable lights yould rival the wildest fancies of the Arabian Nights, and yet this is a proposition a clear-headed, skillful civil engineer has announced not only as a possibility but as a fact open to practical demonstration. G. A. Karweise, a German engineer of considerable repute and experienced in canal building, both on the Suez canal and Isthmus of Panama, has submitted a most remarkable plan to Admiral Walker of the Nio- aragua Canal Commission for connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He claims that in two years’ time :).x:d éfizfi%oag&;og:d :hihl?e’dmfnfl:l g&n:l v;n be completed through the Lower Isthmus of Panama between o of the Santa Maria River in the Aputi hi ill by long and have but a single lock at each terminus. R D M 0 i o ’.l‘he Cardilliere MountainF cross the Aputi Valley diametrically and the marvelous feature of Mr. Xar- wiese’s ?x'opo.ud route is the piercing of this monster stone blockade by a tunnel nearly 200 feet high. This ship tunnel would be kept brilliantly lightec by electricity supplied from motors actuated by tide- snachines built for the purpose from designs patented bvy William Bowman of Norfolk. N. X. SHIPS MAY" YET SAIL GHROUGH MOUNTAINS Has the Key Unlocking the Interoceanic Doors Been Found? Can -d at dift ragua on the n rien on the south, abandone )t the Nicaragu: idea is lacking in novel %e find in the report of Prc i\,"‘l‘”\‘-'» { i d to tr 3las route ould be the sh pouidl routes, to the Pacif and although 1 mini are excep eliminatec ization by its from se¢ Moreov ridge, . 2 survey in 18 proposed t the Goverr maps of lengthen ou mile tunnel to tend the eleven mile seven; show that eve miles of canal con of deep-wat would be pr: proposed Atla having made a remarkab 4 A lone white man with a par s tives might stuml lated facts, b upon tant eer under a man as Cor the University the isthmus as re tain company to system proposed by have stood on a mountain € his feet on one s navigable wa leading to the Pacific and on the oth & broad stream to the Atlantic. All of which was soon den strated to have ulent scheme upon the part and the bubble burst an named Karwiese dent of the Technical and told a story of tunnels and ca n the isthmus how he had traveled alone with native guides and had at last solved the in- teroceanic canal question—all with the {dea that he might lecture before the soclety and thereby interest capital He denied the privilege. His the- ories seemed ue and his figu lacking in foundation. Was he Kar- wiese of whom we now hear? Has the Kar e of the present day really found the key? B. G. LATHROP. OIxxOXPASXS % QM:‘Q*OMNMQ EX- PRESIDENT HUGH CRAIG OF THE CHAMBER CF = COMMERCE. I think Mr. Karwiese’s ship tunnel canal by no means an 2 improbable plan. As early as & the seventeenth century the [ Scotch landing on the isthmus of Darien formed the idea of connecting the two oceans by a similar canal, but of course the primitive machinery of 4 those days would have ren- ¥ dered the effort futile. At the present time, with modern ex- cavating and tunneling appli- 4 ances, there is no reason in the world why such a plan might not be successfully carried out—granting, of course, that the geological formation of the * mountain be such as to render the walls of the contemplated tunnel self-sustaining. I have @ never heard, however, of any & part of the isthmus whers a 3 tunnel of one and two-thirds * miles would connect tide water with tide water. The shortest ship tunnel canal route ac- < cording to my recollection > would require a seven-mile tunnel. Still, this is an age of great discovery and progres- sion, and the long-sought-for may have been found at last. & The Karwiese idea of room j for four ships to sail abreast would be an unnecessary ex- pense, and, besides, impractic- able. The tunnel could not be < made to stand. But a tun- & nel of sufficient width to y commodate the largest battle upon man clain came to the p Soclety of ( ship—say seventy-five feet— I and the height of the East @ River bridge—185 feet, or a & little higher than the Palace 3 Hotel—with thirty feet of * water flowing throug * be bored in favora g for even so great a di ;‘; seven miles, * 2 PAOXDLOLOXOAGEOEDLDAOEPLOXOXOK O X & % SKOKDHIROROAOROROKONSRO X &R & KX OXDAIKOASROAPXSXIHOXSROLO X