Interoceanic canal

“ When the canal connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific shall be completed, no more waterways uniting oceans will be necessary or possible. But, did a weak people possess a site that might be utilized by the ebbing and flowing of the globe's shipping, when a canal had been made, they would obviously hesitate a long time before voluntarily parading its advantages. ”

“ Lloyd thinks that the heavy cost involved in constructing canals of sufficient size to pass craft suitable for coasting and short continental voyages would be fatal to cheap conveyance.
The largest locks hitherto constructed are those on the St. Mary’s Falls Canal, in the United States, and the Welland Canal in Canada. On the former canal the lock opened in 1851 is 515 feet in length and 80 feet wide. The great tidal lock at Eastham, on the Manchester Ship Canal, will be 600 feet long and 80 feet wide. ”

“ He says that the most desirable canal is the sea-level canal of such dimensions as would afford unrestricted passage for the largest vessels afloat, with such margin for increase in size and draft as can reasonably be anticipated, making allowance for unexpected developments. No plan should be adopted that would prevent the ultimate construction of a sea-level canal at least approximately approaching to the final idea of the Straits of Panama. ”

“ No man can find objections to this type when once constructed. The objections to the narrow sea-level canal first considered do not apply to the “Straits of Panama”, so they will stand as the ideal solution.
A canal designed to carry the world’s commerce, to furnish free communication between the Atlantic and Pacific should be as free from artificial devices as it is possible to make it. It is therefore hoped that some day the present lock canal will be enlarged to an ideal, wide, sea-level channel. ”

“ Although at first sight it may appear to be a work of supererogation, to carry the Canal over that part of the Isthmus which is traversed by navigable rivers, it is by many engineers considered preferable in forming a Canal, to use the rivers in its vicinity only for the purpose of supplying the Canal with water, and not as a continuation of the inland navigation, on account of the variation in the depth of rivers from floods, or other accidents. ”

“ I for one am opposed to a waste of untold millions and to additional burdens of needless taxation, while the project of a lock canal offers every practical advantage, offers a canal within a reasonable period of time and at a reasonable cost, offers a waterway of enormous advantage to American shipping, of the greatest possible value to the nation in the event of war, and the opportunity for the American people to carry into execution at the earliest possible moment what has been called the "dream of navigators," and what has thus far defied the engineering skill of European nations. ”

“ The Navigation Canal is essentially a harbor improvement. It enables practically unlimited industrial development and commercial interchange. It is an important link in the Intracoastal Canal system which the government is developing to provide an inland waterway from Boston, Mass. to Brownsville, Tex., and, with the dredging of a channel through Lake Pontchartrain to the Gulf, a problem which U.S. engineers have been studying for some time and an undertaking which they have found feasible, it will put the nation's second port about fifty miles closer to the sea. ”

“ Thus the works taken over by the United States in 1904 were available for any type of canal, and the decision to adopt the 85-foot-level was not taken until 1906. Even now, or in April, 1908, at the time of my visit, when so much work has been done upon the locks, many of the rank and file of the employees still cherish the hope of a tide-level canal, and there are not wanting well-informed people, both on the Isthmus and in the States, who, while accepting the high-level scheme as inevitable, regard a tide-level canal as essentially a better thing. ”

“ But upon the proposal as just stated there are two important remarks to be made—the first, that the suggested expenditure of 12,000l. per mile would only give us canals adapted for the navigation of large barges or vessels of not more than 150 to 200 tons, whereas what is chiefly required is internal water communication that would enable an ordinary merchant steamer to sail right up to Birmingham, Leeds, Bradford, and other large towns; the second, that no such maritime ship canal has hitherto been constructed for less than 120,000l. per mile, including all contingencies. ”

“ Is the Panama Canal likely to be used by sailing vessels? The prevailing idea is that it will be no more practicable a route for such craft than the Suez Canal. Winds, tides, and currents have much more to say to the sailing vessel than to the steamer, and the terminals of the canal, especially on the Pacific end, are not always easy of approach to wind-driven ships. One effect of the opening of the Panama Canal will be to hasten the decline of these old-fashioned and more beautiful craft. ”

“ One of the most important matters that the canal engineer and manager has to deal with, is the adoption of the form of boat best suited for the gauge of his canal and the character of the traffic to be dealt with. The majority of canals are of too limited dimensions to admit of the employment of boats of large size. Even on some of the largest rivers—such as the Thames, the Danube, and the Rhine—the size of vessels employed has to be kept down to a limit which would be deemed ridiculous for ocean-going steamers. ”

“ La difficulté de creuser le canal au travers du col de partage des vallées de la Sambre et de la Meuse et d’assurer l’alimentation de la voie à construire, paraissait d’ailleurs presque insurmontable à cette époque où l’art de la construction des galeries souterraines était peu connu et où l’alimentation des canaux à point de partage avait été peu étudiée. ”

“ If it is an advantage to gain an hour or two in transit ten years hence by having no transisthmian shipping facilities for the ten years in the meantime, then it might as well be argued that it would be better to project a sea-level canal 300 feet wide at every point, so that the commerce of the year 2000 may be properly provided for. ”

“ Engineers of the highest standing at home and abroad have expressed themselves for or against one type or the other, but it is a question upon which no complete agreement is possible. In theory a sea-level canal has unquestionable advantages, but, practically, the elements of cost and time necessary for the construction preclude to-day, as they did in 1894, when the New Canal Company recommenced active operations, the building of a sea-level canal. ”

“ Then again, the speed on British canals can seldom be carried above 21⁄2 miles per hour, not to speak of the delay in getting through the locks, of which there are ninety-three between Leeds and Liverpool.
It would be the idlest of idle dreams to expect that the canal system of this or any other country, as originally constructed, can be resuscitated, or even temporarily galvanised into activity, in competition with railways. Canals as they were built a century ago have no longer any function to fulfil that is worthy of serious consideration. ”

“ The rates given above for the Aire and Calder Canal are no doubt exceptionally low, because that is one of the best managed and best equipped canals in the country. On the average of the English canals the cost of transport will be a good deal more, and it must continue to be so until they have been brought up to the level of efficiency maintained on the Aire and Calder. In the majority of the canals of England it is either impossible, or economically impracticable, to employ steam power, without which the ultimate extent of possible economy cannot be realised. ”

“ Each of these three locks has, of course, a duplicate alongside, permitting, as at Gatun, the simultaneous passage of a companion vessel, or of one passing in the opposite direction. In case of repairs to one set of locks the parallel set would maintain the waterway.
The lift of the lower lock at Milaflores is variable, depending upon the level of the tidal water in the last reach of the Canal. The extreme range of the tide at La Boca, the Pacific entrance to the Canal, is 20 feet; that is to say, low water during "spring" tides is 10 feet below the average sea-level. ”

“ The boats that use the canal have to be dragged through and up the sluices close to the banks, by large windlasses, whereby they are brought into still water by a very tedious process. [236]
The canal is largely used for passenger traffic, but the rate of progress seldom exceeds 25 to 30 miles a day, and is often under 20. The greater part of the work has been expended in the simple labour of constructing embankments, and not, as in the case of the Panama and Suez Canals, in digging a deep channel. ”

“ How great the traffic already is and with what strides it grows is well known. Its capacity can at any time be doubled by lighting it with electricity, but at present vessels are compelled by rule to lie still after sunset. All is dead through the night. In a few years this will be changed; and indeed the canal must be widened ere long and made a double track throughout to accommodate the continual stream of ships plying between the East and the West. ”

“ All of the evidence, all of the supplementary expert testimony which may be obtained upon the merits of the two propositions, will not change the position of those who rest their conclusions upon American experience and upon the judgment of American engineers, and who favor a lock canal. While there is no doubt that such a canal can be constructed and can be made a practicable waterway, there is a very serious question whether a sea-level canal can be constructed and made a safe and practicable waterway, at least within the limits of the estimated amount of cost and within the estimated time. ”

“ Any attempt at a general revival and improvement of the canal system throughout England cannot prove financially successful, as local canals, through thinly populated agricultural districts, could not compete with railways. These routes alone should be selected for enlargement of waterway which lead direct from the sea to large and increasing towns like the proposed canal from the Bristol Channel to Birmingham, or which, like the Aire and Calder Navigation and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, are suitably set for the conveyance of coal and general bulky goods to populous districts. ”

“ With regard to the construction of canals, that must be regulated by the quantity of trade to be passed, and the charges that it will bear; but, within certain limits, the larger the canal the better. In the case of ship canals for seaborne vessels, it is advisable to construct them wherever they can be made at a reasonable cost, and there is traffic enough to pay a fair interest upon the capital. ”

“ The Royal Mail steamers from Southampton to Colon and the Pacific Steam Navigation Company will be in a strong position for obtaining a large proportion of the South American trade. The Hamburg-American are reported to be looking for docks at San Francisco. The Ward and other American lines will become patrons of the canal, and it is estimated that one hundred new American vessels will soon be under construction in national yards, and that will make nearly one hundred and fifty of that nation ready for the canal. Other countries are not idle. Japan has boats in course of construction ”

“ The building of a canal across the American Isthmus has occupied the attention of the world for four hundred years. While yet the sailors who crossed the sea with Columbus were living in all the vigor of mature manhood, a Spanish engineer drew the plans for an artificial waterway across the Isthmus and submitted them to the King of Spain. From that time to this the building of an Isthmian Canal has been a fascinating project in the minds of progressive men. Attempts to build it have resulted in the loss of thousands of lives and the squandering of millions of treasure ”

“ The French engineers estimated that the excavation would be about 157,000,000 cubic yards, that eight years would be required for completion, and that the cost would be $127,600,000. Work proceeded continuously until 1887, when a change to the lock type was made in order to secure the use of the canal as soon as possible, it being understood that the construction of a sea-level canal was not to be abandoned but merely deferred until financial conditions would allow its completion. ”

“ The cry for “deeper waterways” has been in the air for many years, but never has it been louder than just now. The first enlargement of the St. Mary’s Falls Canal in 1881, and the subsequent deepening of the channels connecting the Upper Lakes had the effect, almost immediately, of doubling the tonnage of vessels plying the lakes and of producing a corresponding reduction in the rates of freight. ”

“ A ship canal is a barge canal on a large scale. The speed of ships has to be strictly limited to avoid damage to the banks.
The Manchester Ship Canal takes in the waters of the Irwell and the Mersey, and conveys them for several miles. It is thus a canalised river for part of its course. Below that it is a tidal stream, the tide being admitted 96 at its lower end where it joins the estuary of the Mersey, and passing out higher up where it leaves the estuary after skirting it. This circulation of water is beneficial to the estuary. ”