The Nicaragua Canal

LlKf ;ill ot the other iulor-owanic routes ;He hlfetory of the Nicaragua canal ls repleto wlth failures, ïeovgani' z.ritions nnd heavy expendltares before uny visible work was performed on tlio canal tself, saya Chautauquan. Nicaragua granted conr.essions for the canal in 18S9 to tlio Marítimo Canal compan? of Nicaragua. Tiiis company ivas incorporated umin an act of congress in that. year, with flio provisión thaí an annual report, be submrtted to tlvi ■ecretary of the interior. This corpcv rat ion then coatfacted wlth the Nicaragua Construction company to survey and construct the canil, locks, harbors, j cr.d docks, anü alter exhaustiva 1 veys the route was deiermined upan nd actual work begnn in October, 18S9. The flrei hing was to batid an ; mous break water at Greytown to teel the inomh nf tho channel. This breakwater extended a thousand feet out Into the ocean and was built ot cemeni and concrete and filled in with bmsh and rook. The natural channel was wideoed and deepened by dredglag and the harbor otherwise improved anii protected from the ocean by.expensiVe raeasures. Now the present local ion at (ireytown is practically condemned, and the breakwater will oiihcr l)e removed or a new one built. An immense clearing extending ten miles back of Greytown was made through the forest, and a similar clearing of nine miles completed on the othI er end from Lakc A harbor ! doek 260 feet long was built, with machino-shops, houses aad all modera eteam apparatue necessary for prosecuting the work. A railway line was surveyod to Ochoa, twelve miles of it built, and telegraphic conwnunications established over the whole route. Dredging was (?ommenced west of Greytown harbor, and nearly two miles of the canal was excavated to a depth of so'euteen feet and from 150 to 250 feet in widlh. The value of a great intcrocijanio canal or ship railway cannot disputed, and tl will not lo many yoars before one of the three great routes will be completed; but it would lic hard for any man to predict rightly at this time which will be the successt rival.