THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 174, 5 July 1872, Page 6

THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA.

The' New York World' has the following :—The greatest barrier to navigation from one side; of the globe " to the otter, is the long and rugged isthmus which connects North and South America. This can- be spanned i by railroads without any vast difficulty, but the barrier, would then.only be re-, duced, not removed. Ifit comes within . the power of the engineer ,to cut through that bar" in the path-way.of commerce, and allow vessels to pass, without discharging their freight, such' an achievement would.eclipse in. gran-: ;deur, any thing that has been done in . age of wondrous mechanical; exploits. .Two surveys have been going. on during the past yearr to ascertain the feasibility of this undertaking-hone .. atDarien, and one at : ;Tehuantepec. The report of the:chief engineer of the Tehuantepec expedition is accompanied by twenty maps and profiles. and many calculations intended: to show, that a ship canal across the isthmus, is pot only practicable, but that, the ob- . stacles in its way are of the most ordinary character. A canal. : can start, , he says, at the. head water.s of ship navigation onthe-Cdatzaccoal cos river, follow.the valley of its chief boundary,,, and the dividing, range-of Tarifa, and thence.descend- through the pass of: ' Tarifa and cross r the • plains tp. Salina. - Cruz, bri the Pacific. . The whole distance would be, 1/7-2 miles, in the course of which 732 feet of elevation would,, have to be overcome by locks? Commander Selfridge at Barien has also found ,a path-way for navigation from. : sea. to- ■ sea. ;Hewould ascend the rivei* Atrato from the G-iilf of Darien to the mouth of the Napipi, 150 miles. The Atrato" is navigable all this distance for vessels of the largest size, so that a canal is necessary for only 32 miles, from the mouth of the Napipi to Cupice Bay on the Pacific side. Twenty-three miles of this space is a flat plain, with a rise of only ninety feet, and no difficulties to overcome. All so far is common place, and there is nothing to excite the determination and' pluck of a Yankee, but the rest of the way presents . something worthy of his attention.' The proposed canal is suddenly ped by a beetling ridge of hills 600 feet high, and in. order to reach the ocean it must be severed. Eor three miles there must be a cut of 125 feet deep and the remaining five" miles of. roek must be tunnelled. Here is something worth, while, but after Mont Cenis and,the Hoosac Bore it is. not enough to intimidate American enter-. prise and daring.. : " '