CONNECTING THE OCEANS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 228, 13 June 1872, Page 8

CONNECTING THE OCEANS.

[From the "JVew York World.") The greatest barrier to navigation from one side of the globe to- the other is the long and rugged isthmus which connects North and South America.. This can be spanned by railroads without any vast difficulty, but the barrier would only then be reduced, not removed. If it comes within the power of the engineer to cut through that bar in the pathway of commerce, and allow vessels to pass without discharging their freight, such an achievement would eclipse in grandeur anything that has been done even in this age of wondrous mechanical exploits. Two surveys have been going on during thepast year to ascertain the feasibility of this undertaking — one at Darien, anJ one at Tehuantepec. The report of the chief engineer of the Tehuantepecexpedition is accompanied by twan' < maps and profiles, and many calculations, intended to show that a shir canal across the isthmus is not only practicable, but that the obstacles in its way are of the most ordinary character. A canal can start, be says, at "* tho head waters of ship navigation on the Coatzacoalcos River, follow the valley of its chief boundary and the dividing range of Tarifa, and thence descend through the pass of Tarifa and cross the plains to Salina Cruz, on the Pacific. The whole distance would bo 172 miles, in the course of which 732 of elevation would have to be overcome by Locks. Commander Sslfride, at Darien, has also found a pathway,^ for navigation from sea to sea. He would ascend the River Atrato from the Gulf of Darien to the mouth of the Napipi, 150 miles. The Atrato is nrvigable all this distance for vessels ol tli3 largest size, so that a canal is necessary only for 32 miles, from the mouth of the Napipi t * Cupice Bay on the Pacific aide. Twenty-three miles of this space is a flat plain, with a rise of only 1)0 feet, and no difficulties to overcome. All, so far, 13 commonplace ; there is nothing to excite the determination and pluck of a Yankee ; but the rest of the way -presents something worthy of his attention. Tho proj o-ed canal is suddenly stopped by beetling ridges of hills 600 feet high, and in order to reach the ocean it must be seveiel. For three miles there must be a cut of 325 feet deep, and the remaining five miles must be tunnelled. Hero is something worth while ; but after Mount Cenis and the Hoosac Bore it is not enough to intimidate American enterprise and daring-