The Panama Canal and its Climatic Results.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2039, 1 August 1885, Page 6 (Supplement)

The Panama Canal and its Climatic Results.

7;n M. 0. Baldwin, in the Kansas Oity /..//' ie of S< i vice has an artiolo on this topio, . licit he says that the attention of the •./,j!o owilized world is, and desorvedly ao,

directed nf the v■ ' lime to this greut woik and the benefits lv o>." >m:rc> su'l civilization whioh will result tb<". J" m, "It is not the purpoie,'' thj writer „ ,' "to treat of theso, but to direct attention 1 » ! the possible phypical cJi.ingea upon th' o inn . J surfaoe which may bn brought abmt !;<• the completion of this oanal." " The "urfic of the on^an on th." Pao ; fi'j side of tiG Ibthram i< about fi f 'een f>'. f hj'jjlier than it is en iho Aclar lie Tun elevatiou of the waters o! tLr P .cilia ftoovj those of t'.o Atlantic h man timed, it n probable, by the peculiar i3iriV.i<s 1 oi thy Pacific Ocelli cim'O'u >, which, \vh lo ll"\\ enrry foi ward to this point very grf,xt hjijio of water, impede, »nd to a great extent obstruot, their return. T ho conteqiipnoa of tbn. must be that upon the completion of tlv canal, whioh is to be, it U understood, a tid" water canal, there will be created a current from the west eastward, through the Isthmus. " The length oi the canal will ba about tb.irty-tb.reo milee, consequently there wili result a fall approaohing c'oselv six inches per mile. The pressure of so great a body of water as is found in the Pacific will giv>d to thn current in the canal a much greater rapidity than will exist in the current of a stream wn°rein we have the B»me degree of inolinfuion. The rccult of this will be that the phoiea and bottom of the canal will be rapidly cut away. Kow let U"J consider briefij the currents of the ocean. There exists in the Pacific Ocean the great Japanese current, which sleeps from the coast of Japan northward, and i 3 divided upon the Aleutian Islands, on the coait of Alaska, » portion pc\B«ir-g through Behring Straits and a portion fi'idmg It=i way down the western ooftat of the continent aa far couth as Central America, where it i 3 deflected- westwardly to join and again return with the currents from the South Pnoific which are diverted from Australia and the Pmhppim? Islands »nd form a current which passes directly eastward to the Isthmu-> of Panama. Tbis current in its passage eastward is joined by yet other currents from the great South Pacific currents whioh sweep up the west const of South America, and together Chs-e form thB great equatorial counter currant, and the entire forco of this mighty stream id broken and expended upon tho western shores of the laiumud. It, is an evident condition that theee ocean currents are directed in their course by the coa3t barriors with which they are brought in contact. If then these barriers are by any means removed or eiiangud, there will result a corresponding change in the direction of thfl currents. We have then this condition : with the waters of the Pacific already at a considerable elevation above those of the Atlantis, a current from the west eastward seems inevitable, and with the added ioroe whii'h will be thrown in by the currents from the Pacific, the canal must be rapidly worn away until it is probable a considerable portion of the lathmm will have been destroyed, and tho great Paeifio current, the force of which is now expended upon the western shores of the Isthmus, will find its way through into the Gulf and be joined to the Gulf Stream. Should thia bo the result, we can only expeot that the groat thermal currents from the Pdcific, which have heretofore so groatly modified the climate of the American Pacific coast, .vill undergo a change in their directions, and the great body of heated wateis, (i'ldirg its way through the Isthmus, will pa-s uoitlnvard with the Gulf Stream along our AUmtic coast until it is dirpcted upon tho cokat of Newfoundland, and, crossing the Athmio, it paißss the shores of Grtat Bn'iin and Ict'lano", fxp.nding lteelf, and upon tae f<-iL f id bhorea of uorth-western Europe will cury with it an elevation of temperature which will modify to a great extent the climate of those regions. It, h a well known faot that an extended p )ruou of thfl Arctio world has been at some time habitable and inhabited. Tnis is shown by the finding co frequently the remains of tropical plants and animate in the far north. It is equally known that great oonvulsions of nature ha\o ti'.o'i I'iaue whereby continents and oceans and ocean currents hftve been changed, and these conditions have brought about these great changes in climates. It cannot then be considered an unreasonable hypothesis, that the results whioh have followed natural causes shall also sucoeed artificial means when the elements necessary are at hand, Permit a digression, to direct attention to the fact, as has beer, indicated above, that the ourrent of this oanal will be suoh that in the oourse of time it will result in the dostruction of a considerable portion of the Isthmus. In that case the canal company will find a difficulty in making the investment a source of profit, as the oanal will soon have overreached their boundaries, and wijl become a public highway, a great waterway for the shipping of the world.