The American type of canal; speech of Hon. John F. Dryden, of New Jersey, in the Senate of the United States, Thursday, June l4, 1906

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 Excerpt: ... men, and of the French engineers present only one or twc of whom had ever been on the Isthmus. The final vote was seventy-five in favor of and eight opposed to a sea-level canal. RearAdmiral Ammen said: "I abstained from voting on the ground that only able engineers can form an opinion after careful study of what is actually possible and what is relatively economical in the construction of a ship canal." Of those in favor of a sealevel canal not one had made a practical and exhaustive study of the facts. The project at this stage was in a state of hopeless confusion. In spite of these obstacles, De Lesseps, with undaunted courage, proceeded to organize a company for the construction of a sea-level canal. As soon as possible after the adjournment of the Scientific Congress of 1879 the Panama Canal Company was organized, with Ferdinand de Lesseps as president. The company purchased the Wyse concession, and by 1880 sufficient funds had been secured to proceed with the preliminary work. The next two years were used for scientific investigation, surveys, etc., and the actual work commenced in 1883. The plan adopted was for a sea-level canal, having a depth of 29.5 feet and a bottom width of 72 feet. This plan in outline and intent was adhered to practically to the cessation of operations in 1888. In that year operations came to an. end for want of funds. The failure of the company proved disastrous to a very large number of shareholders, mostly French peasants of small means, and for a time the cause of interoceanic communication by way of Panama seemed hopeless. The experience proved the utter impossibility of private enterprise carrying forward a project which had attained a stage where large additional funds were needed to make good enormous losses due to er...