Nicaragua Ship-canal.

Nicaragua Ship-canal. The plan of cutting a canal through Central America by way of the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua is by no means new. But the project was not taken up in earnest until 1884, when a treaty with this object in view was signed between the United States and Nicaragua. The Nicaragua Canal Company was formed early in 1889, and operations were commenced at Greytown, at the mouth of the San Juan, in November of the same year. During the first year of work the harbour was dredged, a pier built, and some 10 miles of railway constructed, and the ground cleared for excavation. The plans have been prepared by A. G. Menocal of the United States navy. The canal utilises the San Juan and Lake Nicaragua, and will have a total length of 170 miles; of this distance 121 miles will be free navigation on the river (64½ miles) and lake (56½ miles), 21 miles free navigation on basins formed by damming small streams, and 28 miles only will be excavated. A breadth of only 12 miles, with a low divide (152 feet above sea-level), intervenes between the lake and the Pacific; this will be traversed from the lake exit near Rivas to Port Brito by basin navigation and cut stretches of artificial canal. There will be three locks on each side of the lake (110 feet above sea-level), and there will be a minimum depth of 30 feet of water in the canal. The original estimated cost was £12,000,000. A United States government commission in 1895 thought £26,000,000 a more likely figure, and recommended some modifications; and financial and political difficulties as to neutrality have created serious delays. See The Nicaragua Canal, by Arch. Colquhoun (1895).