. The railroad and engineering journal . the cost of its maintenance would be less. 5. That it would be more easily preserved from obstruc-tions. Chagres River into the sea-level canal was therefore claimed to be impracticable. The Companys scheme to cross the Chagres River atsea-level was also considered to be an unwise was proposed to lead the canal across that river at sea-level, the waters of the river being led away by an artifi-cial channel. A dam was to be constructed 132 ft. inheight, and 5,248 ft. (nearly one mile) in length ; thefoundation for which could not certainly be
. The railroad and engineering journal . the cost of its maintenance would be less. 5. That it would be more easily preserved from obstruc-tions. Chagres River into the sea-level canal was therefore claimed to be impracticable. The Companys scheme to cross the Chagres River atsea-level was also considered to be an unwise was proposed to lead the canal across that river at sea-level, the waters of the river being led away by an artifi-cial channel. A dam was to be constructed 132 ft. inheight, and 5,248 ft. (nearly one mile) in length ; thefoundation for which could not certainly be relied uponthroughout this great length. The basin thus formed would hold 1,300,000,000 cubicyards of water. This is equal in volume to that of the great-est recorded flood in this region ; but in event of two floodsoccurring in close succession, the basin would overflowinto the canal and cause its destruction. 4. The cost of maintenance must necessarily be great,if any attempt is made to control so large a system ofartificial 6. That it has ports at its termini. 7. That it runs through an inhabited country. 8. That there is already a railroad along the entireroute of the canal. 9. That a sea-level canal is the only kind that would sat-isfy the demands of commerce. The opponents of the scheme claimed : 1. That it was not the shortest practicable route, a sea-level canal across San Bias being 15 miles shorter. 2. It costs more to construct a sea-level canal than onewith a few locks ; and as it is necessary to have one tidallock anyhow, this limits as etfectually and in the same de-gree the number of ships that could pass through thecanal as would five or six locks. 3. The average rainfall amounts to over 12 ft. annually,and is not distributed evenly throughout the year, but allof the precipitation occurs within a period of 7 months, atmost. A rainfall of 61 in. in 6 hours has been noted. Theconsequent heavy floods cause the Chagres River to rise30 to 40 ft. in a few h
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectrailroa, bookyear1887
