. Elements of transportation, a discussion of steam railroad electric railway, and ocean and inland water transportation . nto service fromNew York and other Atlantic ports to the Caribbean shoreof the Isthmus of Panama and also between the bay ofPanama and California, passengers and freight beingtransferred across the Isthmus by small boats up the Cha-gres River and by pack trains over the divide separatingthe Chagres Valley from the bay of Panama. This routewas soon improved by the construction of a railroad, whichwas opened in 1855. Another Isthmian route much used was across Nica-ragua via
. Elements of transportation, a discussion of steam railroad electric railway, and ocean and inland water transportation . nto service fromNew York and other Atlantic ports to the Caribbean shoreof the Isthmus of Panama and also between the bay ofPanama and California, passengers and freight beingtransferred across the Isthmus by small boats up the Cha-gres River and by pack trains over the divide separatingthe Chagres Valley from the bay of Panama. This routewas soon improved by the construction of a railroad, whichwas opened in 1855. Another Isthmian route much used was across Nica-ragua via the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, fromwhich there was a portage of thirteen miles to San Juandel Sur on the Pacific Ocean. This route was developed byCommodore Vanderbilt who ran a line of steamers betweenNew York and Greytown, and between San Juan del Surand California ports and transferred passengers acrossNicaragua by steamboats and stages. In 1850 and for some years thereafter, it was supposedthat the best route for a canal across the Istlimus was onevia the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, because it 232. ^t^^OO DIXN^^^ 234 ELEMENTS OF TRANSPORTATION was thought that the San Juan River could be made navi-gable for ocean ships. This route, however, is 184 miles inlength; whereas the distance from ocean to ocean at theIsthmus of Panama is but 41 miles. As time went on, theSan Juan River silted up badly and ocean vessels werebuilt with much greater draft. Thus it was that when aFrench company decided, about 1880, to build a canal theychose the route across Panama. At that time, it was sup-posed that a sea-level canal would be constructed. Thiswas possible at Panama, whereas a Nicaragua canal miLsthave locks. The French company failed in its effort to buildthe Panama Canal; and the same was true of the effortsmade by an American company, from 1885 to 1893, to puta canal across Nicaragua. The Panama and Nicaraguacanal companies having failed, the United States Govern-me
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjecttranspo, bookyear1920
