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THE. PITTSBURG DISPATCH, SUNDAY. MAT 29. 1892.
17
JOINING JWO SEAS.
Warner Miller Talks About
the Big Ditch From At
lantic to Pacific.
IT WILL BE A BONANZA
If the Profits Come Anywhere Near
the figures He Is Making.
LARGEST LOCKS IN THE WORLD.
A Steamship Can Cross in Twenty-Eight
Hours if All Goes WelL
THE CAXALS KOW BUILDING IN EUROPE
rcOEKXErOSDESCS OT THE DISPATCH.
Washington, May 28.
HEEE will be held
J at St. Louis, June 2,
a. national conven
tion to discuss the
Nicaragua Canal,
the enterprise
rapidly onward to
completion. This
convention will
have delegates from
all the States of
the TTnion, and the subject of the canal and
its possibilities trill be thoroughly dis
cussed, I met here at "Washington the other night
ex-Senator Warner SI. Miller, the President
of the Nicaragua Canal Company, and had a
lone talk with him about the present condi
tion of the work in Nicaragua. Mr. Miller
has recently visited Nicaragua and he has
gone over the whole route of the canal on
foot, on mnleback and in boats, and he tells
me there is no doubt whatever of its prac
ticability. I asked him what they were do
ing at the present time. He replied:
"We are getting along very well and we
have now 500 men at work. "We began at
the canal only about four years ago and we
have alreadr spent something like $5,000,
090 upon it. "We have excavated about a
mile of the canal, we have built more than
12 miles of railroad and we have surveyed
the whole route and we know just what we
can do.
The Snrvpy Cost Hair a Million.
"To show you that we are doing things
thoroughly, it cost us about $500,000 to
make this surrey and you can have little
idea of the difficulty of the undertaking.
Our engineers had to make their way
through a tropical forest where the vegeta
tion was often so dense that they could not
tee 50 leet in front ot them. Part of the
way was through marshes and swamps
where the men had to flounder along up to
the waist in the mud and tbey had to cut
their way through with axes a great part of
the route. They had to test the depths ot
the streams loot by -foot through the rivers,
and to go over the great Lake of Nicaragua
and sound it. We have now hon ever an
exact map of the whole territory and we
will pnsh the canal from now on."
"Give me some idea of the country
through which the canal goes and of Lake
Nicaragua, Senator," I asked.
"The canal," replied Senator Miller,
"crosses Central America in the lower part
of Nicaragua. Nicaragua li the largest of
the Central American States, and the ooun
try all told is not quite as large as the State
of New York and it has not as many people
as the city of St. Louis.
An Enterprising Little Republic
"It is a republio and the people are like
those of the Spanish American republics.
They have a very good country and they
have many fine plantations of coffee, sugar
and indigo. Their forests are rich in" rubber
trees ana they have many fine furniture
woods, such as mahogany." They have a
railroad or so and telegraph lines connect
all the cities of the country. There are not
many large towns, and the biggest city la
""" """ I tl'T, VV ' "
The Breakwater at Greytown.
Leon, which numbers 25,000 people. The
people are very enterprising and they are
anxious to see "the canal completed.
"The canal will cross the country from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, covering a dis
tance, all told, of nearly 170 miles. The
most of this distance, however, has a water
way constructed by nature and we have less
than 30 miles of cutting to do. We start in
at the harbor of Greytown, and it is here
that our men are working now, and after we
have cut this distance we reach the great
San Juan river and sail through it right
into Lake Nicaragua. The ships then go
across Lake Nicaragua and with very little
cutting out at the other end, right into the
Pacific through a short canal there."
"But how about these rivers and the lake?
How do you get into them and are they big
enough for the canal?"
Lake Nicaragua Is a Sea.
"Lake Nicaragua," replied Senator
Miller, "is an inland sea. It covers twice
as much space as Rhode Island and more,
and is 100 feet above the sea. We have to
Working in the Big Ditch.
dredge a channel out through the soft mud
about 14 miles from the mouth of the San
Juan river, and from that time on till we
reach the other side we hare a channel 30
feet deep and vou could float the navies of
the world on this lake. The lake itself is
110 miles long and 40 miles wide, and some
of our soundings reached a depth of 240 feet.
The San Juan river is 121 miles long and at
some places it is 400 yards wide. A great
part of it is navigable, but some portions
will have to be dredged. It flows from the
lake to the Atlantic and it will form a part
of our canal. We have a steamer now on
the lake and we have a transportation com
pany which does all the business ot the Re
public which goes to the East. We have
boats on the San Juan river, and we have a
large number of steam tags, lighter, scows
and dredges. Our railroad, which ii 12
miles long and w hich runs along the line ot
the canal, is used in the work, and we can
bring our stuff from the hills right down
Into the harbor of Greytown."
"What kind of a harbor have you there?"
The Harbors Require Much Work.
"It was bad' enough," was the reply,
"when wo began our work. There was'a
great bar of sand that extended out in front
of it and this sand was three feet above
water. We hare constructed an immense
breakwater and we have now fifteen feet of
water on this "bar and we are making it
deeper by extending the breakwater further
out into the sea. We will have it so that
all ships can come into the harbor and we
will have about 350 acres for them to float
abont in. We have also a-very fair harbor
at Brito, on the Pacific coast, where our
canal comes out. It will take some dredg
ing to fit it for use, but when we are through,
our two harbors will be the finest in Cen
tral America."
"How big will the canal be and how can
you make your vessels rise- to the level of
Lake Nicaragua, which is 100 above the
sea?"
"We do it by means of locks," replied
Senator Miller. This De Lessens said was
not practical, and he proposed a level canal
at the Isthmus of Panama, and he sunk
several hundred millions in attempting to
make one, but his scheme was an utter fail
ure, and the canal stock is now worth
about 2 cents on the dollar, and that only
for speculative purposes. De Lesseps said
that iocks would mate travel tbrouch the
canal too slow to make it pay and that the
ships wonld be tied up and clogged half the
time.
The Locks the largest In the World.
"We have figured up the time and we
know just what we can do. We are going
to have the biggest locks that have ever
been made. There will be only six of them,
and a ship can go through a lock and be
raised from one level to another in 45 minutes.
And supposing only one ship went through
at a time we could put 32 ships through in
a day and more than 11,000 in a year. If
the ships that go through this canal should
be of the same size as those which pass
through the Suez Caual.more than 20,000,000
tons will pass through in a year. The Suez
Canal gets $2 50 a ton on every ship that
passes through the canal, and this tonnage,
should we ever reach it, would pay the
canal $50,000,000 a year.
"We expect the canal to cost, all told, just
about $100,000,000, and we think that it will
pay a big interest on this investment The
Suez Canal stock is now in the neighbor
hood of $500 per share. It cost about the
same as ours will cost, and it has for years
been paying a net revenue of more than
$12,000,000. It is not big enough to accom
modate the trade and thev are now widening
its locks. They are talking also of building
another canal alongside the old one, and the
shipping increases right along."
Over a Day in Crossing.
"How long will it take a ship to pass
through your canal?"
"It will take only four hours more than
it does for a ship to pass through the Suez
Canal," said Senator Miller. "A boat can
go through bur canal from the Atlantio to
the Pacific, a distance of 170 miles, in 28
hours, and it takes one 21 hours to go
through the Suez Canal. About 100,000
passengers go through the Suez Canal in a
year and the canal gets a big revenue from
these. Of course my figures as to the ton
nage which might pus through our canal
represent an amount much greater than we
will have for years, but supposing we only
had 5,000,000 tons at the start, this would
pay big dividends, and we will eventually,
no doubt, have ten, fifteen and more mil
lion tons per year.
"As to the locks, that at the Sault Ste.
Marie- takes through a greater tonnage
every year than that at the Suez Canal, and
these locks are perfectly practicable things.
Our ships will go into the harbor at Grey
town and they will sail nine miles along the
canal to the first look, which will lift them
up 31 feet and along this level they sail a
mile and a quarter, where they are raised 30
feet more and sail now on a level of 61 feet
above the spa.
Bulling Hnndred Fret Above the Sea.
"After a few more miles there Is a third
look which raises them 45 feet higher, and
they are now 106 feet above the harbor of
Greytown and are now'on the same level of
the San Juan river and the big lake of
Nicaraugua. They can now sail right along
up this river into the lake and across it, a
distance of over 130 miles, to the western
side of the lake, and they are now only 17
miles from the Pacific Ocean. They here go
into our canal and, by similar locks to those
on the east, drop down to the sea level.
There are three locks of the west side, and,
of course, we can raise ships from the
Pacific to the level of the lake in the same
way as we do those to the level of the lake
from the Atlantic The whole affair is very
simple to anyone who understands the
method by which boats go through a canal
bymeans of locks.
"Our canal," Senator Miller went on,
"will have a bed wider than that of the
Suez Canal, and.its bottom will be 80 feet
wide at its narrowest points. Its top will
vary from 80 feet to 288 feet, and the bed of
the Suez Canal is only 72 feet. As I have
told you, we only have 27 miles of solid ex
cavation to make, and there are only 70
miles along the whole route where we have
to change the channel from what it now is.
We have fully 100 miles ot free navigation
upon which we will not have to do a stroke
ot work, and we can widen the canal to 100
feet without very great cost,"
The Benefit to America.
"How soon do you expect to have the
canal done. Senator Miller?" I asked.
"It ought to be finished in about six
years," was the reply. "And if we make
A Nicaragua Village.
the right financial arrangements we may be
done before that."
"Please give me some idea of the effect it
will have upon our shipping?"
"It will make America one of the greatest
commercial nations of the world, and we
will at once jump to the front as to our
merchant marine. It is almost Impossible
to give you an idea of the changes it will
make. It will save our ships 10,000 miles
in going from New York to San Francisco,
and it will bring us 8,000 miles nearer the
Sandwich Islands. When that canal is
completed New York will be nearly 7,000
miles qearer Callao, and we will be able to
put our cotton into the ports ot China and
Japan by shipping it direct from New
Orleans instead of having it go-way round
by Suez. The canal will then be one of the
great routes to Australia and China, and
we will deal direct with these countries,
instead of through England, as we now do.
A Boost for the Cotton Trade.
"The Japanese are now using a great'deal
of our cotton and they are Increasing their
consumption of the American article every
year. The Koreans dress almost altogether
in cottons and they like a good article. The
Americans make better cotton than they
can get from India or elsewhere, and there
is no reason why wo should not be supply
ing the material for the clothes of the hun
dreds of millions of the Far East. The
Japanese are using a great deal of raw cot
ton, and-if this canal were built now there
would be no trouble in the South about' a
market for its cotton.
"The building of the canal," Senator
Miller went on, "will be death to the bail
ing ships of the world. The greatest part
of our commerce will then be carried by
steam. We will have a coaling station at
Nicaragua, and all the ships ot the world
going from tile East to the West will pass
through this highway. It will make an im
mense difference in California and the Pa
oifio Slope, and it will quadruple the
population of that part of our country ten
years after it is completed. If we get the
canal completed by 1897 we ought to have
more than 8,000,000 tons going through the
canal the next year. The canal will also be
of ah immense advantage to us in a military
way, and it will enforce the Monroe doc
trine better than our navv. By the Suez
Canal Great Britain got 3,600 miles nearer
her Indian possessions, and by this canal
we will be more than 9,000 miles nearer our
naval stations on the Pacific. In the case
of a war like that which seemed imminent
with Chile not long ago the importance of a
thine of this kind cannot be overestimated.
and the Government will profit greatly by
the work."
Not Asking Anything of Uncle Sam.
"What do you ask from the Government,
Senator Miller?"
"Nothing:" was the reply. "The canal
is being built as a private enterprise, and
so far the capital which has gone into it has
been that of private parties."
"You were abroad a short time ago, Sen
ator, looking into the ship canals of Eu
rope. Can you not tell me something
about some of them?"
"Yes, I can," was the reply. "This is
the age of ship canals and they are being
cut all over the world. There is a big one
in Holland, which takes you into Amster
dam to save your going about the Zuyder
Zee. I had a permit from the Butch King
to-visit this and I found it an immense un
dertaking. The land is low and the canal
had to be built up instead of being cut
down, and when you sail along this canal in
the big -open snips you can look over the
roofs of the houses on the land below you.
The canal is built on a soft mud flat and its
stability is secured by the sinking of thou
sands of piles. It has benefited Amster
dam greatly. I visited also the great ship
canal which the Germans are making across
Schleswig-Holstein from Kiel to the mouth
of the Elbe. This canal is being made by
the Government as a military enterprise,
but it will also be used as a ship caual for
other purposes. This canal will be 13
miles long and there are 10,000 men at work
upon it. It will save only 700 miles, and it
takes just half as much cutting as ours,
which will save many thousands of miles.
A Bint for Enterprising Pittsbnrceii.
"A big canal is being built from the
English city of Manchester down to the
Bea. Manchester is only 35 miles from
Liverpool and that city, as you know, has
the greatest docks of the world, and Man
chester could have its goods sent there and
shipped; but it wanted a canal so that ships
could come right into it and it is building
one which will cost $65,000,000. This canal
will have locks and it will have more cut
ting than ours. It is built by the city and
by private parties in a stock company and
is now half done.
"Then there is another big canal being
cut by the Greeks," Senator Miller went
on. "It is now nearly completed and it
cuts the Isthmus of Corinth. This canal is
a hundred feet wide and three miles and a
half long, and it will bring the port of
Athens about twice as near Italy as it is
now. By it the ships will be able to sail
from Italy to Constantinople in two days
less than thejr now do, and it will make
Athens a great city, and if a railroad is
built from it north through Europe, as is
contemplated, it may make it the landing
place of the big ships from the far East, in
stead of Brindisi.
How England TJses the Suez Canal.
"The Suez Canal is of course the most pros
perous of all the ship canals now in exist
ence. In ten years its tonnage has nearly
trebled. Four-fifths of the snips which go ,
through it are said to be Englih hip and
It saves England three weeks between Lon
don and Bombay."
"How about American ship cannN Sen
ator?" -I asked. "Will we not have more
of them as the country grows?"
"There is no doubt of it," replied Sen
ator Miller. "There will be a big ship
canal some day which will enable ocean
steamers of the largest tonnage to go right
up through the great lakes to Dnluth and
w jr n - m i
VS"
The BaiXway Along the Canal.
so will load our grain at the head of Lake
Superior and unload it in the great shipping
ports on the other side of the world. The
Hennepin Canal may at some time connect
Lake Michigan with the Mississippi and
an ocean steamer might come in through an
enlarged Welland Canal and sail around to
Chicago and on through this canal down the
Mississippi and go out of the Gult of Mex
ico, tapping the greater part of the United
States by water. The possibilities in the
way of ship canals can hardly be estimated
and our canals will revolutionize the world. "
Frank G. Carpenter
DAHCES OF THE INDIAHS,
Some Other Styles of Terpslchorean Fes
tivity ot the Early Aces.
The Indians of North America were
great dancers, and used every opportunity
to indulge, but it must be said that there
was nothing beautiful about it. Even to
day they have their ghost dances, a relig
ious ceremony, which the United States
Government endeavors to prohibit. The
minuet is said to have been first danced by
Louis XIV in 1653, while the quadrille,
which is also of French origin, was first
brought into favor in England in 1813. The
waltz, which is the national German dance,
was introduced about the same time.
The morice dance belongs to parts of
England, and is qnite old, and the saraband
is a slow and stately Spanish dance. The
polka is Bohemian,' and invented about 60
years ago, obtaining its name in Prague;
and the'Virginla reel is the American name
of the Sir Boger de Coverley. The schot
tische and galop are merely variations ot the
polka.
ONE WAT 10 TEEAT CHEESE.
An Enchanting Dish Made by a Combina
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Bice cheeses are a true luncheon dainty
and will be appreciated where hot dishes
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irons in order, well heated and buttered,
put a layer of cold rice we trust it is a
a light mass of snowy, well-cooked kernels
of Carolina head rice in the bottom of each
ring. Over this sprinkle salt, white Telli
chery pepper and tiny bits of butter. Next,
put a layer of grated cheese; afterward a
secondlayer of rice, salt, pepper and butter,
and finally a second layer of the grated
cheese.
Place the muffin iron in a hot oven, with
a hot tin cover over the rings until the
cheese is thoroughly .melted into the rice.
Take off the tin cover and brown daintily
on top. Serve hot. These cheeses can be
made in the family "gem-pan."
Bur your diamonds, watches and Jewelry
where you can get the best selection and
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WRITTEN TOE THE DISPATCH
BY DORA RUSSELL,
Author of "Footprints in the Snow," "The Broken Seal," 'The
Track of the Storm," "A Fatal Past," Etc.
CHAPTEE L
A STRANGE RECOGNITION.
A gray sky and a gray-green sea, for the
great waters were reflecting tha somber
coloring of the clouds; and some of their
gloom seemed also to have fallen on the
face of a young girl who was standing on
the shore, whose lover was pleading to her
to fix the wedding day.
"Oh! Sir James; that is fartoosoon,"she
said, as the young man paused.
"How can yon say so, Miriam?" he an
swered. "We have been engaged a
month already now, and surely another
month added to that is long enough to
wait?"
"Most of people are engaged six months,"
replied the girl with downcast eyes; "some
people six years."
"Six years! What nonsense! Why I
shall be an old'man in six years."
"And I shall be getting on to be an old
woman," said Miriam, smiling.
"Now don't tease so; there's a darling.
Without joking, Miriam, do let us fix the
time? Mrs. Clyde quite agrees with me
that there's no good in waiting any longer."
"Mother is always in such a hurry about
things."
"But it's not being in a hurry to be en
gaged two months; and besides I want to
take you abroad before the winter comes in
earnest, and it's really quite chilly to-day."
"Yes, it is," and the girl gave a little
shiver and looked up at the gloomy clouds.
She was tall, slim and dark-eyed, with a
mobile expressive face, and a white swan
like throat. People as a rule called Miriam
Clyde handsome, but she scarcely looked
handsome as she stood there by her lover,
beneath the darksome sky, embarrassed,
and unwilling to accede to the request. She
was the daughter of Colonel Clyde, of the
Artillery, who at this time commanded the
garrison of Newbrough-on-the-Sea, and she
was a girl who was always greatly admired.
There was a charm about her, men said,
which many women, actually more beauti
ful, did not possess; a charm in her manner,
her grace, and in her bright and winning
tongue. And she had so charmed the tall
young Scotchman, Sir James MacKennon,
who was now standing by her side, that af
ter a very short acquaintance he had offered
himself and all his worldly possessions for
her acceptance.
He was a baronet, well off, and of ancient
familv, and fairly good-looking, and both
f Colonel and Mrs. Clyde were delighted
when he proposed to their aaugnter, ana
never doubted that Miriam would be de
lighted also. At all events she accepted
him, after a little delay which Mrs. Clyde
a clever woman accounted tor by be
lieving that her daughter made this hesita
tion from the innate coquetry of her heart.
There were various young ladies who were
by no means indifferent to the attentions of
the wealthy young Scotchman, and Mrs.
Clyde felt Inwardly assured that Miriam
only wished to appear more indifferent than
she actually was. Mrs. Clyde was anxious,
too, that Miriam should marry well and
early, for she knew something, though not
all, of a sad and secret tragedy, which had
already darkened her young daughter's
life.
"You have done charmingly for youself,"
she said to Miriam, with a proud and happy
smile, when Sir James MacKennon cams
down one afternoon to Newbrough-on-the-Sea.
and asked to have an interview with
Colonel Clvde, and informed him he had
the great happiness to be his daughter's ac
cepted suitor.
Everyone indeed smiled on this engage
ment except perhaps the young ladies who
had smiled on Sir James. Some of these
wondered what he saw in Miss Clyde, but
others were more good natured.
"She's a handsome, clever girl, in a good
position, that's what he sees in her, and
then her mother is no doubt an advantage
to Miriam," said one of these.
To be the daughter of Mrs. Clyde was
certainly an advantage to any girl. This
lady, who was remarkably handsome, tall;
and personable, was not only an acute
woman of the world, a brilliant conversa
tionalist, but also a writer of culture and
talent. She had two daughters, one already
the wife of a man high up in the service,
and Miriam. Therefore, when Miriam be
came engaged to Sir James MacKennon,
Mrs. Clyde reflected with satisfaction that
both her children had done well. Her eldest
daughter was married to a general, and her
youngest about to be, married to a Baronet,
and so Mrs. Clyde felt that her maternal
duties were almost over. She In truth
thought of many other things besides her
children, and did not live only in their
lives. She was sympathetic, bnt not ab
solutely tender to them, and she was sym
pathetic id manner at least to almost every
one. So she made Sir James MacKennon very
welcome at the Commandant's house at
Newbrough-on-Sea, and charmed him by
her genial witty words. Sir James, who
was in a cavalry reeiment, was stationed at
Halstone, a town "abont ten miles distant
from Newl-rongh-on-Sea, and it was at a hall
at Halstone that he had first seen Miriam,
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For old married people, young married
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at
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ICE CHESTS
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A special bargain at
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CHINA MATTINGS.
The largest and choicest assortment of
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The almanac says so if the weather
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Draperies
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Our assortment is twice as large and
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OUR CARPET STOCKS
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PEI AVENUE.
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