M. de Lesseps, accompanied by a technical commission of engineers, one of whom was Heer J. Dircks, of the Amsterdam Canal, visited the isthmus; and their opinion was that the canal could be constructed for about thirty-four millions sterling and be completed in eight years. Subsequently De Lesseps undertook a tour through the United States, England, Holland, and Belgium, and a number of towns in France, lecturing on behalf of his scheme; and it is difficult to doubt the bona fides of this indefatigable octogenarian, or his implicit faith in the achievement of his design, especially when it is remembered that he is said to have sunk 309,000 francs of private fortune in the venture.
The assistance of journalists and financial groups was called in, or perhaps it would be more correct to say bought in, and such enthusiasm was worked up that when next offered the capital asked for was subscribed more than twice over.
But a false step had been taken, and henceforth, instead of selfish and ambitious considerations being secondary to the grand ideal of cutting from ocean to ocean a highway of nations for the benefit of the commerce of the world at large, a sordid profit-grasping spirit seems to have possessed the promoters and the public to whom they so successfully appealed.
Early in January of the year 1881 a party of engineers left Paris, and by the end of February were at work on the scene of operations.
The canal planned by the De Lesseps company followed very closely the route of the existing railway between Colon and Panama, and was to be about fifty-four miles in length.
JAMAICAN LABOURER ON THE ZONE
It was to be constructed on a sea-level plan, with the bottom 28 feet below the mean level of the oceans. At the bottom the width of the canal was to be 72 feet, and at the surface of the water 160 feet, except in the section through the divide at Culebra, where, although with depth of 29-1/2 feet and a width at bottom of nearly 79 feet, the surface width narrowed almost to one-half and would be only 92 feet. The two great difficulties of an engineering nature which confronted the undertaking were the excavation of the cut through the divide at Culebra and the control of the Chagres River with its tributaries, which during the rainy season are subject to extraordinary floods, the waters having been known to rise as much as 38 feet in as many hours.
For the control of this river the French company proposed to construct a huge reservoir at Gamboa, the dam being so designed as to retain the floods of the river and allow the water to escape gradually. From the start the management of the whole undertaking was characterised by unnecessary expenditure and extravagance. Not only does this apply to the financial operations in Paris, but also to the work carried on in the isthmus itself.
An artificial peninsula was constructed at Colon, on which were erected expensive residences. The Director-General maintained a state that was almost regal, receiving the handsome salary of £10,000 a year, with £10 per day for travelling expenses.