PROPOSED ROUTES
FOR AN
ISTHMIAN CANAL.
FIG. 1.
II. INTEROCEANIC CANALS
There are at least five routes which at one time or another have been chosen and seriously considered as possible locations for the Isthmian Canal. They are: the Atrato-Napipi, the San Blas, the Tehuantepec, the Nicaragua, and the Panama routes.
The Atrato-Napipi route follows the river Atrato, which empties into the Gulf of Darien, as far as the mouth of its tributary, the Napipi, thence up that river through the mountains and empties in Capica Bay. See [Fig. 1], No. 1.
The San Blas route runs from the bay of the same name on the Atlantic side to the river Chipo which empties in the Gulf of Panama. It is only forty or fifty miles southeast of the Panama route. See [Fig. 1], No. 2.
The Tehuantepec route begins at the bay of Coatzacoalcos in the Bay of Campeche and ends at the harbor of Salina Cruz in the Gulf of Tehuantepec. See [Fig. 1], No. 3.
All modern engineers thrust these aside as impracticable, the first two because of the necessity for tunnels and the last because of its great length and number of locks. They will, therefore, receive no further attention.
The choice of the location for an Interoceanic canal has long been conceded by practical engineers to lie between the Nicaragua and Panama routes. A consideration of the natural advantages and disadvantages of these rival lines follows.