The length of the canal was divided into sections, for the convenience of description and estimation of the cost:
| MILES. | FEET. | |
|---|---|---|
| Western division, from Brito to the Lake | 18 | 588 |
| From Lake Nicaragua to head of San Juan | 56 | 500 |
| Slack water of seven dams on the San Juan | 90 | 800 |
| Canal to San Juan del Norte | 28 | 505 |
| Total distance | 194 | 393 |
The maximum width of the canal was designed to be 118 feet, and the depth 17 feet. The descent from the lake to Brito was accomplished by fourteen locks.
The following table exhibits the distances from sea to sea of the proposed lines originating at San Juan del Norte:
| ROUTES FROM THE PORT OF SAN JUAN TO THE PACIFIC. | LENGTH OF THE RIO SAN JUAN. | DISTANCE ON LAKE NICARAGUA. | FROM LAKE NICARAGUA TO THE PACIFIC. | FROM LAKE NICARAGUA TO LAKE MANAGUA. | DISTANCE INLAKE MANAGUA. | DIST. BETWEEN LAKE MANAGUA AND THE PACIFIC. | LENGTH OF ACTUAL CANAL. | TOTAL LENGTH. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MILES. | MILES. | MILES. | MILES. | MILES. | MILES. | MILES. | MILES. | |
| To Brito | 119 | 57 | 18 | 137 | 194 | |||
| Fonseca, Tamarinda | 119 | 120 | 4 | 50 | 16 | 139 | 309 | |
| Realijo | 119 | 120 | 4 | 50 | 45 | 168 | 338 | |
| Fonseca, Estero Real | 119 | 120 | 4 | 50 | 20 | 143 | 313 | |
The ports on the Bay of Fonseca, and at Realijo, are good, but the other ports designated as terminal points upon the Pacific are not so favorable for shipping. San Juan del Norte, the initial point upon the Atlantic of all these routes, will not admit ships of large draught, and the harbor is rapidly deteriorating. All harbors of Central and South America receiving rivers, and opening to the northward, are decreasing in depth. The incessant wave-beat, caused by the trade-winds and northers, acts like a ponderous hammer, wielded by an irresistible force, whose unceasing efforts, for six months of the year, are exerted to force the sand into the entrance of the harbors, and to arrest the sediment brought down by the rivers. The result is a tortuous and variable channel, and a shifting and shoaling bar.
The deterioration of the harbor of San Juan de Nicaragua, or Greytown, has been minutely discussed by a board of scientific officers of the United States Corps of Engineers, and of the Coast Survey Department. Their conclusions were unfavorable to the improvement of the harbor.
Where the Cyane lay during the bombardment of Greytown a luxuriant grass marsh is now growing. It has not been many years since this harbor afforded refuge for shipping of ordinary draught, but it is not unusual, at the present time, to find the harbor so completely closed during a storm that a pedestrian may walk dry-footed across the former entrance. Upon such occasion the harbor of Greytown is converted into a lagoon until after the storm, when the accumulating water of the San Juan erodes for itself a new outlet to the ocean.
It is apparent some other initial point must be found before this route can be seriously considered as a suitable terminus for interoceanic communication. Monkey Point is said to supply a good anchorage, and has been suggested for this purpose. Monkey Point affords anchorage for ships drawing rather more than three fathoms. By joining the island with a breakwater of pierre perdu, of the length of about twelve hundred feet, a good harbor, affording five fathoms water, can be obtained.
The writer is not aware that any surveys have ever been made for connecting this point with the San Juan river, or with the lakes. It is therefore unnecessary to mention other reports upon the same route, or to do more than to refer to the plans, profiles, and details of the “Interoceanic Canal of Nicaragua,” submitted at the Paris exhibition by L. J. Thome de Gamond. The report of M. de Gamond is not at hand.