e Pacific. Excepting, possibly,
Arctic explorations, in all the romantic history of ancient and modern
commerce, in all the annals of the early navigators and explorers, there
is no chapter that equals in interest the never-ceasing efforts to make
the Central American isthmus a natural highway for the world's
commerce--a direct route of trade and transportation from the uttermost
East to the uttermost West.

As early as 1536 Charles V ordered an exploration of the Chagres River
to learn whether a ship canal could not be substituted for an existing
wagon road, and Philip II, in 1561, had a similar survey made in
Nicaragua for the same purpose. From that day to this the greatest minds
in commerce and engineering have given their attention to the problem of
an interoceanic waterway; every conceivable plan has been considered,
every possible road has been explored, and every mile of land and sea
has been gone over to find the best and most practical solution of the
problem.

The history of these early attempts is most interesting, but it is no
longer of practical value, for it has no direct bearing upon present-day
problems. Most of the efforts were wasted, and many of them were ill
advised, but the present can profitably consider the more important
lessons of the past. It was written in the book of fate that this
enterprise, the most important in the world of commerce and navigation,
should be American in its ending as it had been in its practical
beginning. From the day when the first train of cars crossed the Isthmus
from Panama to Aspinwall, to facilitate the transportation of passengers
and freight across the narrow belt of land connecting the northern and
southern continents, the imperative necessity of a ship canal was made
apparent. Just as the railway followed the earlier wagon roads of the
Spanish adventurers, so a ship canal will naturally succeed or
supplement the railway.

Natural conditions on the Isthmus materially enhance the physical
difficulties to be overcome in canal construction. Even the precise
locality or section best adapted to the purpose has for many years been
a question of serious doubt. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Nicaraguan
route, the utilizing of a lake of large extent, and finally the narrow
band of land and mountain chain at Panama, each offers distinct
advantages peculiar to itself, with corresponding disadvantages or local
difficulties not met with in the others. Many other project