o government ownership and control,
Congress directed an investigation of the Nicaraguan Canal, for which a
concession had been granted to a private company. The resulting report
brought about such a discussion of the advantages of the Panama route
to the Nicaraguan route that by an act of Congress, approved March 3,
1889, a commission was appointed to "make full and complete
investigation of the Isthmus of Panama, with a view to the construction
of a canal." The commission reported on November 16, 1901, in favor of
Panama, and recommended the lock type of canal.

By act of Congress, approved June 28, 1902, the President of the United
States was authorized to acquire, at a cost not exceeding $40,000,000,
the property rights of the New Panama Canal Company on the Isthmus of
Panama, and also to secure from the Republic of Colombia perpetual
control of a strip of land not less than 6 miles wide, extending from
the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and "the right ... to excavate,
construct, and to perpetually maintain, operate, and protect thereon a
canal of such depth and capacity as will afford convenient passage of
ships of the greatest tonnage and draft now in use."

Pursuant to the legislation, negotiations were entered into with
Colombia and with the New Panama Canal Company, with the end that a
treaty was made with the Republic of Panama granting to the United
States control of a 10-mile strip, constituting the Canal Zone, with
the right to construct, maintain, and operate a canal. This treaty was
ratified by the Republic of Panama on December 2, 1903, and by the
United States on February 23, 1904.

The formal transfer of the property of the New Panama Canal Company on
the Isthmus was made on May 4, 1904, after which the United States
began the organization of a force for the construction of the lock type
of canal, in the mean time continuing the excavation by utilizing the
French material and equipment and such labor as was procurable on the
Isthmus.

President Roosevelt, in a message to Congress, dated February 19, 1906,
stated: "The law now on our statute-books seems to contemplate a lock
canal. In my judgment a lock canal, as herein recommended, is
advisable. If the Congress directs that a sea-level canal be
constructed its direction will, of course, be carried out; otherwise
the Canal will be built on substantially the plan for a lock canal
outlined in the accompanying papers, such changes being made, of