Note XXXIV-23 — Chapter XXXIV · INTEROCEANIC COMMUNICATION. 1801-1887.

Garella's canal, beginning at Limon Bay, was to pass under the Ahogayegua ridge by means of a tunnel 120 ft high and 17,390 ft long, to the bay of Vaca del Monte, 12 miles west of Panamá. The route follows the Bernardino and Caimito valleys on the southern slope, and those of Quebrado and Chagres on the northern. The highest elevation 459 feet above the sea level, the mountain being tunnelled 324 feet 9 in. below its highest point; so that the canal would at the summit be 135 feet above the sea, and require 35 locks. Lloyd, acting for the British government, arrived at the same conclusions. Garella, Projet d'un canal, 11-194, 230; Nouv. Ann. des Voy., cvi. 36-40; U. S. Gov. Doc., H. Com. Rept, 145, p. 70-7, 506-71, Cong. 30, Sess. 2; Arosemena, Exámen, 5-6, 11. Hellert, in 1844-5, explored the Darien from Rio Paya to the Atrato. W. B. Liot, of the Brit. navy, proposed in 1845 a macadamized road, or a railroad from Portobello to Panamá. Capt. Kellet, being informed by Indians that the Napipi River, a tributary of the Atrato, approached very closely to the bay of Cupica, crossed on foot in 1847 till he reached a river which was supposed to flow into the Atlantic. Cullen claimed to have crossed the Darien. In 1849 he found the Sabana River, ascended it, crossed from Cañasas to the sea-shore at Port Escocés and returned. In 1850 and 1851 he crossed several times alone by different routes from the Sabana to Escocés, convinced that this must be the future route for ships. Here are the requisite secure harbors; the highest elevation of the valleys through the ridges is not over 150 feet, which is lower than any level as yet found; locks and tunnel might be avoided; the canal need be only 26 or 27 miles long, two miles through hard rock. Unfortunately, Cullen gave no notes or measurements to prove this. Capt. Fitz-Roy, of the British navy, published a memoir on a communication between the Atrato, by way of its tributary the Napipi or Naipi, and Cupica Bay. Greiff, a Swedish engineer, confirmed his observations. In 1850-1 Chevalier explored the Isthmus for information on interoceanic routes. U. S. Coast Survey, 1868, 260-7; Liot's Pan., etc., p. iii.; Seemann's Voy., i. 220; Davis' Rept, 9-14, and several maps; Cullen's Isth. Darien Ship Canal, 2d ed., 19; Annales des Voy., cliii. 23; Chevalier, in Soc. Géog. Bull., ser. iv., tom. iv., no. 19, pp. 30-70.