CALEDONIA BAY ROUTE. The distance front Caledonia Bay to tide water on the Savana River is about 30 miles in a straight line. Studies have been made of three lines across the divide, all of them striking the same point on the Savana River, near the mouth of the Lara, the approach on the Atlantic side being through the three val leys of the Caledonia, the Aglaseniqua, and the Sassardi. The distance from Caledonia Bay to the mouth of the Lara varies from 32 miles by the Sassardi route to 36 by the Caledonia route. The Sassardi route has not, however, been ex plored through its whole length, and it is pos sible that an actual survey would make it as long as the Caledonia route. Each line would require a tunnel. If the Sassardi route were taken, the length of this tunnel, assuming an open cut to be used to the depth of 400 feet, would be about 1.6 miles. On either of the other two the tunnel would be about two miles longer, while the approaches on the south side would be much heavier.
These surveys indicate that the Sassardi route is probably the best of the three for a sea-level canal. The indication cannot be regarded as con clusive, because a thorough survey and develop ment of the sub-surface material might show in superable difficulties, which would be more likely to exist in the tunnel than elsewhere. The cost of
a canal upon this line would be excessive and the tunnel more objectionable to navigation than the locks on the other routes.
Caledonia Bay is virtually tideless. San Miguel Bay has a tidal range of 20 feet or more. This heavy tide causes currents in the Savana River of sufficient force to be a serious menace to navigation, and it would be necessary to build a tide lock near the mouth of the Savana. The distance from the mouth of the Lara to the tide lock site is about 14 miles, the upper portion of which is in a narrow river which would require enlargement for a canal. This makes the total length of canal navigation from Caledonia Bay to the tide lock about 50 miles.
The result of all those examinations showed that there was no probability of the existence of any practicable canal location between Panama and the mouth of the Atrato River, except by the adoption of a tunnel line, and there seemed to be no reason for further field work except in the interest of geography. See Report of Nicaragua Canal Commission, 1897-99 (Baltimore, 1899) and the bibliography under NICARAGUA CANAL and PANAMA CANAL. which articles should be read in this connection.