Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 61.djvu/267

Rh projected a canal entrance from the six fathom contour in the Bay of Limon, in which the harbor of Colon is found, swinging on a gentle curve 6,560 feet radius to the left around behind the artificial point just mentioned and then across the shore line to the right into the. low land southerly of Colon. This channel has a width of 500 ft. at the bottom, with side slopes of one on three, except on the second curve, which is somewhat sharper than the first, where the bottom width is made 800 ft. for a length of 800 ft. for the purpose of a turning basin. This brings the line into the canal proper, forming a well-protected harbor for nearly a mile inside of the shore line. The distance from

the six fathom line to this interior harbor is about two miles. The total cost of constructing the channel into the harbor and the construction of the harbor itself is $8,057,707, and the annual cost of maintenance is placed at $30,000. The harbor would be perfectly protected from the northers, which occasionally blow with such intensity in the Bay of Limon, and it could be made in all weathers by steam vessels seeking it.

The harbor at the Pacific end of the channel where it joins Panama Bay is of an entirely different character in some respects. The Bay of Panama is a place of light winds. Indeed it has been objected that the difficulties sometimes experienced by sailing vessels in finding