Is a Ship Canal Practicable?: Notes, Historical and Statistical, Upon the Projected Routes Fro an Interoceanic Ship Canal Between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (Classic Reprint) - Hardcover

S. T. Abert

9780332889344: Is a Ship Canal Practicable?: Notes, Historical and Statistical, Upon the Projected Routes Fro an Interoceanic Ship Canal Between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (Classic Reprint)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0332889343 ISBN 13: 9780332889344

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2017

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A historical survey of ideas and evidence about a transoceanic canal between the Atlantic and Pacific.

This edition compiles notes and analysis on whether a shortcut through Central America could become a practical route for world trade, with emphasis on geology, surveying, and the long debate over possible passages.

Rooted in the late 19th century study of canal ideas, the work traces early hopes and stubborn questions. It discusses Columbus’s era, competing opinions about a Darien passage, and the influence of trade, military interests, and engineering challenges. Readers encounter a wide view of proposed routes, the role of tunneling, and how new discoveries affected the feasibility debate. The text blends historical narrative with technical observations, showing how scholars weighed topography, sediment, and navigable harbors against the costs and risks of excavation.

Overview of Darien and Atrato routes, and what makes a summit, harbor, and flood risk critical to feasibility.
Discussion of competing surveys, from barometric measurements to what later scholars called unproven “discoveries.”
Profiles of the key actors, routes, and moments that shaped the canal question over time.
Context for how engineers and policymakers weighed practical engineering with long-range commerce goals.

Ideal for readers of transportation history, imperial exploration, and engineering history seeking a window into how a great engineering question evolved before modern canal projects.

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