Excerpt from The American Inter-Oceanic Ship Canal Question

Circumstances which occurred nearly a quarter of a century ago, briefly mentioned in the following paper read before the American Geographical Society of New York, fixed my attention on the question of the possibility of the construction of an inter-oceanic ship canal across this continent.

Owing to the approaching struggle into which we soon passed, and the perturbation which preceded and followed it, no possibility of making further explorations occurred for years.

In the early part of the winter of 1866 I was in Washington, in command of a vessel of war. At my request, Rear-Admiral Chas. H. Davis, Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, prepared a map on a large scale of the narrow part of this continent for General Grant, with whom I had the pleasure of discussing what was then known and what was still in doubt respecting the topography of that region. This led to one or more visits to Mr. Seward, then Secretary of State, whose reception of the subject of making further explorations at that time made General Grant averse to seeing him further in relation to this matter.

Mr. Conness, then Senator from California, offered a Resolution calling for information from the Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, which was given during that year, 1866. He continued his interest in this subject, and finally obtained an appropriation for making inter-oceanic surveys in the winter of 1869. In the mean time General Grant had been elected President, and did not fail to do all in his power, through his subordinates, in forwarding surveys, which, when terminated, left no part of the topography of the Isthmus in doubt, so far, at least, as their possibility for the construction of a ship canal was concerned.

Under a Resolution of Congress, as President, he appointed a Commission on March 13th, 1872, consisting of the Chief of Bureau of Engineers, U. S. A., the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, and the Chief of Bureau of Navigation, U. S. N., to examine into, make suggestions, and report upon the subject.

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