Nicaragua canal

So this is borderline before/after.

WI the US decides that the proposals for a canal in Nicaruga are preferable to the Panama canal ones?
They wouldn't have to invade Colombia (well..threaten to) and with the French failure in Panama it was really tempting...
I'm well aware the rights for the panama canal were already in place but WI its decided that would be too hard a task.
 
Well in the XXth Century, it caused the unification of most of Central America and Costa Rica to get screwed over a few times...

Could the lack of Panamanian Secession cause a more stable Colombian government to form?
 
WhatIsAUserName said:
Why Nicaragua? Wouldn't it be easier cutting through Costa Rica? Either way, it still is a lot easier going through Panama.
Not at all, Nicaruga would be a lot easier. Much more favourable terrain with a lot of the work already done.
 
Leej said:
Not at all, Nicaruga would be a lot easier. Much more favourable terrain with a lot of the work already done.

Lee

Just reading a little bit the other day that the US was planning on the Nicaragua route. Then there was a volcano eruption in the region that made them decide to look elsewhere. Not sure how big or long lasting so possibly if they had started a little earlier the canal might have been there.

Steve
 
NapoleonXIV said:
WI they had built the one there that they wanted to dig with Atom Bombs in the 50's or 60's?

Messy. Very messy. By definition their ground bursts so a LOT of dirt. Think the plan was that most of this would be deep underground but you would probably have at least some leaking out. Ugh!:(

Steve
 
Philately Changing History!

stevep said:
Lee

Just reading a little bit the other day that the US was planning on the Nicaragua route. Then there was a volcano eruption in the region that made them decide to look elsewhere. Not sure how big or long lasting so possibly if they had started a little earlier the canal might have been there.

Steve


From Wikipedia: "Ultimately, the decision on which canal to build was made in a 1902 Senate vote. Prior to the vote, lobbyists for the Panama Canal sent each senator a Nicaraguan postage stamp, featuring the Momotombo volcano. While the extent to which they affected the vote is unknown, these postage stamps did capitalize on Senate concerns about investing a large sum in a volcanic region. As a recent eruption on the island of Martinique had killed nearly 30,000 people, these circulated postage stamps were likely the final reason for the abandonment of the Nicaragua Canal."

Momotombo, on Lake Nicaragua, had erupted just a few months prior to the Martinique eruption.
 
FYI it Actually was started in 1891 as a private venture. If mckinley was shot more then like Senator J.T. Morgan would of had enough support to get a bill pasted and it would have been built.
 
Serious Naval implications

The Nicaragua Canal would have been a sea level canal. This means no locks. As a result, widening the canal at need, while still non-trivial, is much easier than work on the Panama Canal. The USA is no longer limited to a 108 foot some inches beam for its fighting ships, so they can fit through the 110 foot locks.

Japan's plan of building battleships so big that a US counter wouldn't fit through the canal might not go anywhere--but then, they might still build the super ships anyway.

The American super-carriers will be able to fit through, also. Ship length will also be able to grow without canal imposed limits--curves can be made broader if needed. Even supertankers will be able to use the canal if the desire to widen it again is there, considering it would have been widened for the Iowa's, and perhaps even the South Dakota's or the Standards, and then again for the supercarriers.

Perhaps the USA wouldn't have given the canal away in the Carter administration, since it is still viable for the first line warships.
 
NHBL said:
The Nicaragua Canal would have been a sea level canal. This means no locks. As a result, widening the canal at need, while still non-trivial, is much easier than work on the Panama Canal. The USA is no longer limited to a 108 foot some inches beam for its fighting ships, so they can fit through the 110 foot locks.

Frist How is ~250 miles of escavation compared to 50ish miles "Easier"??
Second no sea level route was every seriously considered.
 
The_Leader said:
Frist How is ~250 miles of escavation compared to 50ish miles "Easier"??
Second no sea level route was every seriously considered.
To answer this question, I give you this map that I plagiarized from Google:D
dix.PNG
You probably can't see the river that runs from the lake to the Atlantic, but rest assured it's there. All you have to do is dig from the lake to the Pacific.

The only problem I would see is with Costa Rica, which shares the river with Nicaragua.

dix.PNG
 
PoorBoy said:
To answer this question, I give you this map that I plagiarized from Google:D
View attachment 14771
You probably can't see the river that runs from the lake to the Atlantic, but rest assured it's there. All you have to do is dig from the lake to the Pacific.

WRONG!!! Theres a 30 ft diffreance in heights on the Pacific coast then the Lake .If you dig the canal sea level the 17 or so miles to San Juan del Sur or Brito would drain the lake into the Pacific. It would have be be locked . And as I was conmenting about the previous posts wrong assumtion the canal sea level canal, As a sea level WOULD HAVE to be dug from the San Juan to Lake Nicaragua up the Tipitapa river to Lake Managua, then to either Corinto or Potosi.
 
one consequence that I read about a sea level Nicaragua canal would be that poisonous sea snakes would be able to work their way into the Atlantic (the fresh water lakes in the Panama canal keep them out now). These reptiles would have a devestating affect on Carribean wildlife and tourism.
 
Dave Howery said:
one consequence that I read about a sea level Nicaragua canal would be that poisonous sea snakes would be able to work their way into the Atlantic (the fresh water lakes in the Panama canal keep them out now). These reptiles would have a devestating affect on Carribean wildlife and tourism.

Amongs other things and that the fresh water bullshark (The only fresh water shark BTW) would probable killed off amongst out things.
 
Dredging and widening

The_Leader said:
WRONG!!! Theres a 30 ft diffreance in heights on the Pacific coast then the Lake .If you dig the canal sea level the 17 or so miles to San Juan del Sur or Brito would drain the lake into the Pacific. It would have be be locked . And as I was conmenting about the previous posts wrong assumtion the canal sea level canal, As a sea level WOULD HAVE to be dug from the San Juan to Lake Nicaragua up the Tipitapa river to Lake Managua, then to either Corinto or Potosi.

OK--if you use the river, you need ONE set of locks, not 6. That becomes much easier to widen, and the river can be dredged out gradually as traffic gets bigger.
 
canal route

Nicaruga Canal Starts at the Niguaraga/Costa Rico on the Caribbean
You Drege the San Juan River for 30 miles till you reach the lake Nicaraga Falls.
Dreging a exsisting river is a lot easier than cutting Fifty miles thru several mountains.

You then Build 6 locks [120 ft] to rise you up to lake Nicaraga, sail 100 miles north to the pass between Lake Nicaraga and lake Mananga.
You build a canal for the ten miles betwen the lakes and one canal to lift you up the twenty feet between the lakes.
This is easy as the two lakes use to be united, and the River bed is still there, for easy digging.

Sail the 30 miles across Lake Managa build another 7 locks [140ft] to let youself down to the Managa River, Drege it the 20 miles to the Bay, rite at the border of Hondorus, and exit into the Pacific.


This canal was first proposed back in the 1600's
The thing is all this could have been done with 1700's tech except for the medical problems.
 
NHBL said:
OK--if you use the river, you need ONE set of locks, not 6. That becomes much easier to widen, and the river can be dredged out gradually as traffic gets bigger.


NO the minuium amount of locks every considered for the route was 6 ! Ever
 
The American super-carriers will be able to fit through, also.

They can fit through every usn ship built in the last hundred years has been designed to fit through the canal
 
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