Joseph,

Thanks for the link to the Latin American Pamphlet Collection. I found an
interesting document entitled "Memoria Historica sobre el Canal de
Nicaragua" written in 1845 by my fellow countryman Alejandro Marure, a well
known historian from Guatemala. I downloaded the entire document which I
plan to read as soon as I get some free time. As you probably know, the
project to build a canal through Nicaragua preceded the Panama Canal, which
was completed in 1914. Although never pursued due to seismic faults and
volcanic activity, the crossing of the isthmus through Nicaragua was used
during the gold rush (1848-1856) when thousands of Americans sailed from New
York, Philadelphia, Boston and other ports along the eastern seaboard, and
headed west to San Francisco. There was no inter-oceanic railroad in the US
and it took many months to cross by land, with many attacks by the indians.
The Nicaragua Canal would have been at sea-level, without any need for
locks, flooding or blowing up mountains, like in Panama. Most of the
navigation in Nicaragua would've been on the San Juan River and lake
Nicaragua. Only a short canal from the southern end of the lake to the
Pacific ocean would have been required (about 12 km long), but it would've
been necessary to keep dredging the river almost continuously due to the
accumulation of silt during the rainy season.

Anyway, that's another story. I just wanted to let you know that I found
many interesting documents in the Harvard pamphlet collection, many related
to Mexico. Thanks again for the link.

Bill Figueroa