The amount authorised to be appropriated by the Act of June 28, 1902, was $135,000,000, plus $50,000,000 purchase money, that is to say, $185,000,000 in all, for "the canal, harbours, and defences."
What the total cost will be is unknown, but Colonel Goethals stated in evidence (January, 1908) that the Canal would cost at least $250,000,000, and possibly as much as $500,000,000.
The combined cost of the Suez, Manchester, and Kiel Canals has been $205,000,000.
The following important ship canals have been completed for smaller sums:—
U.S.S. St. Marie (somewhat more than)
$6,000,000
Canadian ditto nearly
4,000,000
Amsterdam
10,000,000
Corinth (about)
5,000,000
Cronstadt (about)
10,000,000
Welland (Lake Erie-Lake Ontario)
24,000,000
Total
59,000,000
The Panama Canal and Its Makers
·
Vaughan Cornish
