Browsing named entities in Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing). You can also browse the collection for Aspinwall (Panama) or search for Aspinwall (Panama) in all documents.

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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Darien ship Canal, (search)
s of Darien; and the other, under Captain Shufeldt, of the navy, to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Three routes were surveyed across the narrow part of the Isthmus of Darien by Selfridge, and he reported all three as having obstacles that made the construction of a canal impracticable. He reported a route by the Atrato and Napipi rivers as perfectly feasible. It would include 150 miles of river navigation and a canal less than 40 miles in extent. It would call for 3 miles of rock cutting 125 feet deep, and a tunnel of 5 miles, with a roof sufficiently high to admit the tallestmasted ships. Selfridge estimated the entire cost at $124,000,000. The whole matter was referred in 1872 to a commission to continue investigations. A French company undertook the construction of a canal between Aspinwall and Panama in 1881, under the direction of Ferdinand De Lesseps (q. v.). After expending many millions of dollars, the project was abandoned in 1890. See Clayton-Bulwer treaty; Panama Canal.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Poor, Charles Henry 1808-1882 (search)
Poor, Charles Henry 1808-1882 Naval officer; born in Cambridge, Mass., June 11, 1808; joined the navy in 1825; participated with distinction in numerous important actions during the Civil War. While in command of the sloop-of-war Saranac, in the Pacific fleet in 1863-65, he forced the government at Aspinwall to let a United States mailsteamer proceed on her way after it had been held to pay illegal dues. He also compelled the authorities at Rio Hocha, New Granada, who had insulted the American flag to raise and salute it. He was promoted rear-admiral in 1868 and retired in 1870. He died in Washington, D. C., Nov. 5, 1882.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Strain, Isaac G. 1821-1857 (search)
Strain, Isaac G. 1821-1857 Naval officer; born in Roxbury, Pa., March 4, 1821. While yet a midshipman (1845), he led a small party to explore the interior of Brazil, and in 1848 explored the peninsula of California. In 1849 he crossed South America from Valparaiso to Buenos Ayres, and wrote an account of the journey, entitled The Cordillera and Pampa, Mountain and plain: sketches of a journey in Chile and the Argentine provinces. In 1850 he was assigned to the Mexican boundary commission, and afterwards (1854) led a famous expedition across the Isthmus of Darien, for an account of which see Harper's magazine, 1856-57. In 1856, in the steamer Arctic, Lieutenant Strain ascertained by soundings the practicability of laying an ocean telegraphic cable between America and Europe. He died in Aspinwall, Colombia, May 14, 1857.