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[identification of item], "The Atlantic and Pacific Ship Railway" Statement Issued by E. L. Corthell, Chief Engineer, SPEC.RARE.MMS.0330, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Ohio State University
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Processed by: Ashleigh Minor, 2019 March; finding aid written by: Ashleigh Minor, 2019 March.
The Atlantic and Pacific ship railway was proposed in the 1880s as a land route for moving commercial ships across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico. The 6-track railway, devised by American civil engineer and inventor, James B. Eads, would have carried ships up to 6,000 tons in a specially designed cradle between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. The Eads plan was approved by the United States Senate in 1887, but was subsequently blocked by the House of Representatives. Ultimately, a traditional freight and passenger train railroad, the Tehuantepec Railroad, was built across the isthmus instead, and opened for service in 1907. The railroad lost most of its traffic after the start of World War I and the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914.
"The Atlantic and Pacific Ship Railway" Statement Issued by E. L. Corthell, Chief Engineer includes a leaflet with a statement about the proposed railway between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean for the transportation of ships by railway across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico. The statement, issued on October 1, 1886 by engineer E. L. Corthell, outlines the purpose, costs, and benefits of the proposed railway, and in particular highlights the benefits of the railway over the proposals for a canal through Panama or Nicaragua.