The existence and operation of the railroad greatly facilitated the work of construction, and, whilst the two greatest difficulties were the control of the Chagres River and the excavation of the Culebra cut, nothing had been planned that was not fully justified by practical experience. For the control of the floods of the Chagres River it was proposed to construct two great artificial lakes, one at Bohio and the other at Alhajuela, and not at Gamboa, the site selected for a dam by the old company. With regard to the cutting at Culebra, the difficulty lies principally in transporting the excavated material to the dumps, and in effecting the transportation as rapidly as will keep pace with the efficiency of the excavating machines. About the time that the report of this Technical Commission made its appearance, public sentiment in America had been greatly aroused in favour of an interoceanic canal under American control, and general opinion favoured the Nicaragua route. In anxiety lest a rival scheme should be initiated just at the time when the New Panama Company was about to appeal to the great financiers of the world for monetary support, the board of directors sent to the President of the United States the report of their Commission and a letter drawing his attention to the state of the work and the prospects of the new company. It was fully realised that should the American Government decide to construct a waterway, investors would be deterred from backing a private enterprise which could not commercially compete with a national undertaking, and, further, should a Government undertaking be commenced, the Panama Canal would be greatly retarded if not prevented by the difficulty of securing the requisite labour. The American Senate being engaged in considering the advisability of supporting the Maritime Canal Company in its Nicaragua project, the New Panama Canal Company managed to secure a hearing, at which its position was fully explained and an offer made to re-incorporate the company under American law. The upshot was that the President was authorised to make a thorough investigation as to the best route for a canal which should be under the control of the United States and the absolute property of that nation. [Illustration: THE CHURCH AT CHAGRES.]