224 DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CANAL
STATEMENT OF HEEBY H. BUCKMAN, CONSULTING ENGINEER
 Mr. BUCKMAN. If the committee please, my name is Henry H.
Buckman. My occupation is that of consulting engineer. I am a
graduate of Harvard University and a postgraduate student of the
Royal Technical College of Charlottenburg, the University of Ber-
lin, and the University of Leipzig. I have been continuously en-
gaged in the practice of consulting engineering, including chemical,
metallurgical, and civil engieerig, for 27 years. I am one of en-
gineering counsel for the Ship Canal Authority of the State of
Florida and for the National Gulf-Atlantic Ship Canal Associa-
tion. My examination and study of the Florida ship canal project
has extended over a period of approximately 5 years.
 The CHAIRMAN. Where do you live now, Mr. Buckman?
 Mr. BUCKMAN. Jacksonville, Fla., is my residence.
 Subject to the pleasure of this committee, it is my purpose to
 inform the committee of the record of this project and to confine
 my statement, as far as may be practicable, to a discussion and
 coordination of the official departmental examinations, reports, and
 findings in this matter, without prejudice to the case for the project
 which is developed upon additional data and opinion not included
 in the departmental examinations and findings.
 The proposal to construct a waterway across Florida which would
 obviate the expense and danger attendant upon navigation of the
 route through the Straits of Florida has been considered now and
 again for more than a century. President Jackson urged the con-
 struction of such a canal, and since that time, it has been, from time
 to time, the subject of examinations and inquiry by the Federal Gov-
 ernment. Until recent years, the project assumed the form of a
 barge canal. Until the growth of ocean shipping into and out of
 the Gulf of Mexico increased to a point which appeared to justify
 the cost of a ship canal, such surveys and discussions were limited
 to a waterway of the barge-canal type, because of the smaller dimen-
 sions of a barge canal, and other engineering considerations.
 The CHAIrMAN. If I understand you correctly, originally it was
 not contemplated that ocean-going vessels should traverse the canal
 Mr. BUCKMAN. That was not the original idea. Up to a quarter
 of a century ago, nobody raised the question of ships traversing the
 peninsula.
 The CHAIRMAN. They were talking more about a barge canal such
 as we have in New York.
 Mr. BUCKMxx Inland water transportation.
 The CHAmMAN. Yes.
 Mr. BUCKMAN. The possible location covered a much wider area
 than is the case with a ship canal, and the earlier surveys made by the
 Corps of Engineers included the examination of routes whose eastern
 termini ranged from the east central coast of Florida to points on the
 coast of Georgia. The results of these surveys indicated that several
 routes were feasible for a barge canal, but in no case has the potential
 barge traffic been sufficient to warrant the cost of a canal which would
 transit only barges. Some time prior to 1925 the development of
 ocean-going traffic through the Straits of Florida had reached a point
 to where the apparent saving to shipping and ocean-borne commerce
 indicated the justification of the more expensive ship canal, which