Tehuantepec Canal?

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is the region with the shortest distance between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Before the Panama Canal's completion, it was the major route when shipping goods from the Atlantic to Pacific and after the Gadsden Purchase American investors starting taking serious looks at the region when considering a canal. Eventually it was decided that the area was less preferable to canal building then Nicaragua and Panama, and a railroad was built instead. Your Challenge is to find a way for the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to harbor a canal widely used by the industrial nations of the world.

I think Panama was a major route even before the canal; remember Balboa's expedition and the Panama Railroad. Tehuantepec became a popular proposal because it was closer to the US (so more subject to US domination) and because preliminary surveys grossly understated the height of the mountains. Once new surveys got the height right, just about everyone recognized a canal would be quite impractical.

You can get a Nicaragua Canal quite easily, but I don't see how you could get a Tehuantepec Canal without a dictator ruling Mexico insisting on having a canal on his territory regardless of cost.

Evan said:

Tehuantepec became a popular proposal because it was closer to the US (so more subject to US domination) and because preliminary surveys grossly understated the height of the mountains. Once new surveys got the height right, just about everyone recognized a canal would be quite impractical..

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Yeah, this sums it up. The only other, minor point, was that many American politicians thought if the canal was closer to the USA, more US ports would be able to get involved with incoming traffic. But really, the terrain prevents any really objective choice.