Panama and the canal

CHAPTER
PANAMA
CITY OF
And
SO
we have made our way
the forest jungle
and the City of Panama come
behind
rises directly
into view.
let
us get a general idea of
Plow superb
it.
Below
spread out before us!
a rocky point of land,
Gulf of
villages, until the Pacific
and surroundings from the slopes of ^Ancon
location
which
across the Isthmus, through
and the native
Before entering the town,
VII
—and
Panama framed
is
the
is
little city,
there, the
in green hills.
its
Hill,
the view here
scattered over
broad and beautiful
Away
off in the dis-
tance the Pearl Islands can just be seen, while near at hand
Taboga and
its
neighboring islands rise abruptly from the
blue waters of the bay.
brilliant sunlight.
more
And
over
all
are bright skies
and
a
city
shall travel far before finding
attractively situated.
Even from a
and a
We
distance the
view adds
closer
narrow
App^SLnce
its
town has a foreign appearance,
to this impression.
streets
are!
And
How
see,
strangely
—how
the
curious old Spanish balconies project over the
sidewalks and protect the passer-by from the
At
least the
lower parts of the houses are very
heavily built, with few
windows and these strongly barred,
sunlight!
78
THE NEW CITY
79
STREETS AND HOUSES
8o
as
to stand a siege.
if
streets.
It is
No
lawns separate them from the
but a step to the sidewalk.
Doors are open
everywhere. The
interiors of the
houses of the poorer
people
are
in
full
view from the
We
streets.
however, that
find,
the
shall
homes
better
the
of
are in
class
the second story of
and
their houses
more removed from
the noise
Let
and
us
pass
rectly into
'
How
Strangely Narrow Its Streets Are
town
to
ence
Plaza.
—with
ing bells.
its
di-
the
Independ-
Here
stands the old
!
Cathedral of
ama,
dirt.
Pan-
twin spires, Spanish architecture, and clang-
In front of
it is
the open park or Plaza.
the center about which the
town
This
is built.
is
The
The Plaza
chief hotel, the Bishop's palace, the City Hall,
and the principal
clubs, are all
Sunday evenings,
rich
and poor
on
this Plaza.
Here, on
alike gather to listen to
INDErEXDENCE TLAZA
the
band concerts
or to
Si
promenade beneath the Hghts and
For more than two hundred years
pahii trees.
this
has witnessed some of the most important events
history of
Panama.
If the
City of
the Republic, this small stjuare
Panama
is its
very
so
in
the
the capital of
lieart.
other old churches and other parks in the
Cjuite
is
Plaza
city,
There are
but none
interestinij;
as these.
Xot
all
however,
the town,
as
is
at-
tractive as Independ-
]\Iuch
ence Plaza.
many
filth,
vile
evil-smell-
quarters,
ing
and unhealth-
ful
streets,
reveal
the usual conditions
are
that
t<jo
all
common
in tropical
cities.
Yet our
general
^\•
e
town,
as
feeling,
Ci./'vnj-/,;
examine
will
t
not
he
by Urn. H. R,ih.
Calle Bolivae, One of the Better Streets of
Panama
be
City.
wholly unpleasant.
From
harbor.
and
the Cathedral Plaza
A
interest.
it
is
only a short walk to the
stroU out on the old sea-wall
This
is
the very
same
is
full
of novelty
wall which the Spaniards
THE OLD CATHEDRAL
Panama Cathedral and Corner of Independence Plaza.
Two
towers the old Cathedral
the sea-walled town.
lifts
Above
In either turret, staves in hand,
All day the mongrel ringers stand
And sound, far over bay and land,
The
built to protect the
Bells of
town
Panama.
in
the old pirate days.
must surely have expected Henry Morgan
his blood-thirsty pirates, so thick
it.
In
fact,
so
much money was
angry Spanish king
is
built entirely of silver.
remain.
They
to return with
and high did they build
spent
upon
said to have asked
Only portions
if
it
it
that the
were hot
of the old walls
now
TIDES IN THE PACIFIC
At Colon the
is,
tide rises
and
falls less
83
than two
feet,
— that
the surface of the ocean always remains at about the
m
a
s
Beach
c
level.
Market
At Pan-
ama, on the other
hand, the tide
and
nearly
falls
twenty
rises
Dur-
feet.
ing one part of the
day we may
tide
at
high
\\ith
num-
small
fruit
wall
city
and
bers of
and
boats
fishing
near
anchored
The same
low tide
nized.
it.
spot
at
would
be
recog-
The
vessels
scarcely
are
see the
l\'ing
on
dry
bottom
and
their
cargoes
are
being
unloaded.
From up
Old CAiuiiuRAL
and down the
all manner of
the tide
is
Bells,
Panama
City.
coast
fruits are
out, the
brought
in
these boats,
and when
"beach market" makes an odd
sight.
ECUADOR HATS
84
At home we most often hear the name of Panama connected with the
soft,
summer
beautifully-woven hats, so
weather.
Some
the city houses, in the
work on these
hats.
curious
little stores,
at all in
Panama,
is
them
to
hope of seeing the people
They can be
the reply, but
City
away
Wall at High
South America, in Ecuador.
buy them from
sell
may have been
seen in most of the
but where are they made, we ask.
The
of
in
looking curiously into the native huts or into
Hats
at
of us
common
off
Not
on the west coast
Tide.
The Panama merchants
and then
they, in turn,
our hatters in the United States.
They might
that distant country,
LIFE IN PANA^MA CITV
more
truly be called
Ecuador
much
hat," then, refers not so
made
hats.
Tlie
8S
name "Panama
to the place
where they arc
as to the particular kind of material
Thl Same
the hats.
kinds of
Indeed,
Panama
many
Spot at
Low
and weave
of
Tide.
people suspect that the cheaper
hats are
made even
in
Paris or
New
York.
We
cannot stay long
in
the city without realizing that
the customs of the people are in
our own as the
pjle
will not,
for that.
city
is
many ways
foreign in appearance.
perhaps, think any the
The
clanging of
many
less of the
as foreign to
Sensible peo-
Panamanians
church-bells will not
al-
86
TWO BUSY
PLACES
Beach Fruit Market.
Office of the Panama Lottery.
NATIONAL LOTTERY
ways mean
much cluirch-going.
And some of us may he shocked
to
cock-fighting and
finci
an oc-
casional bull-fight on Sunday.
Panama,
Loteria de
Xational
This
country.
and
Lottery
tickets
advertisements
cannot be carried
Our
ernment has decided that
general,
in
do
i
i|
a fl
|
SiiRTEii
VTMEtit
|
llW
a
Lottery.
the I'nited States mails.
>-;-?Wi»«E»i}<iwiLij.
In
forbidtlen Ijy law in our
is
y ^
LOtEBIA DEJ»ANAMA
the
also,
government permits
Panama
87
i^OTERlA
0e PANAMA
suhrFi/MiaERu
l li?7
"Tp82
'i
m* tu-ua csta
-E->t
Ijv
govl,OTEmA *0E "PAHAMA
lotteries,
more harm than
g()od.
On
the Cathedral
We
Plaza
are told that there
is
one
LOTERiA DE PANAMA
lot-
bOETEO Nt MEKO 1197
tery, or
drawing, each week.
haps ten thousand
sold
the
is
Loteria de Panama.
the
office of
at
Si. 2 5
tickets
each.
Per-
may
be
So the Lot-
tery receives $12,500 for that week.
Each
ticket
has a number on
which
differs
from the number on
anv other
number
ticket.
money
LOTERIA 1&S PANaIwa'
it
There are a large
of prizes in
^ WW «M 0^ ^ pr^,
•o
iW liftWF -^m
fJ
-Oft*
Jfn
'H«i,,tU',K
offered,
—some few amount more than
only a few
$1,250, — others
to
to
dol-
Panama Lottery Ticket.
THE DRAWING
88
When all are added
lars.
the whole
amount
of
together, they
money taken
in
do not nearly equal
by the
lottery for that
week; so that even after the prizes are given, a large
profit
remains.
Then, on Sunday, comes the drawing.
ment
The
prevails.
street
and Plaza
Great
excite-
in front of the Lot-
Peesident Obaldia and Wife in Front or Presidential Palace.
tery office are crowded.
shall
see
employed
enough.
how
the
If
drawing
at different times,
Every care
common way
is
to
we push our way
is
is
but
taken
have some
done.
inside,
we
Various ways are
all
are apparently honest
to
prevent
little
cheating.
A
black balls in a box or
OBALDIA
Each
basket.
is
ball
shaken and
89
number inside it. The basket
number of balls drawn out. A\lien
has a
a tixed
they are opened antl the numbers inside are put together
in their order of drawing,
tery ticket that
is
we have
the
number
holder of that ticket hurries forward and
He
in cash.
paid his prize
has paid in only $1.25, but has won, perhaps,
The other prizes are awarded
The whole Lotterv is, of course, a plan
encourage frambling. But in Panama there seems to
several
in the
to
is
of the lot-
The lucky
to receive the largest prize.
thousand
dollars.
same way.
be no objection
to
it.
As we pass about
to catch sight of
(iQio)
ident
of
the streets,
it
may
be our good fortune
Sehor Jose Domingo de Obaldia,
Panama.
We
now
have already
The Republic
.
learned that in December, 1903,
Panama
be-
came an independent nation, free from Colombia,
country she had so long been a part. Now the
public,
made up
It
has
etc.,
its
of
which
little
Re-
of seven provinces, has a constitution
and
form of go\'ernment similar
own
pres-
in
stamps, coins,
most respects
flag,
and has the peculiar advantage
tion of the United States.
to
our own.
go\'ernment buildings,
of the special protec-
PART
IV
KEY TO THE PACIFIC
CHAPTER Mil
ROAD^^AVS ACROSS CENTRAL AI\[KRICA
we made
If
a ^isit to
many ways
country
in
to look
upon the
we should
rule,
so very different
to see
a tropical
from our own, and
ruins of the glorious old days of Spanish
certainly be well rewarded.
one knows, there
It
Panama merely
is
something
else to
But, as every-
be seen
Panama.
at
has been said that the eyes of the whole world are
turned with tremendous interest to
ing the remainder of our stay in
whv
this
We
Panama we
is so.
While
at
Panama we
travel considerably
edge of
its
on
historv will
There was a time,
shall
in gold,
same
rate at
to
our
Few
rates at
We
it
w(juld
when
Panama
per mile.
cost
Railroad
interest.
as late as the year 1889,
tlian fifty cents
home,
New York
apolis.
The
—or more
little rail-
to
and a knowl-
this road,
add much
be obliged
for a fort}'-eight mile railroad journey at
from
shall try to learn
begin with the story of a most remarkable
road.
now
Dur-
this little country.
If
tickets
cost $25
we paid
more than $200
to
the
go
City to Buffalo or from Chicago to INIinne-
persons could afford to take
Panama
are
still
many such
trips.
very high.
shall notice that all the telegraph poles along the road
93
FIVE
94
Map
V.
IMPORTANT ROUTES
Routes Across Central America.
ENEMIES OF THE RAIEROAD
are of iron instead of wood, and
stops,
we
we
shall find that they are all of
wood
in the ^^•orld.
It is
Pedro
And
odd
when
to
this
is,
^Iiguel.
think that
down young
trees
lignum
vitie,
— Panama
houses.
rails,
almost the
all this
We
trouble
Railroad.
and
expensi\'e task.
It
was made necessary by
haye heard of ^Jea^xrs cutting
with their sharp teeth,
in order to eat the
tender twigs and leaves or to use the branches
mud
train
next to impossible to drive
of course, a long
harmless-looking ants.
their
tlie
Holes for them must be bored
a spike into these cross-ties.
out.
get out,
and look carefully at the cross-ties beneath the
hardest
is
if
95
But that ants
will eat dry,
in
building
hard telegraph
SPANISH ROADS
96
poles
and railroad
cross-ties
smile at the idea, but
Panama
of
it
is
seems
like
We may
a fairy story.
In the forests
true nevertheless.
there are great colonies of wood-eating ants that
will eat into
and destroy any but the very hardest wood.
and lignum
vitae,
The
ica
Panama
story of the building of the
back again,
all
however, have proved too
for a
moment,
to the early
call
Central America
for them.
railroad takes us
When
Spanish times.
North and South Amer-
that long stretch of land between
which we
much
Iron
(Map V) was
discovered
and conquered by Spain, and the rich west coast of America
fell
began
into her hands, the Spaniards naturally
to look
roadways across from the Atlantic
for the best places for
to
the Pacific.
We remember that Balboa,
in 1514, cut a
Road**
it.
It is
^^^
fi^^*-
marked
as
roadway
the two oceans.
shortest,
either
—about
end and
When
it
2,
his ships over
Map
V.
This was
by white men between
also, by chance, the
was
But no towns grew up
built the City of
Nombre de Dios and
Panama and
Porto Bello, he began
a good, paved road between them (No.
Panama
y-^^
-pj^j^
way
for travel
it.
No
3,
Map
^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ miles long and was
wide enough
abreast along
at
soon disappeared.
Governor Pedrarias
the towns of
No.
built
It
thirty miles.
rude road across
and carried
the Isthmus through the jungle
to allow
two carts to be driven
expense was spared to
and commerce.
make
it
a good
A BETTER ROAD NEEDED
97
In 1525 Cortes, the Spanish ruler of Mexico, found that
from the Gulf
of ISIexico across to
Tchuantepec Bay (Ta-
was but one hundred and twenty
\Yan-ta-pek')
tains
were but nine hundred
So he built a highway
as the
feet
above the
From
that
Road^°
sea.
Map
at this point (No. 5,
Tehuantepec Road.
^^^"^
moun-
miles and that the passes through the
day
Y),
known
to this
an ex-
tensive trade has been carried over that route.
During
all
the long years that Spain held
it,
and
Panama
years after, the Tchuantepec and the
roads were
the only important routes across Central America.
are
men
living
still
who
by
crossed
many
for
There
when no
these roads,
others existed.
There came a time, however, when a
,greatlv needed.
We
have
all
United States and ^Mexico
which gave
Ari/xjna,
besides.
to the
and
possible to go from
rail.
all
and 1847,
New
Mexico,
RaLoad^™''
and much other land
At that time there were
miles of railroad in
by
in 1846
United States
California,
was
better road
heard of the war between the
than nine thousand
less
the United States,
New York
and
it
was im-
even as far west as Chicago
INIany hundreds of miles of unexplored prairies
and Rocky Alountains lay between Chicago and California.
The trails for horses and wagons were very dangerous, the
journey recjuired several months, and
everywhere.
For government
hostile Indians
service, for soldiers,
the mails an easier route Avas necessary.
were
and
for
GOLD SEEKERS
98
We
have
all
heard, too, of the wonderful discovery of
gold in California in 1848, and of the crowds of excited
men who
rushed to the new gold
of horses
and wagons conveyed thousands west from
Louis.
fields.
Long caravans
St.
But there were thousands more of the Forty-niners,
Old Fori and Portion of City Wall, Panama.
as they were called,
who chose
to
go by ship
of the Chagres river, then to cross the
to the
Isthmus
mouth
to the City
Panama, and thence by ship again up the Pacific coast
to San Francisco.
There were quite as many dangers by
this route as by the long trails across the western prairies.
of
There were many shipwrecks on the rough Caribbean
sea,
PANAMA RAILROAD COMPANY
and hundreds IVU
In the
Isthmus.
and died
sick
chmate
in the hot
year of 1852
sinL!;le
99
of the
liundred gold-
live
seekcrs died of cholera at Panama.
At that time there was no regular
Panama
City to San Francisco.
California, the
crew was
the gold fever
and
to
likel}' to
run
be seized with
off to the
we took
a
to
Panama.
promenade on
°'^
mines, Icav-
Had we
searched
careful)}',
the
initials of
a pathetic story of the anxious
from these verv
men who
The long days of
made Panama
purses, the dreaded fever
waiting, the
up on the Isthmus, and
goods were shipped
citv
it
came
o\'er this
about that a
determined
to
build
empty
the gra\-e of hun-
dreds, wh(j were never to reach the gold mines.
trade sprang
once,
walls, looked eagerly out U) sea in search
of a returning ship.
So
These
Fortv-niners cut in the moss-covered stones.
tell
as
the old sea-wall of the City of
Panama, we might have found many names and
letters
^'
„i„1,.
him take
ing the captain with no one to help
his ship Ijack
from
line of steamers
\\'hen a ship once reached
A
large
great fjuantities of
route to California.
company
of
a railroad
men
from
in
New York
C(.)lon
to
the
Panama. William Henry A.spinwall, John L.
Ste\'ens, and Henry Chauncey were the leaders in this
The right to build it was secured from the
enterprise.
City
of
fo\'ernment of Colombia, the route was sun-eved not far
from the old Sp)anish roadway, and work was begun
in
MANY OBSTACLES
loo
Since the road was to be but forty-eight miles long and
there were no mountains to be crossed,
American
Energy and
ravery
it
would not seem,
like a great
task;
at first thought,
u
o
but in the
^
end
it
proved to be one of the most disastrous
attempts at Toad building in which American
energy and bravery have ever been engaged.
There were many obstacles
at the outset.
a long distance from railroad supplies.
Haut Obispo
Then
hard to
get.
quered.
It will
difficulties that
there
Panama was
Materials were
Station.
were the jungles to be con-
be almost impossible for us to realize the
they present to an engineering party.
We
ON MANZANILLO ISLAND
loi
are told that a part)- of engineers once passed
twenty
high hiU without knowing
feet of a
it,
within
t\^'ice
so dense
was
the tropical growth.
To
M.
begin the engineering work, Colonel G.
Totten,
James L. Baldwin, and a few others, with a small number
on jNIanzanillo Island,
of native laborers, landed
where now
is
town
the
human
not the least sign of
sa^•age,
on
foot,
to set
1)}'
work
awav
to clear
swamp.
But
"
Thev had
sun and
tlie
a schooner of two hundred tons,
it
I^\x-n
was found
that
it
after
the
the}'
li\-ed
and
was impossible
noxious insects that invaded
the
men were tormented
a
their
it;
upon which
for
the
first
house was completed
first
to
occupy
count of the swarms of mosquitoes, sand
sel
the^- set
rain.
thev had arri\-ed, and on which
few months.
In
a space for the purpose of erecting
a building to shelter themselves, their followers,
supplies from
land
dr^-
the surf along the reef.
front, the sea; behind, the malarial
to
Totten
or
civilized
except the narrow ridge of sand
had been washed up
that
life,
nor was there a space of
island;
tlie
upon which
"There was
of Colon.
flies,
it,
on ac-
and
otlier
while on board the ves-
with m}Tiads of cockroaches,
burden.
Sickness
was
seldom
which
rendered
absent
from the camp, while death was a too frequent
visitor.
is
No
called.
life
one escaped the calentura, as the jungle fever
In
a
little
time
party were the pale hue of
the
white
ghosts;
meml)crs of the
and even the dusky
BATTLE WITH THE JUNGLE
I02
natives
grew
many
shades
lighter
than
natural
their
bronze.
"Under
these
of the long rainy season, of
except
the
natives,
which
had any
Scene on Panama Railroad.
commenced
in
triumph
plunge.
beginning
no one of the
company,
practical
—Bolivar
knowledge,
five
weary years
"He
was
to
end
later."
to survey the line of the
organized a small party, and
made
For a long distance they were obliged
water waist deep, and to
was
Street, Colon.
the battle with tropical nature that
James Baldwin was selected
road.
at the
untoward circumstances,
hew
their
way through
the bold
to
wade
in
the dense
A DARING ENGINEER
jungle.
It is saitl that
Daklwin carried
liis
103
noonday lunclicon
in his hat, during the progress of that part of the sunx'y,
and
ate
doubtful
amid enidous
standinLr
it
and water
Be
snalvcs.
if
clay, sliut in
is
it
Baldwin
Think
1j}-
of
day
it!
scorching
after
impenetrable growth of jungle, each weary
which must be cut down before any adyance could
be made, ijreathing
by
ahiyattirs
may,
it
a more daring feat of engineering
has been performed.
foot of
that as
laden
air
The wonder
millions of insects!
and tormented
witli poison,
is
any man could
that
hiwc had such courage and endurance."
X(.)t
this
it
far
from Colon was the great Black Swamp.
was necessary
know what
Some
to build the line.
Across
us
(jf
may
For miles no hard
that means.
Obstacles
bottom coukl be found beneath the
Tons
ofL
tons of rock were clumped
hours sank out of
to force less
determined
men
upon
to cjuit the
The next obstacle Ayas the Chagres
the line crossed
floods
made
it
at seyeral points
railroad
water often rose ten
building
feet
or
mud.
it
swamp was
This
sight.
soft
next
and
a few
in
enough
obstacle
work.
riyer.
The
route of
and there the
to
imptjssible.
terrific
d'he
more aboye the tracks and
swept away the results of months of labor.
Another obstacle was the
ers.
The Panama
and then
natiAX*
difficulty of securing
has a
way
of loafing for the next weel^.
does not accomplish much.
of
good
lal)or-
working one day
AYhen he works, he
So laborers had
to
be imported
CHINESE LABORERS
104
over a shipload of eight
ately
began
to fall sick.
their arrival there
fit
an experiment, brought
They immedihundred Chinamen
The Company,
from abroad.
as
'
In
than two months after
less
was hardly one of the
to wield a pick or shovel.
nor did they
sat
stir
the sea swallowed
hanged or strangled themselves by
nant, fewer than two hundred, sick
to
Jamaica."
means came
on the shore and awaited the
until
number
useless,
nearest
rising tide,
Some
The rem-
them.
their cues.
and
to
— 1906.
despair and sought death by whatever
Some
original
They gave themselves up
Floods on Panama Railroad
to hand.
'
.
were shipped
BATTLE WITH DISEASE
a
105
Irisli
laborers were tried with no better results.
gang
of several thousand negroes
Finally
from Jamaica, and a
few whites from ^•arious sources fmished the work.
We may
already suspect the greatest enemy with whicli
the railroad
stacles
had
^ifore serious tlian all other 0I3-
to light,
any great work
to
in
Panama
the
is
Disease
tropical climate with
Not
tropical diseases.
its
only does the steaming hot weather suck the strength out of
men who
too
weak
the cities
are accustomed to cooler lands, but
to
throw
off
it
lea^es
the diseases that lurk in
and the deadly
air of the
swamps.
workmen
until
the
wonder
is
tlie filtli
of
Consumption,
down
the
that the road
was
typhoid, malaria, plague, and yellow fever, cut
railroad's
them
eyer completed.
"Be\ond
the Chagres ri\er
Are the paths that lead
death
to
To the fe^'e^'s deadly breezes.
To malaria's poisonous breath!"
It
has been said that one
life
The
total loss of life
was about
sacrificed
\\as
This
cross-tie on the railroad track.
is,
2,500.
for eyery
no doubt, untrue.
It
was a
fight of
liut such engiAmerican daring against terrible odds.
neers as Colonel George Totten and James Baldwin were
superior to
was
all
the evil powers of the jungle,
and the road
built.
Eight million dollars,
—
five
years of exhausting labor,
THE RAILROAD COMPLETED
io6
over two thousand
lives,
eight miles of railroad
On
away
off in
'
Panama,
— the
first
in
Here at Last Was a Railroad Across the Isthmus."
too, fourteen years before
States
by
Here
continental
mus.
Pacific
was seen
locomotive that ever crossed
American continent from ocean
„. , „
First Trans-
forty-
Panama.
the 27th of January, 1855, a strange sight
the City of
the
—that was the price paid for
•'
rail
it
to ocean,
was possible
to cross the
from the Atlantic
at last
— and
this,
United
to the Pacific.
was a railroad across the
Shiploads
of
goods
headed
Isth-
for
the
need no longer be sent on the long journey around
South America.
Commerce came
to
Panama
at once.
Even
SUCCESS
before
it
was completed, the road
two million
and has
dollars.
paitl
years this
It
liad
talicn in
soon made fortunes for
handsomeb*
little
107
e\'er since.
In the
first
more
its
tlian
builders,
forty-se\'en
railroad earned nearh' $38,000,000 of clear
profit for its owners.
Surely a railroad can haxe a storv as romantic as the
bloody career of a
Morran.
i/anii
of pirates, even thouQ;h led
bv Ilenrv
CHAPTER
IX
WATERWAYS ACROSS CENTRAL AMERICA
In the
first
part of our story of
Panama we
the greatest disappointment of Cohimbus's
Asia.
It will
the efforts
land,
done
at
country,
more
we
since his time
to
by Spain, Scotland, Eng-
to find or to build
Panama.
if
fact
not be worth our while to study very carefully
made
and France
are naturally
was the
waterway through Central America
that he could find no
all
life
learned that
see
We
such a waterway.
interested in
what the United States has
But we
be more proud of our
first
shall
own
what others have done and why they
failed.
That Columbus
failed to find
they learned of Cen-
America, the more desirous were they
tral
^""^^
Failure
a waterway did not entirely
The more
discourage the Spaniards.
"^^
^'^
build a
way
for ships
through
Columbus had been dead only fourteen
when
this
purpose.
exfjlorer.
to
make a most
Of
course, no
And we need
Tliis
was Gonzales.
many
explorers
waterway was found.
to follow the
all
careful survey for
His orders were obeyed and
were sent out.
wasn't any.
America
it.
years,
the Spanish king, Charles the Fifth, gave orders to
his governors in
to
There
work of but one
GONZALES
lie crossed the
Isthmus
Panama
at
94 and
^^ p.
where
co\-ers
it
is
up
N^aragua
marked
It is
as
lake
one hundred and seventeen
is
three thousand scjuare
stream
seventy miles and
might be
built at
to the
largely
Pacific,
It
way
one huiirlred and
seemed as
if
a canal
at this time, that a canal
So, for a time, the Spaniards
of building a canal.
was not long
however, that Spain came to
after this,
feel
easy ways across Central America could be f(jund or
built, other nations
sessions in the
might
New
anv further sunx-ys.
Spain did
becoming
But
and then down
Nicaragua.
could be built across Panama.
if
river,
—onlv
by water.
Spanish surveyors also declared,
had high hopes
and
Erie,
Here, surely, was an easy
to the Atlantic.
from the Atlantic
Lake
Gonzales sailed up
miles.
San Juan
outlet, the
its
Map
No. 4 on
very desiralJc that we should sec exactly
The
lies.
it
the lake to
that
sailed
he
sur})risc,
miles long, or about half as long as our
It
and
to the shore of a great fresh-water lake.
This was Lake Nicaragua.
this
i
(lonzales had gone
inland a few miles when, to his
came
in 152
Here a landing was made
the west coast to Nicaragua.
with one hundred men.
109
all
in her
steal
And
to
fifty
years
prevent other nations from
interested in a canal at
at Panama.
we know from
Nicaragua or
no one feared the anger of Spain, as
the stories of English pirates.
the rich pos-
two hundred and
for
power
away from her
So the Spanish king forbade
World.
Only a few years
after
Henry
no
WILLIAM PATERSON
named
Panama by
destroyed Panama, a famous Scotchman
^tlorgan
William Paterson planned
to get possession of
Scotch colony on the Gulf
planting a large
Darien (Map V).
of
Fatoe
was a
the colony
if
He
thought, too, that
success, Scotland
a canal across the Isthmus at that point (No.
AMiat a
pitiful failure
Scotchmen
set
was!
it
2,
might dig
Map
In 1698 twelve hundred
out in five ships and planted a colony at
Others followed and everything looked promis-
Darien.
But they had not counted on the climate.
ing.
V).
came, as
it
had done so many times
before.
Fever
Soon more
than two thousand ^vere dead and vast sums of money had
been spent.
Suddenly a
away
Tlie few survivors ran
was
hostile
Spanish
fleet
appeared.
For more than one hundred years the
son's plan discouraged
-^"'^
FaUure
interest
was
still
failure of Pater-
any more such
alive
in
Some
splendid
of us ha\-c
monument
London.
in
one of the sfjuares in the
Four massive
rises
high in
lions
On
air.
greatest admiral that ever
battleship.
All
England
her great sea-captain,
Few
its
it
built.
certain
city of
guard a beautiful column
top stands the statue of the
walked the deck of an English
delights to honor the
who
efforts.
the idea of a
many people yet hoped to see
seen, or may sometime see, a
canal and
which
There
in defeat to Scotland.
be no Scotch canal.
to
memory
of
died in his country's service.
persons know, perhaps, that twenty-five years before
NELSON iSrEMORIAL
^/yri-ht Py
U
Four iUsbivE Lions Guard a Beauiiful Column.'
[
ti
A NARROW ESCAPE
112
his
wonderful battle with the French
he nearly
lost his life in
Nicaragua.
fleet
at
He was
Trafalgar,
only young
Captain Nelson then, and had been sent with some English
and men
ships
seize the lake.
to dri^-e the
England had determined
what was then thought
Nelson succeeded
in
were sent against him.
and
in behalf of Spain,
of his
and
The
ship,
in a
his
own
whipping the Spanish ships that
But the
tropical fever again fought
that he could not whip.
health,
The crew
was suddenly taken
left alive
also,
sick,
out of two hundred.
was injured
for
the re-
life.
despair.
For many years she continued
surveys at Nicaragua.
had plans
to get control of
be the best route for a canal.
few days only ten were
England did not
make
to
the Iliiichiiibrook,
captain's
mainder of
to
Spanish out of Nicaragua and
for a canal.
Until very recently she
still
CHAPTER X
THE FRENXH AT PAXAilA
On
a certain
dav
up amonj^
in 1SS2,
the hills eleven miles
Panama, an unusual
back of the
city of
been seen.
All alxnit, the jungle
sight could
have
had been cut away, the
land cleared, and tracks, cars, engines, and machinery for
Some
digging had been set up.
operation.
of
of
them were
Engines were pufling, men
workmen were
hurr}'ing here
could be seen at points
down
and
actuall)- in
were shouting, gangs
there.
the valley,
Smoke,
too,
and there were
signs of actiA'itv e^'erA'where.
Amid
all
this
commotion
Xo
persons was gathered.
before on the Isthmus.
a
company
of a 'few
such company had
hundred
e\'er
met
There was the Bishop from the
Cathedral of Panama, and with him a number of the leadtown.
ing citizens of that
also,
and Europeans
Frenchmen.
much
These
of
all
There were some Americans
different
nationalities,
especiaJly
had the appearance of spectators
interested in something unusual that
was about
to
happen.
The
center of the group was a
laughing and joking, and
good humor.
full
little
white-haired man,
of remarkable energv
and
E.xcept for his white hair he appeared to be
"3
THE CANAL BUILDER
114
not over
fifty
one would have
Certainly no
years old.
guessed that he had passed his seventy-sixth birthday.
We
he would often "ride a
fiery
are told
that
De Lesseps
horse
all
all
day over rough country,
—then
dance
night like a boy, and the next day be as 'fresh as a
daisy.'"
He seemed now
to
be the chief
all
command
in
of
the work.
man was none other
This
than Count Ferdinand de
Lesseps, and the work actually
going on was the dig-
ging
a
of
French canal
Panama.
across
The company was
sembled
witness
to
as-
the
formal opening of the great
The Bishop was
work.
give
it
his
blessing,
tremendous
a
dynamite was
ploded, to
Count Ferdinand de Lesseps.
was
ting through the rock.
scene for us.
"The
champagne, duly
iced,
An
to
be
of
ex-
show how easy
be the task of cut-
eye-witness has described the
blessing
had been pronounced, the
was waiting
to cool the swelter of that
tropic sun, as soon as the explosion
crowd
to
charge
to
and
"went
off."
There the
stood, breathless, ears stopped, eyes blinking, half
ISTHMUS OF SUEZ
Map
VI.
De
Lesseps and the Isthmus of Suez.
"S
AN UNLUCKY EXPLOSION
ii6
in terror lest this artificial
But there was no explosion!
eral destruction.
Then a humorous
go!
earthquake might involve gen-
sense of relief stole
It
upon
wouldn't
the crowd.
With one accord everybody exclaimed "Good gracious!"
and hurried away,
dynamite should see
after all the
lest
to explode."
fit
So,
broke up and departed.
doings, which
company
As we look back upon
that day's
marked
feasting,
the beginning of the
French
enter-
seems something unlucky about that charge
there
prise,
the
much merriment and
after
of dynamite that refused to explode.
And how
But who was Ferdinand de Lesseps?
French come
to
seps
be building a canal at
ycars in Egypt.
and the^*^^
Isthmus of
De Lesfor many
Panama?
was a Frenchman who had
did the
lived
There he was but a few miles
isthmus of the world,
from that other great
°
where a strip of low land, less than
at Suez,
'
Suez
—
_
one hundred miles wide, connects the two continents of Asia
and Africa.
of
commerce
in the
As Panama blocked
in the
New
the most important route
World, so did the Isthmus of Suez
Old World.
For ages there had been a demand
the
Red Sea and
the Mediterranean,
studied the problem.
what
is
vessels.
To
for a canal
and many wise men had
be of any value the canal must be
called a "ship canal," that
is,
large
enough
But a ship canal one hundred miles long!
had ever been
built.
The
between
difficulties
seemed too
for
ocean
No such
great.
A CANAL AT SUEZ
Though De Lesseps was
rience, he
was
ver)-
name with some
task
of
great umlertaking.
building a canal
recjuire
not an engineer of
expe-
man
could see that the
It
Through the Suez Canal.
would be mostly through sand.
there were almost no
He
Suez was really simple.
at
much money and
he would be the
much
ambitious and anxious to connect his
Ship Passing
would
117
hills.
patience, but the digging
There was
De
little
rock,
and
Lesseps determined that
to build that ship canal.
It
was a
daring scheme, indeed, but he went to work at once.
In 1858 a company was formed.
i\Ien
had confidence
in
ONE ISTHMUS CONQUERED
ii8
De
begun and progressed
steadily
by
longer connected with Asia
The
pleted.
and
successfully for the next
Before the world fully realized
ten years.
the
In 1859 work was
Lesseps and money was secured.
it,
The
land.
Africa was no
canal was com-
waters of the Mediterranean could flow into
Red Sea and a new
route was secured from Europe to
Asia.
The Suez Canal
is
ninety-nine miles long, thirty-one feet
deep, one hundred and eighty feet wide at the bottom, and
and twenty
four hundred
Suez Canal
.
surface.
the banks
,.
feet
time of transit
is
at
the water's
,
electric lights
and ships can pass through
The
by day.
Great
it
were placed along
by night
from fourteen
as well as
to eighteen
hours.
The
cost
was $100,000,000 or about $1,000,000
But those who had dared
mile.
to
for each
put their money into
this
rash enterprise were richly rewarded, for enormous profits
were made.
Nearly four thousand ships now pass tlirough
the canal each year,
from
tolls of
Lesseps was
great isthmuses of the world
now
rang with his praises.
successful
It is
receives
we
was conquered.
at the height of his fame.
No
All
Europe
task seemed too difficult for this
man.
not strange, then, that he looked longingly across the
Atlantic toward that other great isthmus at
are
an income
about $25,000,000.
One of the two
De
and the Company
surprised to find
him laying plans
Panama.
in
Nor
1877 to do
FRENCH PANAMA CANAL COMPANY
in the
Xew
he had done
^^'orld ^vhat
be only a fortv mile canal
had
and
tried
at
in the
To
Panama.
119
Did.
but was he not the very
failed,
man to win? When he declared that "the
Panama Canal \\all be more easily begun,
poor alike were eager
So
^'ip^'lTa
and maintained than the Suez Canal,"
finished,
to furnish
The
formed.
and
money.
Atlantic and Pacific were to be directly con-
nected by a canal twenty-eight
built at a cost, of $214,000,000,
A
rich
Panama Canal Company was
1S79 the French
in
need
It
be sure, others
feet
and
deep.
to
It
was
to
be
be finished in eight
workmen was secured, machinery
purchased, and everything made ready. The Bishop blessed
the work, as we have seen, and the canal was begun.
years.
A
great
force of
whole book might be
filled
Canal.
For us three words
1
1
with the story of the French
will explain
what
French Work
happened.
—
Disease.
^,
It
seems as
if
De
p^^^^^
Lesseps and his
known enough about Panama to ha\"e
Yellow Fever. Thev did
the old enemy,
hospitals,
one at Panama City cost nearly
associates should have
reckoned
^\k\i
build expensive
—
—
$6,000,000, — another
at
Colon, $1,400,000; but thev were
badly managed and the sick were poorly cared
for.
We
have, no doubt, already seen the yellow k-ver ward of the
hospital at
Panama
patients died.
the French did
City.
Worse
little
still,
In this one ward twelve hundred
while they tried to cure the sick,
to prevent sickness.
The towns were
left
AND WASTE
DISEASE
I20
as filthy as ever, the water supply remained poor,
laborers continued to
fall
Out
ill.
men, 52,000 were treated
and the
of a total of 86,800
work-
The
deaths
for sickness.
total
during the twenty-three years of French work were 6,283.
Fever Ward
Waste.
—French
—The French
had
of the difficulties before they
Canal was far harder
was poured out
neers
made
the canal
progress
failed to
Panama
City.
make a
began the work.
to build
like water.
agance were seen on
Hospital,
careful study
The Panama
Money
than the Suez Canal.
But poor plans and poor
grow very
all sides.
slowly.
Waste and
Yet glowing
were sent home to France.
engi-
extrav-
stories of great
Newspapers were
DISHONESTY
bribed to
make
false reports.
people were deceived.
The
For several years the French
canal was soon to be completed,
they were told, and they continued to furnish huge sums of
money for
r/u'/Y.
the work.
— De Les-
seps was not,
per-
haps, an intentionally dishonest
man.
But he was an old
man and
guide
unfit
tremen-
so
Many
dous a work.
men
to
who
worked
with him were dishonest and by them
was
he
Not only
deceived.
in
France
but also in Panama
lar2;e sums of monev
>/;^ hy ir>'i.
l-I.
Ra
French Machine Working on a iANK
went into the pockets of those in
It is
made
its
Panama
power.
said that fully one third of
all
practically stolen from the treasury.
tion
IN
Canal.
way down from
classes even to the lowest.
money
the
This
the higher
spirit of
officials
Every form
raised
was
corrup-
through
all
of vice flourished
on the Isthmus.
Disease, waste, and theft went on for seven years.
Of
122
$400)000,000
course,
much good
time not over two
digging was done, but at the end of that
fifths of the
whole work was completed.
Nearly four hundred million dollars had been raised.
De
large part of
it
A
Lesseps Palace.
was secured from French farmers and day-
who believed in the great De Lesseps and turned
over to him their little savings. About one third of this
enormous sum was wasted, one third stolen, and one third
laborers,
actually spent
management
!
on the canal.
What a dreadful story of misHad all the $400,000,000 been properly spent,
the canal might have been finished.
At
last
the whole world
came
to
know what had hap-
A NATIONAL SCANDAL
pened.
It
^^•as
clear
that
De
Panama Canal Company had
ment spread over France.
sons had sunk
scheme, and
all
their
Lcsscps and the French
now found
Rage and
failed.
Thousands
money
123
in
of perFrench
the
themselves
excite-
great
Failure
ruined.
The end had come, no canal was built, the money ^^•as gone.
Then a long trial was held to find out who was to blame.
?\Iany leading men in France were accused of sharing in the
PoETioN OF Canal Completed by the French.
robbery.
Several committed suicide rather than face the
angry French people.
bers of the
During the
Company were
trial
a
number
sentenced to pay heavy
of
mem-
fines or
124
AMONG THE
RUINS
DEATH OF DE LESSEPS
to
spend years
in health
in prison.
and reputation, was unable
\Mien he was sentenced
into
an unconscious
few months he died
to five years'
state, his
in a
visit to
FRE^XH Dredges
first
for
landed,
De
mind
we might have
shall
lessly wasted.
now broken
stand the strain.
to
imprisonment, he
ga^•e
fell
way, and within a
go out
to see the
stayed long at Colon,
Sl'xk in Rio
wreck
when
\\e
Grande,
seen the expensive dwelling built
It is known as the De
money was needhow
French
and shows
Lesseps and his associates.
Lesseps Palace,
Lesseps,
mad-house.
Panama we
French work. Had we
In our
of the
The aged De
I2S
RUINED MACHINERY
126
All along the route between Colon
bits of the canal
and Panama City are
partially completed.
For
years, in the
great ditches, the steam excavators stood silent, just as they
were
left
when
"
the French
work stopped.
The Jungle Has Crept
in
In the rivers
Upon Them."
the dredges rotted at their wharves or sank to the bottom.
Here, for instance, in the Rio Grande are two dredges with
their tops just sticking out of the water.
thousands
thousand
of
dollars.
cars, six
track, with
They
are
now
Each
cost
worthless.
many
Ten
thousand wagons, two hundred miles of
hundreds of locomotives, derricks, excavators,
and dredges were
left idle.
STATUE OF DE LESSEPS
ITow sad a
Black and
sight the long lines of locomotives present.
rusty, they are fast going to ruin within sight
of the very spot
gaily
127
on which De Lesseps and
opened work on the
canal.
The
his friends so
jungle has crept in
upon them. Nature
trving
is
French
hide
to
the pitiful
signs of
failure.
world
Tlie
has
long
ago
decided
that
Dc
Lesseps
was
himself
onh'
partially responsil:)]e
the
for
wreck
He
Panama
at
at-
tempted more than
he was
We
aljle
can
^^x•ll
to do.
afford
to forget his failure
there
and
to
re-
CoJ,yrt^'/,l by ll'm. II. R.ti:.
De
Lesseps Statue
member him only
as the man who planned and completed
the longest ship canal in the world.
— Suez
Canal.
the canal at Suez,
At the mouth of
of
that canal his statue stands looking out over the waters
His right hand is outstretched, as if
the Mediterranean.
inviting the ships of the world to enter his great waterway.