PANAMA

-AND -THE-

CANAL-

SANTA MARIA." — ONE OF THE SHIPS OF COLUMBUS. (From an exact reproduction built in 1892.)

PANAMA

AND THE CANAL

Alfred B PJall ^ i^S"-

Instructor in History in The Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn.

and

Clarence C! Chester

Traveler and Explorer

NEW YORK

NEWSON & COMPANY CC\VO A

Copyright, 1910, by NEWSON & COMPANY

1221

Bancroft Library

INTRODUCTION

"Castilla del Oro " — Golden Castile — was the name

Q given by Columbus to the Isthmus of Panama, in honor

!f of Isabella, good queen of the old Spanish kingdom of

" Castile. Golden, indeed, it was to be, a land of treasure

0 far beyond the dreams of the Great Discoverer. "Grave

~ of the Spaniards" — the pioneers called it, who fought to

. win the treasure from savage Indians, cruel pirates, and

g a deadly climate. "Key to the Pacific" — some, too, have

O named it As if, when Nature raised the broad continents

CT of North and South America between the Atlantic and the

^j Pacific, she originally planned a waterway at this con-

^ venient spot to connect the two oceans. And then, as an

£ after-thought, threw in this bit of land, at its narrowest point

scarcely thirty miles wide, and with its hills at one place

only three hundred feet above the sea, as a challenge to the

strength and skill of mankind.

Four hundred years ago men accepted the challenge. First Spain, then Scotland, England, and France poured out money and life in a vain effort to build a waterway and to defeat the powers of Nature. Last of all, the United States, led by a dauntless President, took up the fight.

vi INTRODUCTION

"This is the greatest engineering work the world has yet seen,'7 said President Roosevelt, "but the Canal shall be built!'7

These names tell in short the story of the Isthmus. In all the Western Hemisphere no spot has had so romantic a history as this small strip of land that joins the two continents but separates the two greatest oceans of the world.

PEEFACE

In this little book the authors have attempted to present the history of Panama and of the Panama Canal in a man- ner which will be interesting and intelligible to younger readers. As a possession of the United States the Canal Zone deserves attention from teachers of geography and history. The state of Panama itself has had a most dra- matic and thrilling history. And the Canal is not only a wonder of modern engineering but is also an American achievement of first importance. The story is full of important facts in history and geography and presents a fund of information of a distinctly educational character.

For the early historical matter the authors have drawn freely upon such material as is found in Fiske's Discovery of America and in a large number of books of a similar character. Through the courtesy of the Isthmian Canal Commission, many records and pictures have been secured. These have been supplemented by photographs taken on the Isthmus and by personal observation and study in the Canal Zone.

DECEMBER, 1909.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION v

PART I.— GOLDEN CASTILE

CHAPTER

I. A ROUTE FROM EUROPE TO ASIA 3

II. BALBOA AND THE PACIFIC 12

III. PlZARRO AND THE GOLD OF PERU 19

PART II.— GRAVE OF THE SPANIARDS

IV. THE PIRATES 27

PART III.— MODERN PANAMA

V. LAND OF THE COCOANUT TREE 41

VI. NATIVES AND ANIMALS .... .... 58

VII. CITY OF PANAMA 78

PART IV.— KEY TO THE PACIFIC

VIII. ROADWAYS ACROSS CENTRAL AMERICA 93

IX. WATERWAYS ACROSS CENTRAL AMERICA 108

X. THE FRENCH AT PANAMA . .113

XI. THE UNITED STATES AND PANAMA . . . . . .128

XII. CONQUEST OF DISEASE 137

XIII. ASSEMBLING A WORKING FORCE 156

XIV. MACHINERY AND THE PANAMA RAILROAD 170

XV. SEA-LEVEL AND LOCK CANALS 177

XVI. THE LOCK CANAL AT PANAMA 186

XVII. BUILDING THE CANAL 194

XVIII. THE MEN BEHIND THE CANAL 218

XIX. FUTURE OF PANAMA AND THE CANAL . . . . .223

PART I GOLDEN CASTILE

MAP I.— "THE PORTUGUESE FIND A ROUTE TO ASIA.'

CHAPTER I

A ROUTE FROM EUROPE TO ASIA

Every schoolboy today knows more of geography than the most learned man in Europe knew five hundred years ago. When Columbus was puzzling over his

The

Latin books and learning to draw maps in the Portuguese schools of Genoa, Italv, no teacher could have f in* a Route

* t/O ASlcl

told him the real size and shape of the earth. A few persons believed that the earth was round like a globe but thought it much smaller than we now know it to be. The maps of that day marked with certainty only the continent of Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, a little of the north of Africa, and some of the western parts of Asia. What the remainder of Asia and Africa was like, no one could say. West of Europe was the Atlantic ocean, called the Sea of Darkness. No European ship was ever known to have crossed it. It was an ocean of unknown dangers. Sailors were afraid to try it. And as for North and South America and the Pacific ocean, stretching ten thousand miles beyond them, there was not the faintest idea that they existed.

In those days, of course, there were no steamships nor railways. Nor was there any way for even small sailing

3

WEALTH OF ASIA

vessels to pass from the Mediterranean into the Indian ocean and so direct to India, China, and Japan. The journey to the East was difficult and dangerous. Pirates, Turks, and highway robbers, and many long miles through

unknown lands frightened the boldest traveler. And yet there were a few, per- haps not over half a dozen, who had visited China and India, and had come back, like Marco Polo, with such tales of strange lands and rich cities, as to fill Europe with wonder and surprise.

In the markets of Genoa Columbus, no doubt, saw

the valuable drugs and spices, handsome rugs and silks, and the almost priceless gold and jewels which the slow cara- vans brought out of Asia to the Mediterranean and there sold to the traders from European cities. These oriental goods were in great demand, and the merchants in Venice, Genoa, and other towns made immense profits in this trade. It is not strange that during the boyhood of Columbus men were curious to know more of the wondrous eastern coast of Asia, and were greedy for its wealth. If only some new, outside waterway to Asia could be found, its millions of people might be conquered and its riches brought cheaply

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.

CAPE GOOD HOPE 5

home to Europe. This was the great desire. Merchants and sailors, soldiers and priests, and even kings and queens hoped to share in the gold and glory of such a discovery.

Twenty years before Columbus was born, Prince Henry of Portugal, called the Navigator, made up his mind that if a way around the southern end of Africa could be found, Portuguese ships might sail direct to India. For forty-five years this generous and devoted man denied himself the pleasures of the gay court of Portugal and devoted his life to the task of discovery. When he died in 1463 his daring sailors had explored the west coast of Africa for more than two thousand miles to Sierra Leone (Map I, p. 2). For years after his death his nephew, King John II, continued the explorations. In 1487 success rewarded these patient efforts. After a most remarkable voyage of at least thir- teen thousand miles, Bartholomew Diaz (De'ath) returned to Portugal with battered ships and worn-out crews, and reported that though he had not actually reached India, he had passed the southern cape of Africa and had sailed into the Indian ocean. "Let the cape be called Good Hope," said King John, "for now we have good hope that the long-sought ocean route to India has been found."

We can scarcely imagine the interest which this discov- ery aroused in Europe, nor the envy with which the other kings looked upon this new Portuguese route and saw King John about to secure the riches of Asia for himself and his country.

6 A BOLD PLAN

Now it happened that Christopher Columbus and his

younger brother Bartholomew had become not only expert

map makers but also excellent seamen. Co-

Columbus

and the lumbus tells us that he went to sea when scarcely

fourteen years old. About 1470 they left their home in Italy, went to Portugal, and joined the expeditions down the coast of Africa. In fact, Bartholomew was a seaman on the ships of Diaz, when the great journey was made around Cape Good Hope. It was now clear to all that the Portuguese had found a route to Asia but that it must be at best very long and tedious. Africa proved to be much longer than was expected.

In 1484 Christopher Columbus had made the astonishing proposal to King John that ships be given him for a voyage directly westward across the Atlantic. He declared that if the earth were really round, Asia could surely be reached in that way; and that instead of a route by Cape Good Hope of at least ten thousand miles, a journey west of only two thousand five hundred miles, as he figured it, would bring him to the rich island of Japan. The idea was not new, though few believed in it; but the courage to make the journey was new. King John was struck with the boldness of the plan, but his advisers declared that it was certain to be a failure. The ships were not given him, and Columbus in disgust departed hastily from Portugal to offer himself and his great idea to Ferdinand and Isa- bella, king and queen of Spain.

VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 7

We all know the remainder of the story, — eight long years of delays, disappointments, poverty, and ridicule; the final favorable decision of Queen Isabella; and the three little ships that set out from Palos on a Friday morning in August 1492, for the most notable journey ever made across the seas.

We know, too, the intense excitement in Spain upon his return with news that he had crossed the Atlantic and had discovered some islands which he believed to be close to the coast of Asia. Honors were heaped upon him and he became the hero of the hour. Seventeen ships and fifteen hundred men at once prepared to set out for further discovery. Everyone supposed that Spain had beaten Portugal in the race for the untold riches of Asia. Now it was the turn of King John to be envious. Alas for poor Columbus ! Though he did not know it, he had not reached Asia after all, only Haiti and Cuba!

This second trip lasted many months and proved most disappointing. The West India Islands were explored, thousands of fierce cannibal Indians encountered, but there were no rich cities nor coasts of Asia nor ship-loads of wealth brought back to Spain. Columbus' s enemies now began to call him a humbug and to plot his ruin. And the king, too, began to think that his voyages were of little value after all. Yet a third voyage was made in 1497. At the same time a number of other Spanish cap- tains crossed the Atlantic on similar voyages of discovery.

BETWEEN TWO OCEANS

MAP II. — COLUMBUS AND THE ISTHMUS.

TRIUMPH OF DA GAMA 9

Hundreds of miles of the coasts of North and South America were explored. A little gold was found and some Indians captured to be sold as slaves; but the ships returned with no " shorter route" to Asia discovered and with the sad tidings of the horrible death of hundreds of Spaniards at the hands of the fierce Indians of the West Indies.

Imagine, then, the feelings of King Ferdinand and of Columbus, when the news came, in the summer of 1499, that Vasco da Gama, in the service of King John, had sailed around Africa by the Portuguese route and had actually reached India, had seen its rich cities, and brought batfk- his ships to Portugal loaded with silks, satins, ivory, spices, rubies, and emeralds. Asia had been reached! How mean Columbus' s voyages now looked in comparison with this triumph!

Portugal had won the race by the longer African route. No wonder that men began to doubt the existence of Co- lumbus's "shorter route." Not so Columbus.

Columbus

He was now an old man, poor and sick ; but and the his noble spirit still clung to the belief that somewhere, through the new lands that he had found, there must be a waterway that would lead him on to Asia. Spain must do something to offset the triumph of Portugal. So it came about that the king and queen sent him from Cadiz, on the nth of May, 1502, on his fourth and last voyage.

In June he reached the West Indies, and in July the Cape of Honduras south of Yucatan (Map II). For five

io EVIDENCES OF GOLD

months he proceeded southward down the coast, encoun- tering head winds and wretched weather, but encouraged because he found the Indians there living in large stone houses, possessed of much good pottery and copper tools,

"THE BEAUTIFUL HARBOR OF PORTO BELLO."

and well clothed in brightly-colored cotton garments. There were plentiful evidences of gold, too, and many natives were seen with plates of gold suspended from their necks. Surely the rich lands of Asia could not be far away! On down the coast the vessels went, until they reached the Isthmus of Panama. Here the low hills, clothed with dense tropical forests, rose but little above the sea. Each bay

NO WATERWAY it

and river was now carefully explored, especially the Chagres river, up which Columbus went to its sources, and was at one time but fifteen miles from the Pacific! The beautiful harbor of Porto Bello (Good Harbor) was entered and named on November 2, 1502. Still no passage to the west was found. Already the sailors were grumbling; the food was almost gone; and the vessels were worm-eaten and hard to manage. Yet the determined man pressed on mile after mile, hoping against hope. But in December, having passed along the entire coast of Panama, and being completely discouraged at finding no westward pas- sage, he was forced to turn about and head for Cuba. A year of shipwreck, a sad return to Spain, two years of neglect and misery ended the life of this great seaman in 1506. There was no waterway through Panama. The Isthmus had conquered the noblest of all discoverers.

CHAPTER II

BALBOA AND THE PACIFIC

The schoolbooks tell us that the first white man to prove that Panama was but a narrow strip of land and that a great ocean lay to the west of it, — was the Spanish cava- lier Balboa. Perhaps few of us know that this great dis- coverer set out for Panama in a barrel. Balboa in a barrel! Such an amusing way of reaching the Isthmus deserves a word of explanation.

When the Spaniards began to doubt if they could reach Asia by a westward waterway, they determined at least The s amards to concluer tne newly-discovered lands and to Settle in secure their gold. Ships began at once to sail

to Panama. There they found gold in plenty in the sand of the rivers and returned to Spain heavily loaded. Within a year King Ferdinand created two prov- inces on these coasts — one, from the Atrato river eastward (Map II, p. 8), was given to the discoverer Ojeda (O-ha'tha) ; the other, the Isthmus of Panama — called Golden Castile- was given to a court favorite Nicuesa (Ne-koo-'asa). These two governors set sail with parties of settlers in 1509.

On reaching the eastern shore of his province Ojeda

FAMINE AND SICKNESS

rashly went ashore with seventy men to catch some Indians for slaves. A fierce fight followed and all but Ojeda and one companion were killed by the savages. Thus began the bloody struggle with the natives, which was to continue for many years and to end only when the latter were nearly de- stroyed.

The remainder of Oje- da's party had scarcely built their miserable little settlement at San Sebas- tian (Map II, p. 8), when they began to die of famine and sickness. Ojeda at once left the party in charge of Francisco Pizarro and sailed for Santo Domingo on the island of Haiti for supplies. Now it hap- pened that in Santo Domingo there lived a handsome young man heels over head in debt, and in terror lest he be sent to prison. He contrived to hide himself in a barrel and was rolled on board the ships that were about to set off with food for the starving men at San Sebastian. Days passed. And when Santo Domingo and his debts

VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA.

A CENTER OF WORLD INTEREST

MAP III. — "THE SPANIARDS SETTLE IN PANAMA.

NICUESA

were left far behind, to the disgust of the captain, out crawled the gay Balboa from his barrel. Surely his courage deserved a better fate than was in store for him at Panama.

San Sebastian was relieved, its survivors deserted the unhappy spot, and joined the new-comers to build a new town called Santa Maria. It was the first on the Isthmus. The ener- getic Balboa soon became the leader of this settle- ment (Map III).

Terrible misfortunes also befell Nicuesa' s party. They made a landing on the Isthmus and built a set- tlement which they called Nombre de Dios (Norn'- bra-da-De'os) — Name of God. In a few months, of seven hundred men, only Nicuesa and sixty-nine others were left. Scarcely

a white settlement in all America can show a more dreadful record of death, — nine dead out of every ten. And Nicuesa with the sixty-nine had become " filthy and horrible to behold," and nearly mad for lack of food. At last, in two

THE SO-CALLED BALBOA TREE. FROM ITS TOP BOTH ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC CAN BE SEEN.

i6

MORE TREASURE

small boats, they sailed east to Santa Maria. There the settlers were so afraid of Nicuesa that they would not let him land. With seventeen followers he set out again to

sea and was never heard from.

After such awful suffer- ings it is surprising that the few Spaniards who re- mained did not speedily leave Panama and return to Spain. One thing kept them at Santa Maria. A nearby Indian chief, by name Comogre, made friends with Balboa and gave him seventy slaves and a large quantity of gold. The story is that as the Spaniards were weigh- ing the treasure and quar- relling as to how it should be divided, the Indians were as- tonished at their excitement. We know that the natives used their gold only for ornaments and knew little of its value. A son of the chief told Balboa that if the Spaniards prized the yellow metal so highly, they should cross the mountains to a great sea, where, far to the south, people lived who had no end of the precious metal. Fired with excitement at this

VIEW OF ATLANTIC FROM BALBOA TREE.

THE GREATEST OCEAN

news of more gold, the settlers were willing to remain. Balboa planned to cross the mountains and to see for him- self if a way could not be found to the land of treasure.

Some months later, in September, 1513, with two hundred men, he plunged into the tropical ottered forest. On the 25th of that month, from a high point of land on the Isthmus, he and his men looked with astonishment at a vast ex- panse of water stretching off to the west and south as far as eye could see. Four days later, on the 2gth, having reached the water's edge, Balboa claimed pos- session, for the king of Spain, of the greatest ocean on the globe.

Eager to make further plans, Balboa hurried back to Santa Maria, only to find to his dismay that fif- teen hundred greedy ad- venturers had arrived from

VIEW OF PACIFIC FROM BALBOA TREE.

Spain, — all bent on shar- ing in the conquest of the golden country. With this com- pany came also a new governor for the Isthmus. This man, Pedrarias, has been called a " two-legged tiger." He

i8 AN UNTIMELY END

was one of the most evil and brutal men ever sent by Spain to the New World. At once jealous of Balboa, he did all in his power to prevent his expedition to the golden country. But Balboa pressed on his preparations. His energy was amazing. By 1517 he had forced the Indians to cut a road- way through the dense jungles and to carry four ships, piece by piece, across to the Pacific; had put them together again; and was ready to sail down the coast of South America. Two thousand Indians are said to have perished in this task. But here Balboa's career was to come to an untimely end. The hatred of Pedrarias could allow him to go no further.

He was arrested, tried on a false charge of trea- Baiboa0f son> an(^ beheaded by order of the governor.

So perished the first white man to cross Pan- ama,— the Discoverer of the Pacific. Others must find the gdden country.

CHAPTER III

PIZARRO AND THE GOLD OF PERU

For the next seven years the Spaniards were satisfied to secure the treasure that was to be had near at hand. In 1519 Pedrarias began to build the city of Panama on the Pacific and to connect this with the Atlantic by a road across the Isthmus, first to Nombre de Dios and later to Porto Bello (Map III, p. 14). The Pearl Islands in the Gulf of Panama were conquered and their chief gave the governor at one time, we are told, " a basket full of pearls weighing one hundred and ten pounds, —whereof some were as big as hazelnuts. One of these alone was later sold for one thousand two hun- dred ducats (about $1,500)." The Spanish also seized Nicaragua. Everywhere gold was forced from the natives

19 .

FRANCISCO PIZARRO.

20 FRANCISCO PIZARRO

by every manner of fiendish cruelty that men mad with

greed could devise. They were made slaves. They died

by thousands. But now from Panama ships

Spanish J

Treasure began to sail away to Spain with heavy car-

goes of treasure and many Spaniards returned in them to swell the population of Panama.

But this was only the beginning. In 1524 Francisco Pi- zarro received permission to take up again the plans for dis-

DESCENDANTS OF THE INCAS OF PERU. OLD INCA MASONRY IN BACKGROUND.

covering the golden kingdom away off to the south. This distant land the Spaniards called Peru. It extended south of the equator for more than a thousand miles down the

DISTANT LAND OF PERU

21

western coast of South America, and was the richest and most highly developed of any part of the New World. Here were well-built towns, with palaces and temples of strange

BRIDGE STILL STANDING ON THE OLD ROAD FROM PANAMA TO PORTO BELLO.

and splendid workmanship. Here were fine roads, fertile fields, and millions of people. And here, too, were mines of gold and silver from which the rulers, called Incas (Ing'- kas), had gathered an almost unbelievable store of metal.

We cannot here tell the long and thrilling story of the hardships suffered by Pizarro and of°PeruSt his men. No -one can read it without being amazed by the reckless daring which finally brought them to the coast of Peru. Nor is this the place for the sad story

22 THE GOLDEN KINGDOM

of the conquest. Horses and bloodhounds the natives had never seen before and were intensely afraid of them. Their weapons, too, were no match for the swords and firearms of the Spaniards. And so there followed in Peru the same greedy scramble for gold as at Panama, — the same torture, massacre, treachery, and slavery.

The enormous wealth that now fell into the hands of Pi- zarro's men is difficult to estimate. We are told that when one of the rulers of Peru was held prisoner by the Spaniards in a room twenty-two feet long by seventeen feel wide, "he made a mark on the wall as high as he could reach with his hand, and offered as ransom gold enough to fill the room up to that height." The offer was accepted and more than $15,000,000 in gold was thus secured. Another ruler was promised his freedom for a similar amount. After it was collected, he was treacherously murdered. Immense quan- tities of silver were also secured.

Here, indeed, was the Golden Kingdom and Spain pro- ceeded to make the most of it. Peru and, in fact, the whole west coast of South America was slowly but surely con- quered. Spanish towns were built and Spanish authority established. The natives were forced to work the mines. Vast quantities of gold, silver, and tropical products were shipped north to the city of Panama, to cross the Isthmus to Porto Bello, where fleets of Spanish ships came each year to convey them h®me to Spain. A fine stone road now con- nected Porto Bello and Panama. The two cities were

THE CITY ON THE ISTHMUS 23

strongly fortified, and the latter, in particular, became one of the greatest and richest in America. The fortunate situ- ation of the city on the Isthmus made it a most important center of Spanish power. "It contained two thousand large buildings and five thousand smaller, — all of which were three stories high, and were elegantly constructed and richly furnished. Its merchants lived in great p^nama^ opulence, their houses rich in articles of gold and silver, adorned with beautiful paintings and other works of art, and full of the luxuries of the age." "The pros- perity of Panama was the wonder and envy of the world."

Moreover, the wealth of America filled to overflowing the treasuries of Spain. Once a poor and weak country, she now was rich and powerful. Her ships ruled the seas and her soldiers were the finest in Europe. Within fifty years after the death of Columbus, the commands of the emperor of Spain were law for more than half of Europe.

PART II GRAVE OF THE SPANIARDS

CHAPTER IV

THE PIRATES

" Cheaply bought, dear in the end/' is an old Spanish proverb. The hidden treasure of America, opened as if by magic, and the sudden rise of Spain to EffectofHer power, let loose the harsh and evil traits of conquests

on Spain

character that were in the end to corrupt all classes. In the New World, where murder, theft, and slavery were the rule, men came to despise honest labor. This same spirit soon showed itself in the mother country. Enterprise and industry declined. Pride and tyranny in America bred bad government at home. The rulers seemed mad with a desire to crush out all liberty in their wide empire. "It was an ill fortune," says one writer, "that led the Spaniards to those parts of America in which the pre- cious metals were found, for the ruin of their own country was hastened by the cruel plundering of Peru."

Spain conquered Portugal in 1580 and so came to con- trol with iron hand nearly all the commerce on all the oceans. This drove both the Dutch and the English to make war. For more than two hundred years the Spanish were obliged to fight almost constantly to hold what they had

won. Their soldiers and sailors were brave enough, as we

27

28 THE PRINCE OF PIRATES

know, but corruption and mismanagement at home meant defeat for Spain abroad.

Her possessions in America were most open to attack and were now more and more poorly defended by half- paid and half-starved troops. French, English, and Dutch pirates began to infest the West Indies and to lie in wait for the rich merchant vessels and treasure ships that sailed between 'Spain and Panama. So bold were these pirates and so numerous their ships and men, that Spain was helpless, and her commerce was ruined. Captain Sharp, Lewis Scott, Davies, and Dampier were pirates at the very mention of whose names Spaniards trembled.

But the prince o£ pirates or buccaneers, as they are

sometimes called, was Henry Morgan. The account of

his exploits at Panama makes the tales of pirates

Morgan *n tne storybooks seem tame indeed. Born in

Wales, he ran away to sea when still a mere

boy, was sold as a slave, joined the pirates, became a leader,

and took part in many wild adventures.

At length he determined to attack Porto Bello and assembled nine ships and four hundred and sixty men, — a motley band of cut-throats. The town was so large and so well protected by two strong forts at the mouth of the harbor, that Morgan scarcely dared at first to tell his men to what place he proposed to take them. But so skillfully and secretly did they approach the harbor that they were able to surprise, seize, and blow up one of the forts. The

PORTO BELLO PLUNDERED

29

sound of the explosion caused wild panic in the town. The garrison of the other fort fought with great courage, though unable long to resist the furious attacks of Morgan's men. No quarter was given, the town was set on fire, and

"RUINED FORT WITH ITS GUNS AND WATCHTOWERS."

those of the inhabitants who were not able to escape to the forests, perished in the streets or burning buildings. For fifteen days the pirates gave themselves up to every manner of debauchery in the enjoyment of their plunder. About all tt)at was left of the flourishing town of Porto Bello was the ruined fort with its guns and watchtowers. Today they can still be seen much overgrown by the trop- ical jungle.

SAN LORENZO WAS CAPTURED

Copyright by Underwood &• Underwood.

INTERIOR OF FORT SAN LORENZO.

" Cloud-crested San Lorenzo guards

The Chagres' entrance still, Tho' o'er each stone dense moss hath grown,

And earth his moat doth fill."

MARCH ACROSS THE ISTHMUS 31

Before he left Morgan sent an insulting message to the governor of Panama, to the effect that he would soon return and do to Panama what he had done to Porto Cit of Bello. True to his word, he returned in 1671. Panama

Destroyed

News of the great booty captured at Porto Bello, and of the still greater expedition now planned, had attracted pirates from far and near. Thirty-seven ships and two thousand men were soon under Morgan's command.

"On the Spaniards' beach they landed,

Dead to pity, void of fear, — Round their blood-red flag embanded, Led by Morgan the Buccaneer."

This time it was at the mouth of the Chagres river and the powerful fort, San Lorenzo, was captured. Chagrestown was destroyed and the pirates continued up the river as far as they could go. Then came such a nine days' march overland as only hardy pirates could have endured. Mor- gan had failed to bring any food for his men and the Span- iards had not only made the road nearly impassable but had also carefully burned everything that could be eaten. At last, from a high point of land the buccaneers looked down upon the lovely harbor and beautiful city of Panama. "In a valley below the eminence upon which they stood, herds of cattle peacefully grazed. The pirates rushed among the animals and, slaughtering them, devoured their flesh raw. After this savage feast they pushed on and

32 A STRANGE BATTLE

soon the plain of Panama lay before them with the city on the further side."

Old Panama was not a walled city. Therefore the gov- ernor had collected his four regiments of soldiers and two

OLDEST SPANISH CHURCH STILL IN USE ON THE ISTHMUS.

hundred cavalry on the open plain outside the town. Here he had collected also a herd of two thousand wild bulls, with Indians to drive them headlong against the ranks of the pirates. In the fight that now began these bulls caused the greatest confusion. The pirates succeeded in turning them back upon the Spaniards, but the latter held their ground for two full hours of furious battle. When the cavalry

RUIN OF OLD PANAMA

33

had been routed and at least a thousand men lay dead on the field, the ranks of the defenders at last broke, muskets were thrown away, and a wild rush for the town began.

Not even the great guns of the Spaniards could check the invaders. In three hours more they were in possession of the city. Immediately the dwellings and public build- ings were set on fire, and flames and smoke added to the horrors of robbery and massacre. Few of the inhabitants

CITY WALLS OF NEW PANAMA.

escaped death or capture. Then, amid the ruins, for a full month, the captors indulged in such acts of torture and debauchery as only the imagination can picture.

34

AN ANCIENT LANDMARK

MASSIVE TOWER OF SAINT AUGUSTIN.

SIR HENRY MORGAN

35

Finally the return march began. One hundred and seventy-five mules and six hundred prisoners helped to carry the plunder back across the Isthmus to the ships,

WALL OF TOWER OF ST. AUGUSTIN. — NOTE THICKNESS OF MASONRY.

where the final division was to be made. But with the base and cunning treachery of a true pirate, Morgan and a few friends, while their comrades slept at Chagrestown, loaded a vessel to the water's edge with the most valuable part of the spoil and sailed away to the English island of Jamaica. Strange to say, the outrageous acts of this brutal man were readily forgiven him by King Charles II of England, and he lived to be honored and knighted as Sir Henry Morgan.

36 THE END OF SPANISH RULE

The massive tower of the cathedral church of Saint Augustin, whose bells "rang out their clear chimes one hundred years before the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock," alone struggles, amid rank vege- tation, to mark the sight of the once golden city of Panama.

The fall of the city of Panama marked the beginning of the end of Spain's power in the New World. Though the Spaniards soon built a new town, the present city of Pan- ama, five miles west of the old site and spent, Panama ^ *s sa^> more than eleven million dollars to

protect it by huge walls of masonry, the trade and wealth and glories of the older days never returned. The province of Panama, from which so much of Spain's great possessions had once been ruled, was soon to be one of nine departments of the province of Colombia, and to be ruled from the capital at Bogota.

A century of slumber and decay followed. As Spain's power in Europe declined, her rule in America became more than ever oppressive. When our great-grandfathers, led by George Washington, fought for freedom from Eng- land, the spirit of liberty was spreading in South America. While Washington was President of the United States, the famous patriot Simon Bolivar was born in Venezuela. Colombia declared herself free from Spain in 1811. By 1824 Bolivar had put an end forever to Spanish rule in South America. The Isthmus remained a part of Colombia

THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 37

until 1903, when it became the independent Republic of Panama.

From Columbus on for more than three hundred years, Spain had held the Isthmus. Its possession had been, indeed, " dear in the end," — a real " Grave of the Spaniards."

PART III MODERN PANAMA

CHAPTER V

LAND OF THE COCOANUT TREE

" Away down south in the Torrid Zone,

North latitude nearly nine, Where the eight months' pour once past and o'er,

The sun four months doth shine; Where 'tis eighty-six the year around,

And people rarely agree; Where the plantain grows and the hot wind blows,

Lies the Land of the Cocoanut Tree."

The history of Panama thus far has brought us on through stories of the brave old days of romance and adventure, of treasure ships and daring pirates, of Spanish rule and ruin, to modern Panama.. There are stories of romance and daring, in no way less thrilling, yet to be told; but we shall understand them better, if we first make a visit to the Isthmus to see for ourselves what this interesting strip of land is like. This will not be a difficult journey, for comfortable ships from New Orleans or New York will take us to Colon, its northern port, in less than a week. And Panama is a small country, too, only four hundred and twenty-five miles long, two-thirds the size of

42 THE ISTHMUS

Pennsylvania, and not quite so large as the state of Indiana (Map IV).

Our ideas of its geography will, no doubt, need some correction. We usually think of South America as some- where directly south of the central part of the

Geography

United States, and of the Isthmus, as running north and south between the two continents. It is surprising to find that nearly all of Panama is further east than Florida —(Map I, p. 2), and that the City of Panama is no further west than Pittsburg. The Isthmus, too, is shaped like a flat letter S and really runs about east and west — (Map III, p. 14). At Colon, on the Atlantic side, the sun rises over the land and sets over the ocean, — just the opposite of our ex- pectation. Someone has said very truly that there always seems to be " something crooked about the Isthmus."

Panama is only nine degrees north of the equator, and

so has in all respects a tropical climate. The average

temperature for the entire year in the prin-

Climate

cipal cities of the United States is about 55° (Fahrenheit) above zero. In New Orleans it is 67°; in Boston, 50°. In Panama we must be prepared for many days in which the temperature reaches nearly 100°, and for nights that seldom are below 74°. The average for the year is considerably above 80°,— or 30° hotter than Chicago. In the United States we are accustomed to four seasons during the year, with extremes of heat in summer and of cold in winter. There are two seasons at Panama, but sum-

REPUBLIC OF PANAMA

43

MAP IV. — THE REPUBLIC or PANAMA.

44

TWO SEASONS

mer temperature continues the whole year through. The two seasons depend not upon the heat but upon the rain- fall. For eight months, from May to December, great

U. S. BATTLESHIP IN HARBOR OF COLON.

masses of rain clouds are blown across the Isthmus from ocean to ocean, and terrific downpours of rain occur almost daily. The whole land is drenched for long periods. The inside of the driest houses becomes damp and musty. Books mold on the shelves, linen loses its stiffness, iron rusts, and the air is everywhere heavy with moisture. Then, beginning about the first of January, comes the dry season of four months. Yet the name "dry season" is deceptive,

RAINFALL 45

for even during that period showers are frequent. The fact is, Panama is one of the wettest places in the world and is thoroughly damp the year round.

On the Pacific side six feet of water fall in a year, and on the Atlantic side, fully twelve feet. This is three times as much as falls in a year's time in Boston and fourteen times as much as in El Paso, Texas. Someone has said that if the rain that falls at Colon in a year came all at

MANZANILLO LIGHTHOUSE RISING ABOVE THEM.'

once, a very tall man, standing on the shoulders of another equally tall, could scarcely raise the top of his head to the surface.

APPROACH TO THE ISTHMUS

If it be the dry season, the approach to the Isthmus by

steamer is not without beauty. Great masses of white

clouds drift lazily over the low green hills that

Colon

rise one above another from the sea-coast. Here and there bold headlands and deep bays can be seen, and many small islands seem almost to float like ships upon the blue waters of the Caribbean. Off in the distance is the mouth of the Chagres river, and straight ahead, the harbor

STEAMERS AT COLON DOCKS.

and town of Colon, with Manzanillo lighthouse rising above them. In the harbor and at the docks are scores of ships; for even now more than one hundred thousand travelers

UNATTRACTIVE COLON 47

and a million tons of merchandise cross the Isthmus each year.

Colon is the Spanish form of the word Columbus and

Copyright by Underwood & Uuderivood.

COLON — "AN UNPLEASANT INTRODUCTION."

is the name given to the town by the government of Colombia in honor of the Discoverer. On his last journey to America Columbus entered Colon harbor in November of 1502 and called it Bahia de los Navios.

In the town of Colon itself, we shall be greatly disap- pointed. It would be hard to imagine a more wretched and unattractive place. How low and small and dirty it is! The land on which it is built is but two or three feet

48 A JOURNEY ACROSS PANAMA

above sea-level and behind it for miles are dreary and unhealthful swamps. Certainly it was a great mistake to build a town on such a spot. A tremendous amount of filling in with rock and soil must be done, before it can be in any sense a decent place to live in. Low frame houses; narrow, ill-smelling streets; a population of a few thousand people of many nationalities; and little or nothing of interest to be seen, make Colon an unpleasant introduc- tion to a visit on the Isthmus.

Leaving Colon behind we shall pass on into the interior

of the country and finally across to the larger and more

attractive City of Panama on the Pacific coast.

The Interior , . ,

1 hese two towns and the country lying between them are about all of the Isthmus that is seen by the usual traveler. Much of the remaining country is almost im- possible to visit. There are few roads and many hundred square miles even now are unexplored and uninhabited. The whole population of Panama is about 350,000. Out- side of Colon and the City of Panama the inhabitants are scattered about the Isthmus in many small villages, mostly on the sea-coast.

We may find it confusing at first that both the country and its chief city are called Panama. To avoid difficulty we shall always speak of the latter as the City of Panama.

A low backbone of hills, called the Cordillera de Bando, extends throughout the length of the Isthmus. Only at a few points do these hills become real mountains. The

RIVER AND VILLAGE

49

50 TROPICAL VEGETATION

greater part is low and rolling. In the flat, winding val- leys between the hills are many small rivers. The prin- cipal ones are the Rio Tuyra, Rio Grande, Rio Chepo, and the Rio Chagres. The latter flows into the Atlantic and is next to the longest and largest. (Rio means river in Spanish.) In the dry season the rivers are little more than small streams, pushing sluggishly through their swampy channels toward the sea. The Chagres is then about two hundred feet wide and three or four feet deep. But in the rainy season the rivers become raging torrents, flooding miles of land. The Chagres has been known to rise thirty feet in one night, and for days at a time it sweeps away all in its path.

In the interior of the country, away from Colon, there is much to see of great interest, especially to those of us who have never been in the tropics. With a hot climate, rich soil, and much moisture, almost the whole of Panama, up to the very hill-tops, is covered with a tangled jungle, in which nearly every form of tropical vegetation flourishes in rank luxuriance.

Everywhere we see flowers of most brilliant coloring. And ferns, shrubs, and vines make a thick undergrowth. There are many strange trees, too, unknown to more northern lands. Here is a bunch of bamboo trees,— and there, a tree called the coco-bolo. The wood of the latter is very hard and beautiful. Considerable quanti- ties of it are shipped annually to the United States. Per-

SOMEWHAT PERILOUS

Copyright by Underwood &• Underwood.

"THE NATIVES CLIMB FOR THEM."

52

PANAMA COCOANUTS

ful trees.

Palm Trees

haps, if we should ask someone who knows, we should find that the handles on our knives are often made of coco-bolo. Fine cedar and mahogany trees also furnish valuable tim- ber, and a certain kind of palm nuts, called ivory nuts,

are shipped away to be made into buttons.

In the United States elms, maples, pines, and oaks are the most common and beauti- On the Isthmus their places are taken by the palm trees. Along the roads and in the parks and gardens we shall see the royal palm lifting its graceful branches on a slender trunk high into the air. This palm bears no fruit and is useful only

for ornament or shade. But the cocoanut palm is both ornamental and useful, for its nuts are collected by the natives to be sold or used as food. Several million cocoa- nuts are sent to our markets at home each year. No doubt we have many times eaten Panama cocoanuts. Here we shall see how they grow. All over the Isthmus are cocoanut palms, both wild and cultivated, in great abundance. They seem much like the royal palms in

Copyright by Underwood &• Underwood.

NEGROES WITH COCOANUTS.

A TROPICAL GARDEN

53

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood.

"HEAVY BUNCH OF FRUIT.

54 A HANDSOME PLANT

shape but are not usually so tall. Up there, underneath the fronds or branches and close to the trunk, we can see a bunch of half a dozen or more large, oval-shaped objects. They look like great, dark-colored eggs. Each is a cocoa- nut wrapped in a thick green covering or husk, much as chestnuts are wrapped in the burs. * When partially ripened the cocoanut shell and husk are soft pulp and the interior is full of a rich, sweet milk. It is then that the natives climb for them. The picture shows three cocoanuts in husks on the shoulder of one negro, while the other negro is cutting away the husk and soft shell in order to get at the delicious milk. When the cocoanuts are fully ripe, they drop from the trees. The husk is then dry and can be easily torn off and the cocoanut at last appears as we are accustomed to see it in our fruit stores.

There is also a tree-like plant that is sure to give us a

surprise. It grows to the height of fifteen or twenty feet,

with a soft trunk marked with purple stripes.

Bananas

and with immense broad leaves often six feet long. There is nothing in our northern climate that seems at all like it. But if we look closely, a heavy bunch of fruit, on a thick stem, hanging near the trunk, easily marks it as the banana plant. Curiously enough the bunch of bananas seems to be upside down, and the stem continues beyond the fruit like a long snake and ends in a sort of blossom much like a large water-lily. We soon realize that this is the nat- ural way in which the banana grows, and that it is not on

READY FOR FOREIGN MARKETS

55

•* ' **r / •* £ I .* i

56 SHIPMENTS OF BANANAS

the trees but in our stores at home that the bunches are hung upside down. When the fruit is ripe enough, the na- tives chop off the stem near the fruit, the long, snaky end is cut away, and the fruit is ready for market. In Panama

FIELD OF PINEAPPLES ON TABOGA ISLAND NEAR CITY OF PANAMA.

a bunch is sold to the fruit dealers for about thirty cents. Nearly four hundred thousand bunches have been shipped north from Colon in one season, and thousands more are used on the Isthmus for food. Of late years, however, ba- nanas are shipped from Bocas del Toro instead of from Colon.

In Panama, too, grow delicious oranges, papayas (a fruit

OTHER TROPICAL FRUITS

57'

similar to melons but grown on trees), pineapples, limes, bread-fruit, mangoes, and scores of other tropical fruits with which we are less fami- liar. Nature has been very generous here with her fruits, —so much so, in fact, that the natives can live on them with little or no effort. But the cocoanuts and bananas are the most abundant and most characteristic of the Isthmus.

A Panama poet has written an interesting little poem which describes the land in which he lives. The first stanza of the poem is

at the beginning of this chapter. It would be easy to learn and might help us to remember some of the more important things that we shall notice on a visit to Panama.

Copyright by Underiuood & Underwood*

PAPAYAS.

CHAPTER VI

NATIVES AND ANIMALS

Where vegetation grows with sucli great luxuriance, we arc not surprised to find also an abundance of animal life. We have, no doubt, already noticed the great black vultures

sailing about far up in the sky. And everywhere among the trees we come upon countless num- ' bers of birds of all sizes and bright colors. The most noticeable are the gayly colored par- rots and their rela- tives the brilliant- crested cockatoos. By the swamps and streams are the peli- cans and great blue herons. But we shall find the forests strangely silent and shall miss the song birds that make glad

our northern woods and fields. It seems to be almost a rule

58

PANAMA HUMMING BIRDS.

NO LARGE ANIMALS

59

with birds and flowers that the more brilliant the plumage or coloring, the less is there of pleasant song or perfume.

As we pass on through the jungle a timid deer may here and there be seen. There are snakes, too, numerous and poisonous, and we must have a care lest we be seri- ously bitten. But in these woods there are no animals of large size, like the lions or elephants or other great game of Asia and Africa. Unless one of us were alone and without a gun, he need have no fear.

The largest and most dan- gerous animal is the jaguar. It can sometimes be found even as far north as Texas and inhabits the woods and jungles of all Central and South America. This jaguar is the largest of the American wild animals of the cat family and sometimes grows to be ten feet long from nose to tip of tail. It is a sort of cousin of the leopard or panther of Asia. If we can imagine a cat as large in body as a Newfoundland dog but with short yellowish-brown hair and a long tail, and marked all over its body with dark rings and spots, we shall have

"SNAKES, Too, NUMEROUS AND POISONOUS."

The Jaguar

6o

WILD HOGS

The Warrees

some idea of the appearance of a jaguar. We shall not see any of these animals. They are too sly and cunning. Only the most careful hunter could come within gunshot of one of them. At times a jaguar will come out of the woods to attack a herd of cattle, but more often it feeds on monkeys and tapirs.

An interesting little animal called the warree can at times be seen in the Isthmian jungle. It is a species of wild hog. The naturalist Godman writes of this animal: "The warrees go in herds of fifty to one hun- dred. They are said to assist one another against the attacks of the jaguar, but that wily animal is too intelligent

for them. He sits quietly on a branch of a tree till the warrees come un- derneath, then jumping down kills one by breaking its neck, leaps up into

"IT is A SPECIES OF WILD HOG."

the tree again, waits

there until the herd departs, when he comes down and feeds on the slaughtered warree in quietness."

The warree is black in color, except that its lips and jaw are pure white. It is about forty inches long, with short but nimble legs. Very large tusks and a coarse fur of stiff, strong bristles give it a fierce appearance. Close acquaint-

HUNTING WARREES 61

ance with this little wild hog is not always agreeable. Mr. Temple, former Chief Justice of Belize in Central America, says :

"If you meet a flock of warrees in the bush and take no notice of them, it is probable that they will take no notice of you, but if your intentions are hostile and your design is to transfer one of them from his native wilderness to your kitchen, you must take care to place yourself in a safe po- sition before you carry your design into execution. A gen- tleman not long since shot a warree without having taken the necessary precautions. The remainder of the flock in- stantly pursued him, and if he had not managed to climb into a tree he would have been torn to pieces. But he was kept a prisoner in that leafy asylum for many hours, the surviving warrees being bent on revenging the death of their companion. Even when the flock went a little distance to feed, they left two or three to stand guard at the foot of the tree."

Perhaps we may have the good luck also to see some Panama monkeys. In the continents of North and South America monkeys are not so common as in the Eastern Hemisphere. They are found Monkeys in abundance only from Panama to Brazil.

Years ago there were great droves of monkeys, both black and white, in the Panama woods. Now there are not so many left. Away back in the year 1681 Captain Dampier, an English pirate like Henry Morgan, crossed Panama.

62

DAMPIER'S DIARY

Tie had been a great traveler and had seen monkeys in many other parts of the world. It is interesting to read in his diary a description of the Panama monkeys of his time. They

are much the same to-day.

He said, — "The monkeys tli at arc in these parts are tht' ugliest I ever saw. They are much bigger than a hare, with a black, hard skin; but the upper side, and all the body is covered with coarse, long, black hair. These crea- tures keep together twenty or thirty in a company, and ramble over the woods, leap- ing from tree to tree. If they

EADHOAVES 5%ffi?" "'«* with a single person they

will threaten to devour him.

When I have been alone I have been afraid to shoot them, especially the first time I met them. They were a great company dancing from tree to tree, over my head, chattering and making a terrible noise, and a great many grim faces, and showing antic gestures. Some broke down dry sticks and threw at me. At last one bigger than the rest came to a small limb just over my head, and leaping directly at me made me start back; but the monkey caught hold of a bough with the tip of his tail, and there continued swinging

ANOTHER PANAMA ANIMAL 63

to and fro, making mouths at me. At last I passed on, they still keeping me company, with the like menacing postures, till I came to our huts.

" The tails of these monkeys are as good to them as one of their hands, and they will hold as fast by them. The females with their young are much troubled to leap after the males, for they have commonly two; one she carries under one of her arms, the other sits on her back, and clasps its two fore-paws about her neck. These monkeys are the most sullen I have ever met with, for all the art we could use would never tame them. It is a hard matter to shoot one of them so as to take it; for if it gets hold with its claws or tail, it will not fall so long as one breath of life remains."

This same Captain Dampier was much interested in another curious Panama animal. The Spanish discover- ers called it the armadillo, because it was protected by a thick- jointed shell, like a suit Armadillo of armor. It is a funny little creature that looks like an opossum with a shell on its back. Dampier describes it as about the size of a "small sucking pig,- the body of it pretty long."

"This creature," he said, "is enclosed in a thick shell, which guards all its back, and comes down on both sides, and meets under the belly, leaving room for the four legs; the head is small, with a nose like a pig, a pretty long neck, and can put out its head before its body

64

A SNAKE KILLER

when it walks; but on any danger he puts it in under the shell; and drawing in his feet, he lies stock-still like a land turtle. And though you toss him about he will

. not move himself.

The shell is jointed in the middle of the back; so that he can turn the fore-part of his body about which way he pleases. The feet are like those of a land turtle, and he has strong claws wherewith he digs holes in the ground "like a coney."

"According to an old Mexican legend, the armadillo was sent in direct answer to the prayers of the devout people who long ago resided in a part of Mexico which was badly infested with venomous snakes. The inhabitants so be- seeched the Almighty for relief that suddenly all the ser- pents seemed to have vanished from the earth. In going about the region once so badly plagued the natives could find no more opossums, but instead an animal that seemed to be one, except that on its back was a shell. This was its armor which brought immunity from the bite of a snake, and thenceforth the armadillo began to make unrelenting warfare on all poisonous reptiles. It is still true to its

"THE SPANISH DISCOVERERS CALLED IT THE ARMADILLO."

THE TAPIR

reputation, and wherever found is on the job of snake killing, as it was centuries ago in Old Mexico.

"Native hunters usually trade them to their burrows with dogs, which give notice if an occupant is at home. The hunter then using his bush-knife as a pick, and his hands as a shovel, commences with the utmost dispatch to dig out the animal, which all the while endeavors to escape by scratching deeper into the ground. It is a race between the armadillo and the man, and an even chance which succeeds. The tail is the first part seized by the hunter, and then after a short struggle, the victim suc- cumbs. The flesh of the armadillo is tender, white, and usually esteemed a delicacy."

The flesh of the

tapir also is used for

food by

The Tapir

some of

the Indians in vari- ous parts of Central America. This ani- mal is common in the jungle of Pana- ma, though here the San Bias Indians seldom hunt for it. Like the armadillo it is very different from any animal with which we are familiar in the United States. In fact, it is seldom found even as far north as the City of Mexico.

"A NATIVE OF PANAMA."

66

AN UGLY BEAST

Neither is it to be seen in most parts of South America. So that we may think of the tapir as more truly a native of Panama and the nearby countries than any other animal in the jungle.

It is a small, fat, slow-moving animal, about two feet tall and four feet long. The color is blackish-brown, lighter on the head and passing into pale brown on the

cheeks, the edges of the lips, and the tip of the ears.

The tapirs are hunted usually dur- ing the rainy sea- sons, when they come down from

the hills into the low valleys to feed on the coarse grass by the river banks. Dogs run them down for the hunters and they are then shot or killed with spears.

Though the various animals of which we have been speaking can all be seen in the Panama woods by those who have the time to spare to look for them, the casual traveler who passes from Colon to Panama City may not see them at all. But it would not be difficult for anyone to see the alligators that are com- mon in nearly all the streams and rivers.

If we had time to spare and wanted a little excitement, we might join an alligator hunt. These dirty beasts inhabit

PANAMA WATER LIZARD.

Alligators

HUNTING ALLIGATORS

68

TROPHIES

the swampy streams and can often be seen as they sun them- selves upon the banks. They lie there motionless, much like old rotten logs half buried in the mud. If anyone of us made a mistake and jumped out on one, his visit to Panama

LENGTH OF NEAREST ALLIGATOR WAS 18 FEET 6 INCHES. STICKS IN MOUTHS ABOUT

30 INCHES LONG.

might come to a sudden end then and there. Wise people keep away from these animals, unless heavily armed and accustomed to their tricks.

Probably by this time we should be glad if it were as easy to escape from all the dangerous and troublesome animals on the Isthmus, as it is from the alligators.

SCENE IN COLON HARBOR

69

'Copyright by Underwood &• Underwood.

"IN THE HARBOR OF COLON WE MAY SEE SOME OF THE SAN BLAS INDIANS."

70 A DANGEROUS PEST

"My touch is light and downy, They know not I am there Till ZIM! what howls and curses! 'Tis laughable I swear!"

So says the Panama mosquito, — at least the Panama poet tells us that he does. It may be laughable, — for the mos- quito. But when we see with what care the

Panama

Mosquitoes nouses are screened against this little pest, and learn that one sort of mosquito carries in its sting the germs of the dreaded Yellow Fever, we shall come to think of this tiny animal, as, in many ways, the most dangerous in Panama. The bites of fleas and sand flies are bad enough, and there are many of them; but the bite of some Panama mosquitoes may mean death.

We can see now that the wild animals of the Isthmus are many of them as different from the wild animals of the United States, as are the trees and fruits different from our own. We shall also see that the people themselves are quite as different.

We have spoken of the population of Panama as about

350,000. The white inhabitants are a small part of this

number. Of these there are some Americans,

The People

some Europeans, some Chinese, and many of old Spanish blood. These form the better class and live for the most part in the towns. Below them are the " natives," so called. This class is made up of the San Bias Indians, descended from the Indians of Balboa's time; the

CANOEING FOR PLEASURE

71

Copy right by Under-wood & Underwood.

NATIVES IN A BOAT MADE OF A SINGLE LOG.

72 SAN BLAS INDIANS

negroes, many of whose ancestors came to Panama as slaves in the old Spanish days; and a great number of dark- skinned people of part Spanish, part Indian, and part negro blood.

In the harbor of Colon or during our journey across the Isthmus we may, perhaps, see some of the San Bias Indians. There seems to have been a number of large Indian tribes in Panama when the Spanish first conquered it. One author- ity puts the total number of Indians at that time as high as 2,000,000. But the long years of Spanish cruelty and blood- shed were very hard on them and roused a most bitter hatred of the whites.

Their homes are many miles away from Colon in the for- est country in the eastern part of Panama. But they are occasionally seen near the towns, when they bring in nuts !and fruit to trade for the necessities of life. Some stories told of them show that they are still treacherous and still hate the white people.

We may take as an example the fate of an expedition of 1854, led by Lieutenant Strain of the U. S. Navy. In Jan- uary of that year three warships were sent to Caledonia Bay fai the Gulf of Darien, for the purpose of exploring and sur- veying the country. A party of twenty-seven men, led by Lieutenant Strain, was landed. "The start was made from Caledonia Bay, on the 2oth of January, with the intention of crossing the Isthmus to the Gulf of San Miguel on the Pa- cific coast. At first the Indians were friendly, or appeared

TIMID NEGROES

Copyright by Under-wood & Under-wood.

» SOME MUST BE CAUGHT AND HELD BEFORE THE CAMERA."

74

LIEUTENANT STRAIN'S ADVENTURE

to be so, and served as guides; but after a few days they deserted the surveying party in the depth of the tropical wilderness. The party then became hopelessly bewildered,

NATIVE CHARCOAL BURNERS, HUTS, AND FAMILIES.

the food supply failed, and one third of the number perished from exposure and starvation. After ninety-five terrible days of suspense and suffering, Lieutenant Strain and two or three others made their way to the Pacific, were rescued by a friendly Spanish native, and taken to Panama. The other surviving members of the sorrowful expedition at last returned to Caledonia Bay in complete exhaustion. Lieutenant Strain died, and his remains were buried at

POOR WORKMEN 7$

Colon, to be afterward exhumed and taken to the United States."

As for the negroes, some live a life away off in the forests almost as wild as the Indians. They are not at all danger- ous. Indeed, they are so timid as to be hard to photograph. Some must be caught and held before the camera.

The natives in the towns or in their little settlements nearby are better clothed and housed and are an interesting

"BUSTING BUTTONS" — PANAMA WOMEN WASHING BY THE CHAGRES RIVER. — NOTE THE THICK, HEAVY CLUB WITH WHICH THE WET CLOTHES ARE BEATEN.

and intelligent people. But life is so easy for them on the Isthmus, that they are poor workmen and inclined to be very lazy and shiftless. What queer little thatched huts they

76

NEGRO HOMES

NATIVE HUTS. — NOTE THE COCOANUT PALMS.

NATIVE BOY BEATING RICE PREPARATORY TO COOKING.

FOOD 77

build! Surrounded by groves of cocoanut palms, they are picturesque enough, but scarcely such places as we should care to live in. The principal food of the natives consists of fruit and fish. Both salt-water and fresh-water fish abound. Yams, yucca, plantains or bananas are always at hand. Rice is also a regular article of diet. It is bought in small quantities and pounded into a sort of meal in a large wooden mortar. Little or no meat is eaten, and it is easy to see that the food is not strengthening enough to give the natives much energy. No wonder that they do not care to work!

CHAPTER VII

CITY OF PANAMA

And so we have made our way across the Isthmus, through the forest jungle and the native villages, until the Pacific and the City of Panama come into view.

Before entering the town, let us get a general idea of its location and surroundings from the slopes of Ancon Hill, which rises directly behind it. How superb is the view here spread out before us! Below is the little city, scattered over a rocky point of land, — and there, the broad and beautiful Gulf of Panama framed in green hills. 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. And over all are bright skies and brilliant sunlight. We shall travel far before finding a city more attractively situated.

Even from a distance the town has a foreign appearance,

and a closer view adds to this impression. How strangely

narrow its streets are! And see, — how the

Appearance curious old Spanish balconies project over the

sidewalks and protect the passer-by from the

sunlight! At least the lower parts of the houses are very

heavily built, with few windows and these strongly barred,

78

THE NEW CITY

79

8o

STREETS AND HOUSES

as if to stand a siege. No lawns separate them from the streets. It is 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 streets. We shall find, however, that the homes of the better class are in the second story of their houses and more removed from the noise and dirt.

Let us pass di- rectly into the town to Independ- ence Plaza. Here stands the old Cathedral of Pan- ama,— with its twin spires, Spanish architecture, and clang- ing bells. In front of it is the open park or Plaza. This is the center about which the town is built. The chief hotel, the Bishop's palace, the City Hall, and the principal clubs, are all on this Plaza. Here, on Sunday evenings, rich and poor alike gather to listen to

"How STRANGELY NARROW ITS STREETS ARE!'

The Plaza

INDEPENDENCE PLAZA

81

the band concerts or to promenade beneath the lights and palm trees. For more than two hundred years this Plaza has witnessed some of the most important events in the history of Panama. If the City of Panama is the capital of the Republic, this small square is its very heart. There are other old churches and other parks in the city, but none quite so interesting as these.

Not all the town, however, is as at- tractive as Independ- ence Plaza. Much filth, many vile quarters, evil-smell- ing and unhealth- ful streets, reveal the usual conditions that are all too common in tropical cities. Yet our general feeling, as we examine the town, will not be wholly unpleasant.

From the Cathedral Plaza it is only a short walk to the harbor. A stroll out on the old sea-wall is full of novelty and interest.. This is the very same wall which the Spaniards

Copyright by IVm. H. Rate.

CALLE BOLIVAR, ONE OF THE BETTER STREETS OF PANAMA CITY.

82

THE OLD CATHEDRAL

PANAMA CATHEDRAL AND CORNER OF INDEPENDENCE I'LAXA.

Two towers the old Cathedral lifts Above the sea- walled town.

In either turret, staves in hand, All day the mongrel ringers stand And sound, far over bay and land, The Bells of Panama.

built to protect the town in the old pirate days. They must surely have expected Henry Morgan to return with his blood-thirsty pirates, so thick and high did they build it. In fact, so much money was spent upon it that the angry Spanish king is said to have asked if it were not built entirely of silver. Only portions of the old walls now remain.

TIDES IN THE PACIFIC

At Colon the tide rises and falls less than two feet, — that is, the surface of the ocean always remains at about the

same Beach level

Market

At Pan- ama, on the other hand, the tide rises and falls nearly twenty feet. Dur- ing one part of the day we may see the city wall at high tide and with num- bers of small fruit and fishing boats anchored near it. The same spot at low tide would scarcely be recog- nized. The vessels are lying on dry bottom and their cargoes are being unloaded. From up and down the coast all manner of fruits are brought in these boats, and when the tide is out, the "beach market" makes an odd sight.

OLD CATHEDRAL BELLS, PANAMA CITY.

84

ECUADOR HATS

At home we most often hear the name of Panama con- nected with the soft, beautifully-woven hats, so common in

summer weather. Some of us may have been Hats™ looking curiously into the native huts or into

the city houses, in the hope of seeing the people at work on these hats. They can be seen in most of the curious little stores, but where are they made, we ask. Not at all in Panama, is the reply, but away off on the west coast

THE CITY WALL AT HIGH TIDE.

of South America, in Ecuador. The Panama merchants buy them from that distant country, and then they, in turn, sell them to our hatters in the United States. They might

LIFE IN PANAMA CITY 85

more truly be called Ecuador hats. The name " Panama hat," then, refers not so much to the place where they are made as to the particular kind of material and weave of

THE SAME SPOT AT Low TIDE.

the hats. Indeed, many people suspect that the cheaper kinds of Panama 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 many ways as foreign to ; our own as the city is foreign in appearance. Sensible peo- ple will not, perhaps, think any the less of the Panamanians for that. The clanging of many church-bells will not al-

86

TWO BUSY PLACES

OFFICE OF THE PANAMA LOTTERY.

NATIONAL LOTTERY

ways mean much church-going. And some of us may be shocked to find cock-fighting and an oc- casional bull-fight on Sunday. In

Panama, also, the Panama C government permits a

National Lottery. This is forbidden by law in our country. Lottery advertisements and tickets cannot be carried by the United States mails. Our gov- ernment has decided that lotteries, in general, do more harm than good.

On the Cathedral Plaza is the office of the Loteria de Panama. We are told that there is one lot- tery, or drawing, each week. Per- haps ten thousand tickets may be sold at $1.25 each. So the Lot- tery receives $12,500 for that week. Each ticket has a number on it which differs from the number on any other ticket. There are a large number of prizes in money offered, —some few amount to more than $1,250, — others to only a few dol-

PANAMA LOTTERY TICKET.

88

THE DRAWING

lars. When all are added together, they do not nearly equal the whole amount of money taken in by the lottery for that week; so that even after the prizes are given, a large profit remains.

Then, on Sunday, comes the drawing. Great excite- ment prevails. The street and Plaza in front of the Lot-

PRESIDENT OBALDIA AND WIFE IN FRONT OF PRESIDENTIAL PALACE.

tery office are crowded. If we push our way inside, we shall see how the drawing is done. Various ways are employed at different times, but all are apparently honest enough. Every care is taken to prevent cheating. A common way is to have some little black balls in a box or

OBALDIA 89

basket. Each ball has a number inside it. The basket is shaken and a fixed number of balls drawn out. When they are opened and the numbers inside are put together in their order of drawing, we have the number of the lot- tery ticket that is to receive the largest prize. The lucky holder of that ticket hurries forward and is paid his prize in cash. He has paid in only $1.25, but has won, perhaps, several thousand dollars. The other prizes are awarded in the same way. The whole Lottery is, of course, a plan to encourage gambling. But in Panama there seems to be no objection to it.

As we pass about the streets, it may be our good fortune to catch sight of Senor Jose Domingo de Obaldia, now pres- ident (IQIO) of Panama. We have already

The Republic

learned that in December, 1903, Panama be- came an independent nation, free from Colombia, of which country she had so long been a part. Now the little Re- public, made up of seven provinces, has a constitution and form of government similar in most respects to our own. It has its own stamps, coins, flag, government buildings, etc., and has the peculiar advantage of the special protec- tion of the United States.

PART IV KEY TO THE PACIFIC

CHAPTER VIII

ROADWAYS ACROSS CENTRAL AMERICA

If we made a visit to Panama merely to see a tropical country in many ways so very different from our own, and to look upon the ruins of the glorious old days of Spanish rule, we should certainly be well rewarded. But, as every- one knows, there is something else to be seen at Panama. It has been said that the eyes of the whole world are now turned with tremendous interest to this little country. Dur- ing the remainder of our stay in Panama we shall try to learn why this is so.

We begin with the story of a most remarkable little rail- road. While at Panama we shall be obliged to travel considerably on this road, and a knowl- Railroad

edge of its history will add much to our interest.

There was a time, as late as the year 1889, when tickets for a forty-eight mile railroad journey at Panama cost $25 in gold, — or more than fifty cents per mile. If we paid the same rate at home, it would cost more than $200 to go from New York City to Buffalo or from Chicago to Minne- apolis. Few persons could afford to take many such trips. The rates at Panama are still very high.

We shall notice that all the telegraph poles along the road

93

94

FIVE IMPORTANT ROUTES

MAP V. — ROUTES ACROSS CENTRAL AMERICA.

ENEMIES OF THE RAILROAD

95

are of iron instead of wood, and if we get out, when the train stops, and look carefully at the cross-ties beneath the rails, we shall find that they are all of lignum vitae, almost the hardest wood in the world. It is next to impossible to drive a spike into these cross-ties. Holes for them must be bored

PEDRO MIGUEL. — PANAMA RAILROAD.

out. And this is, of course, a long and expensive task. It is odd to think that all this trouble was made necessary by harmless-looking ants. We have heard of beavers cutting down young trees with their sharp teeth, in order to eat the tender twigs and leaves or to use the branches in building their mud houses. But that ants will eat dry, hard telegraph

96 SPANISH ROADS

poles and railroad cross-ties seems like a fairy story. We may smile at the idea, but it is true nevertheless. In the forests of Panama there are great colonies of wood-eating ants that will eat into and destroy any but the very hardest wood. Iron and lignum vitae, however, have proved too much for them.

The story of the building of the Panama railroad takes us back again, for a moment, to the early Spanish times. When all that long stretch of land between North and South Amer- ica which we call Central America (Map V) was discovered and conquered by Spain, and the rich west coast of America fell into her hands, the Spaniards naturally began to look for the best places for roadways across from the Atlantic to' the Pacific.

We remember that Balboa, in 1514, cut a rude road across

the Isthmus through the jungle and carried his ships over

it. It is marked as No. 2, Map V. This was

Road* ^e ^rst roadway built by white men between

the two oceans. It was also, by chance, the

shortest, — about thirty miles. But no towns grew up at

either end and it soon disappeared.

When Governor Pedrarias built the City of Panama and

the towns of Nombre de Dios and Porto Bello, he began

a good, paved road between them (No. 3, Map

Panama y^ rpj^ rQaj wag £^y mjjes JQng ancj wag

wide enough to allow two carts to be driven abreast along it. No expense was spared to make it a good way for travel and commerce.

A BETTER ROAD NEEDED 97

In 1525 Cortes, the Spanish ruler of Mexico, found that from the Gulf of Mexico across to Tehuantepec Bay (Ta- wan-ta-pek') was but one hundred and twenty miles and that the passes through the moun- Roa<iantePe< tains were but nine hundred feet above the sea. So he built a highway at this point (No. 5, Map V), known as the Tehuantepec Road. From that day to this an ex- tensive trade has been carried over that route.

During all the long years that Spain held it, and for many years after, the Tehuantepec and the Panama roads were the only important routes across Central America. There are men still living who crossed by these roads, when no others existed.

There came a time, however, when a better road was greatly needed. We have all heard of the war between the United States and Mexico in 1846 and 1847, which gave to the United States New Mexico, R^ad^ Arizona, and California, and much other land besides. At that time there were less than nine thousand miles of railroad in all the United States, and it was im- possible to go from New York even as far west as Chicago by rail. Many hundreds of miles of unexplored prairies and Rocky Mountains lay between Chicago and California. The trails for horses and wagons were very dangerous, the journey required several months, and hostile Indians were everywhere. For government service, for soldiers, and for the mails an easier route was necessary.

98

GOLD SEEKERS

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 fields. Long caravans of horses and wagons conveyed thousands west from St. Louis. But there were thousands more of the Forty-niners,

OLD FORT AND PORTION OF CITY WALL, PANAMA.

as they were called, who chose to go by ship to the mouth of the Chagres river, then to cross the Isthmus to the City of 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. There were many shipwrecks" on the rough Caribbean sea,

PANAMA RAILROAD COMPANY 99

and hundreds fell sick and died in the hot climate of the Isthmus. In the single year of 1852 five hundred gold- seekers died of cholera at Panama.

At that time there was no regular line of steamers from Panama City to San Francisco. When a ship once reached California, the crew was likely to be seized with the gold fever and to run off to the mines, leav- nhfers0^" ing the captain with no one to help him take his ship back to Panama. Had we searched carefully, as we took a promenade on the old sea-wall of the City of Panama, we might have found many names and initials of the Forty-niners cut in the moss-covered stones. These letters tell a pathetic story of the anxious men who once, from these very walls, looked eagerly out to sea in search of a returning ship. The long days of waiting, the empty purses, the dreaded fever made Panama the grave of hun- dreds, who were never to reach the gold mines. A large trade sprang up on the Isthmus, and great quantities of goods were shipped over this route to California.

So it came about that a company of men in New York city determined to build a railroad from Colon to the City of Panama. William Henry Aspinwall, John L. Stevens, and Henry Chauncey were the leaders in this enterprise. The right to build it was secured from the government of Colombia, the route was surveyed not far from the old Spanish roadway, and work was begun in 1849.

IOO

MANY OBSTACLES

Since the road was to be but forty-eight miles long and there were no mountains to be crossed, it would not seem, at first thought, like a great task; but in the end it proved to be one of the most disastrous attempts at road building in which American energy and bravery have ever been engaged.

There were many obstacles at the outset. Panama was a long distance from railroad supplies. Materials were

American Energy and Bravery

HAUT OBISPO STATION.

hard to get. Then there were the jungles to be con- quered. It will be almost impossible for us to realize the difficulties that they present to an engineering party. We

ON MANZANILLO ISLAND 101

are told that a party of engineers once passed twice within twenty feet of a high hill without knowing it, so dense was the tropical growth.

To begin the engineering work, Colonel G. M. Totten, James L. Baldwin, and a few others, with a small number of native laborers, landed on Manzanillo Island, where now is the town of Colon. " There was Totten1

not the least sign of human life, civilized or savage, on the island; nor was there a space of dry land upon which to set foot, except the narrow ridge of sand that had been washed up by the surf along the reef. In front, the sea; behind, the malarial swamp. But they set to work to clear away a space for the purpose of erecting a building to shelter themselves, their followers, and their supplies from the sun and rain.

" They had a schooner of two hundred tons, upon which they had arrived, and on which they lived for the first few months. Even after the first house was completed it was found that it was impossible to occupy it, on ac- count of the swarms of mosquitoes, sand flies, and other noxious insects that invaded it; while on board the ves- sel the men were tormented with myriads of cockroaches, which rendered life a burden. Sickness was seldom absent from the camp, while death was a too frequent visitor. No one escaped the calentura, as the jungle fever is called. In a little time the white members of the party were the pale hue of ghosts; and even the dusky

102 BATTLE WITH THE JUNGLE

natives grew many shades lighter than their natural bronze.

" Under these untoward circumstances, at the beginning of the long rainy season, of which no one of the company, except the natives, had any practical knowledge, was

SCENE ON PANAMA RAILROAD.— BOLIVAR STREET, COLON.

commenced the battle with tropical nature that was to end in triumph five weary years later."

James Baldwin was selected to survey the line of the road. "He organized a small party, and made the bold plunge. For a long distance they were obliged to wade in water waist deep, and to hew their way through the dense

A DARING ENGINEER 103

jungle. It is said that Baldwin carried his noonday luncheon

in his hat, during the progress of that part of the survey,

and ate it standing amid envious alligators

and water snakes. Be that as it may, it is Baldwin

doubtful if a more daring feat of engineering

has been performed. Think of it! day after scorching

day, shut in by impenetrable growth of jungle, each weary

foot of which must be cut down before any advance could

be made, breathing air laden with poison, and tormented

by millions of insects! The wonder is that any man could

have had such courage and endurance."

Not far from Colon was the great Black Swamp. Across this it was necessary to build the line. Some of us may know what that means. For miles no hard

Obstacles

bottom could be found beneath the soft mud. Tons on tons of rock were dumped upon it and in a few hours sank out of sight. This swamp was obstacle enough to force less determined men to quit the work.

The next obstacle was the Chagres river. The route of the line crossed it at several points and there the terrific floods made railroad building next to impossible. The water often rose ten feet or more above the tracks and swept away the results of months of labor.

Another obstacle was the difficulty of securing good labor- ers. The Panama native has a way of working one day and then of loafing for the next week. When he works, he does not accomplish much. So laborers had to be imported

104

CHINESE LABORERS

from abroad. The Company, as an experiment, brought over a shipload of eight hundred Chinamen. ' ' They immedi- ately began to fall sick. In less than two months after their arrival there was hardly one of the original number fit to wield a pick or shovel. They gave themselves up to

FLOODS ON PANAMA RAILROAD — 1906.

despair and sought death by whatever means came nearest to hand. Some sat on the shore and awaited the rising tide, nor did they stir until the sea swallowed them. Some hanged or strangled themselves by their cues. The rem- nant, fewer than two hundred, sick and useless, were shipped to Jamaica."

BATTLE WITH DISEASE 105

Irish laborers were tried with no better results. Finally a gang of several thousand negroes from Jamaica, and a few whites from various sources finished the work.

We may already suspect the greatest enemy with which the railroad had to fight. More serious than all other ob- stacles to any great work in Panama is the

. . . Disease

tropical climate with its tropical diseases. Not only does the steaming hot weather suck the strength out of men who are accustomed to cooler lands, but it leaves them too weak to throw off the diseases that lurk in the filth of the cities and the deadly air of the swamps. Consumption, typhoid, malaria, plague, and yellow fever, cut down the railroad's workmen until the wonder is that the road was ever completed.

"Beyond the Chagres river

Are the paths that lead to death — To the fever's deadly breezes, To malaria's poisonous breath!"

It has been said that one life was sacrificed for every cross-tie on the railroad track. This is, no doubt, untrue. The total loss of life was about 2,500. It was a fight of American daring against terrible odds. But such engi- neers as Colonel George Totten and James Baldwin were superior to all the evil powers of the jungle, and the road was built.

Eight million dollars, — five years of exhausting labor, —

io6 THE RAILROAD COMPLETED

over two thousand lives, — that was the price paid for forty- eight miles of railroad away off in Panama.

On the 27th of January, 1855, a strange sight was seen in the City of Panama, — the first locomotive that ever crossed

"HERE AT LAST WAS A RAILROAD ACROSS THE ISTHMUS."

the American continent from ocean to ocean, — and this, too, fourteen years before it was possible to cross the United States by rail from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

First Trans- continental Here at last was a railroad across the Isth- mus. Shiploads of goods headed for the Pacific need no longer be sent on the long journey around South America. Commerce came to Panama at once. Even

SUCCESS 107

before it was completed, the road had taken in more than two million dollars. It soon made fortunes for its builders, and has paid handsomely ever since. In the first forty-seven years this little railroad earned nearly $38,000,000 of clear profit for its owners.

Surely a railroad can have a story as romantic as the bloody career of a gang of pirates, even though led by Henry Morgan.

CHAPTER IX

WATERWAYS ACROSS CENTRAL AMERICA

In the first part of our story of Panama we learned that the greatest disappointment of Columbus's life was the fact that he could find no waterway through Central America to Asia. It will not be worth our while to study very carefully all the efforts made since his time by Spain, Scotland, Eng- land, and France to find or to build such a waterway. We are naturally more interested in what the United States has done at Panama. But we shall be more proud of our own country, if we see first what others have done and why they failed.

That Columbus failed to find a, waterway did not entirely discourage the Spaniards. The more they learned of Cen- tral America, the more desirous were they to

Fatee* fin(l or to k^d a wa.v f°r shiPs through it.

Columbus had been dead only fourteen years, when the Spanish king, Charles the Fifth, gave orders to all his governors in America to make a most careful survey for this purpose. His orders were obeyed and many explorers were sent out. Of course, no waterway was found. There wasn't any. And we need to follow the work of but one

explorer. This was Gonzales.

1 08

GONZALES 109

He crossed the Isthmus at Panama in 1521 and sailed up the west coast to Nicaragua. Here a landing was made with one hundred men. Gonzales had gone inland a few miles when, to his surprise, he Nicaragua came to the shore of a great fresh-water lake. This was Lake Nicaragua. It is marked as No. 4 on Map V, p. 94 and it is very desirable that we should see exactly where it lies. The lake is one hundred and seventeen miles long, or about half as long as our Lake Erie, and covers three thousand square miles. Gonzales sailed up the lake to its outlet, the San Juan river, and then down this stream to the Atlantic. Here, surely, was an easy way from the Atlantic to the Pacific, — only one hundred and seventy miles and largely by water. It seemed as if a canal might be built at Nicaragua.

Spanish surveyors also declared, at this time, that a canal could be built across Panama. So, for a time, the Spaniards had high hopes of building a canal.

It was not long after this, however, that Spain came to feel that if easy ways across Central America could be found or built, other nations might steal away from her the rich pos- sessions in the New World. So the Spanish king forbade any further surveys. And for two hundred and fifty years Spain did all in her power to prevent other nations from becoming interested in a canal at Nicaragua or at Panama.

But no one feared the anger of Spain, as we know from the stories of English pirates. Only a few years after Henry

no WILLIAM PATERSON

Morgan destroyed Panama, a famous Scotchman named

William Paterson planned to get possession of Panama by

planting a large Scotch colony on the Gulf

p'altoe °f Darien (MaP V)' He thought, tOO, that

if the colony was a success, Scotland might dig a canal across the Isthmus at that point (No. 2, Map V).

What a pitiful failure it was! In 1698 twelve hundred Scotchmen set out in five ships and planted a colony at Darien. Others followed and everything looked promis- ing. But they had not counted on the climate. Fever came, as it had done so many times before. Soon more than two thousand were dead and vast sums of money had been spent. Suddenly a hostile Spanish fleet appeared. The few survivors ran away in defeat to Scotland. There was to be no Scotch canal.

For more than one hundred years the failure of Pater- son's plan discouraged any more such efforts. FaUure But interest was still alive in the idea of a

canal and many people yet hoped to see it built.

Some of us have seen, or may sometime see, a certain splendid monument in one of the squares in the city of London. Four massive lions guard a beautiful column which rises high in air. On its top stands the statue of the greatest admiral that ever walked the deck of an English battleship. All England delights to honor the memory of her great sea-captain, who died in his country's service.

Few persons know, perhaps, that twenty-five years before

NELSON MEMORIAL

in

Copyright by Underwood & Under-wood.

"FOUR MASSIVE LIONS GUARD A BEAUTIFUL COLUMN."

ii2 A NARROW ESCAPE

his wonderful battle with the French fleet at Trafalgar, he nearly lost his life in Nicaragua. He was only young Captain Nelson then, and had been sent with some English ships and men to drive the Spanish out of Nicaragua and seize the lake. England had determined to get control of what was then thought to be the best route for a canal.

Nelson succeeded in whipping the Spanish ships that were sent against him. But the tropical fever again fought in behalf of Spain, and that he could not whip. The crew of his ship, the Ilinchinbrook, was suddenly taken sick, and in a few days only ten were left alive out of two hundred. The captain's own health, also, was injured for the re- mainder of his life.

England did not despair. For many years she continued to make surveys at Nicaragua. Until very recently she still had plans for a canal.

CHAPTER X

THE FRENCH AT PANAMA

On a certain day in 1882, up among the hills eleven miles back of the city of Panama, an unusual sight could have been seen. All about, the jungle had been cut away, the land cleared, and tracks, cars, engines, and machinery for digging had been set up. Some of them were actually in operation. Engines were puffing, men were shouting, gangs of workmen were hurrying here and there. Smoke, too, could be seen at points down the valley, and there were signs of activity everywhere.

Amid all this commotion a company of a few hundred persons was gathered. No such company had ever met before on the Isthmus. There was the Bishop from the Cathedral of Panama, and with him a number of the lead- ing citizens of that town. There were some Americans also, and Europeans of different nationalities, especially Frenchmen. These all had the appearance of spectators much interested in something unusual that was about to happen.

The center of the group was a little white-haired man, laughing and joking, and full of remarkable energy and good humor. Except for his white hair he appeared to be

"3

THE CANAL BUILDER

De Lesseps

not over fifty years old. Certainly no one would have guessed that he had passed his seventy-sixth birthday. We are told that he would often "ride a fiery horse all day over rough country, — then dance all night like a boy, and the next day be as 'fresh as a daisy."' He seemed now to be the chief in command of

all the work.

This man was none other than Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, and the work actu- ally going on was the dig- ging of a French canal across Panama.

The company was as- sembled to witness the formal opening of the great work. The Bishop was to give it his blessing, and a tremendous charge of dynamite was to be ex- ploded, to show how easy was to be the task of cut- ting through the rock. An eye-witness has described the scene for us. "The blessing had been pronounced, the champagne, duly iced, was wraiting to cool the swelter of that tropic sun, as soon as the explosion "went off." There the crowd stood, breathless, ears stopped, eyes blinking, half

COUNT FERDINAND DE LESSEPS.

ISTHMUS OF SUEZ

MAP VI. — DE LESSEPS AND THE ISTHMUS or SUEZ.

n6 AN UNLUCKY EXPLOSION

in terror lest this artificial earthquake might involve gen- eral destruction. But there was no explosion! It wouldn't go ! Then a humorous sense of relief stole upon the crowd. With one accord everybody exclaimed "Good gracious!" and hurried away, lest after all the dynamite should see fit to explode."

So, after much merriment and feasting, the company broke up and departed. As we look back upon that day's doings, which marked the beginning of the French enter- prise, there seems something unlucky about that charge of dynamite that refused to explode.

But who was Ferdinand de Lesseps? And how did the French come to be building a canal at Panama? De Les- seps was a Frenchman who had lived for many and the*61 years in Egypt. There he was but a few miles isthmus of from that Other great isthmus of the world, —

Suez

at Suez, — where a strip of low land, less than one hundred miles wide, connects the two continents of Asia and Africa. As Panama blocked the most important route of commerce in the New World, so did the Isthmus of Suez in the Old World.

For ages there had been a demand for a canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, and many wise men had studied the problem. To be of any value the canal must be what is called a "ship canal," that is, large enough for ocean vessels. But a ship canal one hundred miles long! No such had ever been built. The difficulties seemed too great.

A CANAL AT SUEZ

117

Though De Lesseps was not an engineer of much expe- rience, he was very ambitious and anxious to connect his name with some great undertaking. He could see that the task of building a canal at Suez was really simple. It

Copyright by Under-wood &• Underwood.

SHIP PASSING THROUGH THE SUEZ CANAL.

would require much money and patience, but the digging would be mostly through sand. There was little rock, and there were almost no hills. De Lesseps determined that he would be the man to build that ship canal. It was a daring scheme, indeed, but he went to work at once.

In 1858 a company was formed. Men had confidence in

n8 ONE ISTHMUS CONQUERED

De Lesseps and money was secured. In 1859 work was begun and progressed steadily and successfully for the next ten years. Before the world fully realized it, Africa was no longer connected with Asia by land. The canal was com- pleted. The waters of the Mediterranean could flow into the 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

four hundred and twenty feet at the water's

Suez Canal

surface. Great electric lights were placed along the banks and ships can pass through it by night as well as by day. The time of transit is from fourteen to eighteen hours.

The cost was $100,000,000 or about $1,000,000 for each mile. But those who had dared to put their money into this rash enterprise were richly rewarded, for enormous profits were made. Nearly four thousand ships now pass through the canal each year, and the Company receives an income from tolls of about $25,000,000.

One of the two great isthmuses of the world was conquered. De Lesseps was now at the height of his fame. All Europe rang with his praises. No task seemed too difficult for this successful man.

It is not strange, then, that he looked longingly across the Atlantic toward that other great isthmus at Panama. Nor are we surprised to find him laying plans in 1877 to do

FRENCH PANAMA CANAL COMPANY 119

in the New World what he had done in the Old. It need

be only a forty mile canal at Panama. To be sure, others

had tried and failed, but was he not the very

man to win? When he declared that "the a^d Panama

Panama Canal will be more easily • begun,

finished, and maintained than the Suez Canal," rich and

poor alike were eager to furnish money.

So in 1879 the French Panama Canal Company was formed. The Atlantic and Pacific were to be directly con- nected by a canal twenty-eight feet deep. It was to be built at a cost of $214,000,000, and to be finished in eight years. A great force of workmen was secured, machinery purchased, and everything made ready. The Bishop blessed the work, as we have seen, and the canal was begun.

A whole book might be filled with the story of the French Canal. For us three words will explain what happened. £££*

Disease. — It seems as if De Lesseps and his associates should have known enough about Panama to have reckoned with the old enemy, — Yellow Fever. They did build expensive hospitals, — one at Panama City cost nearly $6,000,000, — another at Colon, $1,400,000; but they were badly managed and the sick were poorly cared for. We have, no doubt, already seen the yellow fever ward of the hospital at Panama City. In this one ward twelve hundred patients died. Worse still, while they tried to cure the sick, the French did little to prevent sickness. The towns were

120

DISEASE AND WASTE

left as filthy as ever, the water supply remained poor, and the laborers continued to fall ill. Out of a total of 86,800 work- men, 52,000 were treated for sickness, The total deaths during the twenty-three years of French work were 6,283.

FEVER WARD— FRENCH HOSPITAL, PANAMA CITY.

Waste. — The French had failed to make a careful study of the difficulties before they began the work. The Panama Canal was far harder to build than the Suez Canal. Money was poured out like water. But poor plans and poor engi- neers made the canal grow very slowly. Waste and extrav- agance were seen on all sides. Yet glowing stories of great progress were sent home to France. Newspapers were

DISHONESTY

121

bribed to make false reports. For several years the French people were deceived. The canal was soon to be completed, they were told, and they continued to furnish huge sums of money for the work. Theft. — De Les- seps was not, per- haps, an intention- ally dishonest man. But he was an old man and unfit to guide so tremen- dous a work. Many men who worked with him were dis- honest and by them he was deceived. Not only in France but also in Panama large sums of money Copyrisht by Wm- H' Rau'

, , FRENCH MACHINE WORKING ON A BANK IN PANAMA

went into the pock- CANAL.

ets of those in power.

It is said that fully one third of all the money raised was practically stolen from the treasury. This spirit of corrup- tion made its way down from the higher officials through all classes even to the lowest. Every form of vice flourished on the Isthmus.

Disease, waste, and theft went on for seven years. Of

122

[.00,000,000

course, much good digging was done, but at the end of that time not over two fifths of the whole work was completed. Nearly four hundred million dollars had been raised. A

DE LESSEPS PALACE.

large part of it1 was secured from French farmers and day- laborers, 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 actually spent on the canal. What a dreadful story of mis- management ! Had 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

123

pened. It was clear that De Lesseps and the French Panama Canal Company had failed. Rage and excite- ment spread over France. Thousands of per- sons had sunk all their money in the great scheme, and now found themselves ruined. The end had come, no canal was built, the money was gone. Then a long trial was held to find out who was to blame. Many leading men in France were accused of sharing in the

French Failure

PORTION OF CANAL COMPLETED BY THE FRENCH.

X.

robbery. Several committed suicide rather than face the angry French people. During the trial a number of mem- bers of the Company were sentenced to pay heavy fines or

I24

AMONG THE RUINS

DEATH OF DE LESSEPS 125

to spend years in prison. The aged De Lesseps, now broken in health and reputation, was unable to stand the strain. When he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, he fell into an unconscious state, his mind gave way, and within a few months her,died in a mad-house.

In our visit to Panama we shall go out to see the wreck of the French work. Had we stayed long at Colon, when we

FRENCH DREDGES SUNK IN Rio GRANDE.

first landed, we might have seen the expensive dwelling built for De Lesseps and his associates. It is known as the De Lesseps Palace, and shows how French money was need- lessly wasted.

126

RUINED MACHINERY

All along the route between Colon and Panama City are bits of the canal partially completed. For years, in the great ditches, the steam excavators stood silent, just as they were left when the French work stopped. In the rivers

"THE JUNGLE HAS CREPT IN 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. Each cost many thousands of dollars. They are now worthless. Ten thousand cars, six thousand wagons, two hundred miles of track, with hundreds of locomotives, derricks, excavators, and dredges were left idle.

STATUE OF DE LESSEPS

127

How sad a sight the long lines of locomotives present. Black and rusty, they are fast going to ruin within sight of the very spot on which De Lesseps and his friends so gaily opened work on the canal. The jungle has crept in upon them. Nature is trying to hide the pitiful signs of French failure.

The world has long ago decided that De Lesseps himself was only partially responsible for the wreck at Panama. He at- tempted more than he was able to do. We can well afford to forget his failure there and to re- member him only as the man who planned and completed the canal at Suez, —the longest ship canal in the world. At the mouth of that canal his statue stands looking out over the waters of the Mediterranean. His right hand is outstretched, as if inviting the ships of the world to enter his great waterway.

Copyright by Win. H. Rau.

DE LESSEPS STATUE — SUEZ CANAL.

CHAPTER XI

THE UNITED STATES AND PANAMA

The line American battleship whose picture appears

opposite holds a splendid record in our navy. When war

was about to break out between the United

The Oregon .

States and Spam in 1898, this vessel was in the harbor of San Francisco, on the Pacific. As Spain's fleet was expected to attack our eastern coast, and the Oregon was one of the most powerful ships in the navy, she was needed in the Atlantic. Orders were sent to Cap- tain Clark on March 19, to leave San Francisco at once for the long trip around thr southern point of South America and north to join the Atlantic fleet in the West Indies. None- of pur ships had ever made so long a trip or one so full of perils. If she came through it safely, there was no certainty that she would still be in fighting trim. Thirteen thousand and four hundred miles and all at record speed! We all remember the pleasure and enthusiasm that spread over the country when the great ship joined the Atlantic fleet without the slightest damage to her machinery and with her guns and men ready to give battle to the Spaniards. The trip had required more than two full months. Had

there been a Panama canal, the journey would have been

128

AN OBJECT LESSON 129

but four thousand six hundred miles. It could have been done in fifteen days and no haste would have been neces- sary. Americans were more than ever roused to the value of a canal. This remarkable voyage had been an object lesson.

Copyright by IVm. H. Rau.

BATTLESHIP " OREGON."

But it was not alone the voyage of the Oregon that inter- ested our people in a canal across Central America. If there were a canal, no nation of the world probably would use it more than we, both in times of war and in times of peace. For more than seventy-five years the United States has been interested in the canal. We read that away back in 1825 Henry Clay

American Interest in a Canal

i3o "THE CANAL SHALL BE BUILT"

declared it to be his firm belief that the United States should build it. From that time to this hundreds of other public men have expressed the same feeling. Both President Jackson and President Grant urged Congress to consider the matter. Many thorough surveys of the different routes have been made from time to time by American engineers.

But until recent years the rich men of America, and the American government itself, were busy developing our own great lands. Mines, oil wells, factories, railroads, battle- ships, and scores of other necessary things, cost immense sums of money. There was little time or money left for a doubtful enterprise in Central America. So we were obliged to look on, while other nations tried to build a canal and failed. No people were more interested than ourselves in De Lesseps's plans. When the French failed and England ' seemed unwilling to try again, it was clear that no canal would be built unless by Americans. And so it finally came about at the close of the Spanish war, that our government decided that a canal must be built and owned by the United States. As President Roosevelt said, "this is the greatest engineering work the world has yet seen, but the canal shall be built!"

Until 1903 American engineers favored the Nicaragua route (No. 4, Map V, p. 94). We cannot here mention all the reasons for this. Questions of climate and floods, of distance and ease of digging, of storms and earthquakes, had to be considered. The canal at Nicaragua would be one

RIVAL ROUTES 131

hundred and twenty miles longer than the Panama canal. But one hundred and seventeen of this would be through the great Lake Nicaragua. Then, too, the San Juan river could be used in part; so that Route™

only about twenty-seven miles would actu- ally have to be dug at Nicaragua. On the other hand the floods in the San Juan river were as severe as in the river Chagres at Panama, and the frequent storms on Lake Nicaragua presented a difficulty. It was also thought that earthquakes are much more severe in Nicaragua than in Panama, and might damage the canal or even destroy it. At Panama were two good harbors, a railroad from ocean to ocean, a canal already partially completed, and an immense quantity of machinery of all sorts.

In fact, much could be said in favor of each route, and much was said, not only in Congress but also in our news- papers and in private discussions all over the country. Finally, however, President Roosevelt and Congress de- cided that if the French Panama Canal Company would sell all they had left at Panama for a reasonable price, and if we could buy a strip of land across Panama, the canal should be built at that point.

The French Company wanted $90,000,000 for its prop- erty but at last agreed to accept $40,000,000. The Republic of Panama in February, 1904, sold to the United States for the sum of $10,000,000 a strip of land ten miles wide and fifty miles long extending across the Isthmus from the At-

i32 UNITED STATES TAKES POSSESSION

lantic to the Pacific. This strip is now known as the Canal Zone, and it is controlled absolutely by the United States provided we build and operate a canal.

Although an outlay of $50,000,000 was necessary before a shovelful of dirt was moved, the United States was now ready to build a canal at Panama.

On May 4, 1904, President Roosevelt, in behalf of the American Government and people, took possession of the Canal Zone and all it contained, except the zone°anal cities of Colon and Panama. These are in the Zone but are still a part of the Republic of Panama. The area of the Canal Zone is about five hundred square miles or about one quarter the size of the little state of Delaware. As we shall see, the canal is to run directly through it from end to end. An Isthmian Canal Commission was appointed and the Hon. William H. Taft, then Secretary of War, was directed to supervise the work. Major- General George W. Davis was made Governor of the Canal Zone.

A new and interesting piece of land was thus added to the territory of the United States (Map VII). It is, as we have said, 50 miles long and 10 miles wide. In it is a population of over 50,000 persons. There are twenty-five small towns and a number of camps for workmen. The American port of the city of Colon is called Cristobal, of the City of Pan- ama, Ancon. Between these two ends of the Zone the prin- cipal towns are Gatun, Gorgona, Bas Obispo, Empire, Culebra, and Pedro Miguel.

GOOD GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED

133

It was no small task to establish a good government for all these towns and people. There must Be courts, prisons and police, a fire department, post offices, schools, and all those things that would add ^^ to the safety and welfare of those who were to dig the canal.

Colombian money, for instance, was still (1903) in use on the Isthmus. The standard was the peso (pa'so). In name.

MAP VII. — THE CANAL ZONE.

at least, it was the same as our American dollar. But its value was less than one cent. Imagine taking a Colom- bian $5 bill to a bank and getting in exchange for it an American nickel. An amusing story is told by a gentle- man from New York, who invited the United States consul to a dinner at a hotel in the City of Panama. When the meal was over he found that it had cost him $1,400 in Co-

THE AMERICAN WAY

COINS AND STAMPS 135

lombian money, and was not much of a dinner at that. Our gold dollar is now the standard money in the Canal Zone, though coins of the Republic of Panama are also used. The Balboa is the standard Panama coin. It is of silver, about the size of our own silver dollar, and worth fifty cents.

POLICE STATION — ANCON.

When writing letters home from Panama we may now use the American post offices of the Canal Zone, but the letters will carry the Panama stamps, with the words Canal Zone printed across the face.

Before the Americans came to Panama fires were very

136 FIRE STATIONS

common in the towns, especially in Colon and Panama City. There were no regular fire departments, and the volunteer fire companies were of little value. The firemen could not afford to leave their regular employment and when the fire bells rang they were, of course, scattered about in various parts of the town. Nor did they at once run to the scene of the fire, but seemed more interested in first exchanging their working clothes for the gay, red suits of which they were very proud. Meanwhile the fire had done much damage.

In Cristobal we perhaps saw one of the first-class fire sta- tions established in the Zone by the Canal Commission. It is in every way as good as we have at home. Safety from bad fires is now assured.

One hundred and sixty policemen keep order in the Zone. We are told that they are as " soldierly and efficient" as any on American territory.

CHAPTER XII

CONQUEST OF DISEASE

After the United States took possession of the Canal Zone, as we have just described, the American people expected to see the canal begun at once. "Make the dirt fly,'7 demanded our newspapers. There was so much impa- tience and disappointment that for two full years little digging could be done. Yet plain American common sense tells us that an immense amount of preparatory work was necessary. The more we know of it, the more we shall admire the patient, careful way in which the Commission made ready for the great work.

The lessons of past efforts at Panama were not forgotten. First of all, disease must be conquered. No canal work could hope to succeed until this was done. In the second place, a large force of workmen must be assembled and houses and food provided for them. Then, in the third place, plans and surveys must be most carefully made and a vast amount of powerful machinery secured. And while all these preparations were going on, waste and theft must be absolutely prevented. Our government expected to pay its workmen generously and to provide in every way for their comfort, but beyond that every dollar of American

137

138

DOCTOR AMADOR

money must go toward building the canal. When all these things had been accomplished, the dirt might really " begin to fly."

One morning in the City of Panama, not long before the United States took possession of the Canal Zone, Dr. Amador met the American consul. Amador was at that time Chief Health Officer of the City of Panama. Some-

ENTRANCE TO HOSPITAL GROUNDS — ANCON.

thing serious was evidently troubling him, for his face showed great anxiety.

"Consul," said he, as the two men shook hands, "we have six cases of yellow fever in the city."

"THEY ARE ALL DEAD" i39

At this bad news the consul was equally troubled and the two men discussed what could be done to stop the spread

VIEW OF HOSPITAL GROUNDS FROM ENTRANCE — ANCON.

of the disease. Like most Panamanians, Dr. Amador seemed to feel helpless in the presence of this old enemy.

By chance the same men met upon the following morning.

"Well, consul," said Amador, now smiling and happy, "it gives me pleasure to report that we now have no cases of yellow fever in Panama."

"How is that?" said the consul.

"They are all dead," replied the doctor.

This story is often told to illustrate the way in which

140 AN EVIL REPUTATION

the people of Panama had come to look upon the tropical diseases so common upon the Isthmus. Here, as in many other parts of the tropics, the people felt that nothing could be done to prevent the dreadful loss of life. They were either ignorant of the causes of the diseases or if they did know, they were too lazy to remove them. The whole history of Panama, even from the days of Columbus, was one long record of human lives cut off by malaria, bubonic plague, and yellow fever. It is true that the natives were accustomed to the climate and did not suffer so severely as those who came to Panama from other lands, but the death rate was always high. The number of deaths among the French laborers shocked the whole world. Everywhere Panama had an evil reputation for unhealthfulness.

As we walk about during our stay in Panama City, we find many parts of the town that are still neither clean nor healthful. But, as a whole, the place is today as clean as many of the better cities in our own country.

It is now almost impossible to believe that Colon and Panama City were once about as dirty cities as could be found in the world. But let us look at some conditions pictures in order to see what the old condi- tions were. Here is a street in Panama as it looked a few years ago. Imagine attempting to cross it. Would you care to live on such a street? Do you see any signs of sewers or hydrants? Probably not, for there were none. Not a good sewer nor drain nor water pipe in a

UNDER THE OLD REGIME

141

142 WATER BARRELS

city of 30,000 people! Not every street was as bad as this, but there were many of them, and some much worse. If you think the street itself is filthy, suppose we pick our way around behind the houses. We should not care to stay there long, — just long enough to see that all the refuse from them found its way into the back yard. From there the waste water slowly ran out into the street. So much rainfall kept the whole mass soaking wet. The hot sun beating down on clear days could not dry out such places. Foul odors and disease must have been common. Presi- dent Taft said of the streets of Panama City: "They were muddy in rainy weather, dusty in dry weather, and full of disease in all weathers."

But what were those curious looking barrels and tanks behind the houses? Take a careful look into one of them. Do you see those odd "wigglers" on the surface? They are little wormlike bodies and out of each a mosquito will soon hatch and fly away. Among these mosquitoes are, no doubt, some of that much dreaded sort that carry the yellow fever. And this dirty barrel certainly cannot con- tain drinking water, — and yet it does, for there is no other to be had in Panama City! Perhaps these barrels and tanks that catch the rain water on which the city depends, may explain why so many of the poor of Panama seem never to have taken a bath.

A picture of a Colon street shows even worse conditions. Colon was built upon ground so low that there simply could

UNDER THE NEW REGIME

i44 WORK FOR COLONEL GORGAS

be no drainage. The houses of the well-to-do were kept fairly clean, but of the houses of the poor, the less said the better. And all about Colon were the swamps and jungles, poisonous air, and more mosquitoes.

If the two best cities of Panama were as unhealthful as this, what must have been the condition of the twenty or more miserable little towns along the line of the canal?

It was clear to the Canal Commission at the very begin- ning that no canal could be built as long as filth and dis- ease continued. So they advised that a man be appointed to clean up the Canal Zone and the cities of Colon and Panama. He must be a man who knew about tropical diseases and had had experience in fighting them. He must have unlimited courage and patience. And he must be given all the money, men, and time necessary.

Gorgas ^ne man cnosen f°r tm's important task was

Colonel William C. Gorgas of the Medical Corps of the United States Army. Experience has shown that the choice was a good one. Colonel Gorgas had stamped out yellow fever in eight months in Havana, Cuba, where it had been epidemic for more than one hundred and forty years. But the task at Panama was much more difficult and would surely have discouraged a less determined man. When Colo- nel Gorgas completed his first inspection of the Canal Zone and declared that he would make it a fit place for white peo- ple to live in, — practically the whole of Europe laughed. Let us see how near he has come to making good his promise.

OLD COLON STREETS

Copyright by Undenuood & Underwood.

STREET IN COLON BEFORE PAVING.

146 HOSPITALS

At Colon and at Panama City the French Canal Com- pany had built expensive hospitals. Both were large and finely situated, especially the one at Ancon, the suburb of

BOLIVAR STREET, COLON — AFTER AMERICANS HAD CLEANED AND PAVED IT.

the City of Panama. Colonel Gorgas enlarged and im- proved these hospitals and put them in charge of a corps of expert doctors and trained nurses. We can see for our- selves that they are as well equipped to care for the sick as are any in our own country. Smaller hospitals and camps for the sick were built also at convenient points along the canal line.

Another thing that had to be done at the very outset was

A THOROUGH SCRUBBING 147

to clear away the filth in the cities and towns, — the untouched accumulation of years. In the early reports of Colonel Gorgas we can read of tens of thousands of loads of rubbish and filth carted away each month.

But to give to the cities of Colon and Panama a thorough scrubbing and afterwards to keep them clean, required that the streets be paved, that there be good sewage systems

Copyright by Under-wood & Under-wood,

COLONEL W. C. GORGAS, MEDICAL CORPS, U.S.A., CHIEF SANITARY OFFICER, PANAMA CANAL ZONE.

built, and a plentiful supply of good water. These three things required many months of labor by several thousand men. But we can see now that the work has been well

148 ABUNDANT WATER

done. Everywhere are well-paved, dry streets and plenty of drains and sewers. Out in the hills behind Colon and Panama City excellent reservoirs were built. If we chose

STREET IN COLON — BEFORE PAVING.

to do so, we could go to see for ourselves that the water is abundant, pure, and good. It is piped into the cities and towns in such large quantities as to give to each inhabi- tant at least fifty gallons each day. Certainly that quantity should be sufficient to keep one person clean.

The result is that Panama City is now the best paved, best sewered, and best watered city in all Central America or the northern half of South America.

"GETTING CLEAN AND KEEPING CLEAN

149

But this work met much opposition among the Panaman- ians. Too many were satisfied with the old conditions.

They tcnfn did not

want to

be clean. They saw no reason for dis- turbing their houses either inside or out. They opposed the use of clean water. Colonel Gorgas, therefore, selected a number of men, mostly intelligent natives, and sent them about day by day among the poorer classes to teach the value of keeping their houses, their streets, and themselves clean.

Slowly these health inspectors succeeded. And we now find all classes assisting in the work of getting clean and keeping clean. As for the water, it is now used freely by all. It is a common and an amusing sight to watch

STREET IN COLON — PAVED AND CLEANED.

150 MALARIA, PLAGUE, AND FEVER

the negro children enjoying the cool water from the hydrants. The three diseases that are most deadly to those who

MOUNT HOPE RESERVOIR. — "THE WATER is ABUNDANT, PURE, AND GOOD."

come to Panama from other parts of the world, are plague, malaria, and yellow fever. The first is usually brought in by rats with fleas or other parasites in ships from infected

ports. The diseased rats on these ships carry Deadly it to other rats about the wharves, and thus the

germs are carried into the houses and plague breaks out among the people. If plague were to go, the rats must go first. All incoming ships are thoroughly inspected

THE RAT BRIGADE 151

and the rats are killed. Tons of rat poison were placed each week where the animals could easily reach it. A consider- able number of men were organized into a "Rat Brigade." Their only business was to destroy as many as possible. So thorough has been their work that the rats are practically exterminated and the Canal Zone is now free from the dan- ger of plague.

The same thorough measures were taken to prevent

OPENING OF PANAMA WATERWORKS SYSTEM, JULY 4, 1905.— IN FRONT or CATHEDRAL.

malaria and yellow fever. Both are diseases common in a tropical climate like Panama's. The danger lies in the fact that mosquitoes that sting patients who are sick with

DANGEROUS MOSQUITOES

either disease carry off the poison to those who are well.

From one patient many may thus be made sick. Not all

die who have the malaria but few recover from the dreaded yellow fever.

The mosquito that carries the fever is called the Stego- myia. Having bit- ten a person who has the fever, the Stegomyia may carry the poison in its stinger for several months. Anopheles is the name of the variety that carries the malarial poison. Though it carries it for only a few days, it can fly faster and

farther than the Stegomyia, and often bites by day as well

as by night.

To conquer malaria and yellow fever the mosquitoes had

to be destroyed throughout the Canal Zone and in Colon

BEGGING FOR A BATH.

MORE BRIGADES

153

and Panama City. This seemed like an impossible task, but Colonel Gorgas and his men went bravely at it. An " Anopheles Brigade" and a "Stegomyia Brigade" were formed. The people laugh in Panama today and say that all of Colonel Gorgas's men could be seen at times running after one

Mosquito i'f

Brigades

tie mos- quito. At any rate it was no joke for the mosquitoes. They were attacked everywhere. Kero- sene and "mosquito

oil

were

poured

over stagnant pools, rain barrels were screened, miles of ditches were dug and swamps drained, great areas of jungle were cut down and

burned, and all sorts of methods were used to destroy the breeding places. Then the homes were frequently fumi- gated and most carefully screened, and cases of fever were separated from those who were well. Indeed, it would be impossible to tell here all the various methods that were

THE BATH.

J54

HEALTH REPORTS

taken to free the Zone of these deadly little pests. And not only was it necessary to kill those already there, but others had to be prevented from coming in. Constant watch- fulness by several thousand men was necessary. We must remember, too, that all this work had to be

done at the same time that thousands of igno- rant laborers were flock- ing to Panama to work on the canal. It was difficult to get these men to take even the simplest ways of pro- tecting themselves.

How anxiously Colo- nel Gorgas must have watched the daily and monthly health reports! As the filth and mos- quitoes departed, would

King Disease go too? Slowly, month by month, the death rate came down. Fewer and fewer cases of yellow fever were reported. At last none could be found. That was in May, 1906. None are likely to occur again while the canal is being built. With the fever went also much malaria. Cases of the latter are now very mild, often scarcely more serious than a severe cold in a northern climate.

HOME AGAIN AND HAPPY.

THE VICTORY WON 155

The great fight has been expensive and will continue to be so. The United States may spend as much as $20,- 000,000 in this fight before the canal is finished. But no one now doubts that it is money well spent. As Americans we can today feel proud that we have at last made it possible for a laborer to work

Healthful Panama

AVENUE OF PALMS AT CRISTOBAL.

in the Canal Zone with as much safety as in most parts of the United States. There is at present no higher death rate in the Canal Zone than in New York City. When King Disease was thus conquered, the battle for the canal was half won.

CHAPTER XIII

ASSEMBLING A WORKING FORCE

To make the Canal Zone a fit place to work in was a difficult task. To secure a sufficient number of good work- men was another almost equally difficult. The American laborer is the most efficient workman in the world. If enough of such laborers could have been persuaded to go to Panama and to stay there and work, the labor problem would have been easily solved and the canal built in the shortest time. But this was soon found to be impossible. Though the wages offered were high, large numbers of laborers did not care to leave their homes in the United States and go away off to Panama. There were plenty of good opportunities for work nearer at hand. The Canal Commission was, therefore, obliged to secure the best laborers it could get in lands whose climate was similar to that of Panama.

We shall find about 40,000 laborers of all sorts at work on the canal and on the Panama Railroad. The latter is The " Gold now owned by the United States and run by the Canal Commission. Of the 40,000 men about 5,000 are the skilled workmen and are mostly Ameri- cans. These 5,000 are trained engineers, draftsmen, clerks,

156

"GOLD MEN" 157

steam-shovel men, powder men, surveyors, foremen, etc. Many people believe that no finer force of men than these Americans was ever gathered together for a great work.

They are, indeed, a splendid lot. Without their brains and energy no canal could be built. For this reason they are well paid and well cared for. The pay received is about one and one half times as much as for similar work

DINNER TIME AT A COMMISSION HOTEL.

at home. Their wages are paid them in gold and they are, therefore, known in Panama as the "Gold Men."

The contrast between these American workers and the natives of Panama is very striking. "You see the Pana-

'58

A CONTRAST

manians idling out of windows and in the shade of doorways watching our driving work. They are thin, slow-moving, impassive, often solemn. There is no glow in the dead yellows and browns of their flesh. But when you look at

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood.

A PRIVATE MESS AT CRISTOBAL.

our engineers, mechanics, and foremen, you see full-blooded health shining in their faces. They are boisterous, hard- working, ingenious, quick to lay hold of a pick or drive a spade, to show how it should be done. Their good humor is almost unfailing, but it never enfeebles the sharp word of command, as the dull Jamaicans have learned."

Because the "Gold Men" do not fear disease in the Canal

HOMES OF THE "GOLD MEN!

SIDE STREET, CRISTOBAL — SHOWING DWELLINGS OF GOLD MEN.

" COMFORTABLE, DRY, WELL-BUILT HOUSES."

160 COMMON LABORERS

Zone, many of them have brought their families with them. In towns like Cristobal, Ancon, and others we can see their comfortable, dry, well-built houses. Their children attend good American schools in the Zone and are as bright and happy children as could be found.

In recreation hours these ".Gold Men" are a jolly company. We shall find them engaged in baseball, basket ball, tennis, and other sports, or reading and loafing in the club houses provided by the Canal Commission. There are many of these club houses along the line of the canal work. They are conducted by the Young Men's Christian Association. There are libraries and women's clubs too; and fishing parties and picnics and other pleasures make life agreeable for both men and women.

The 35,000 common laborers are paid in the silver

money of Panama or its equivalent, and are

Men"8'1™ known as "Silver Men." The usual wage

amounts, on the average, to about $i per day

in our money or about $2 in Panamanian money.

We remember that when the Panama Railroad was built, it was found very difficult to secure laborers who could endure the climate of Panama and do any real work. The De Lesseps Company had the same difficulty. The French found that the negroes from the islands of the West Indies, especially Jamaica, were the best all-round workmen that could be had in large numbers. This, too, has been the experience of the United States.

Y. M. C. A. QUARTERS

161

COMMISSION CLUBHOUSE AT EMPIRE.

BOWLING.

162 WEST INDIAN NEGROES

At Panama these negroes receive higher wages than they have ever known before and are provided with hospital treatment when sick and with clean dwellings and good food. We shall see their houses and camps all along the line. Those of us who know what wretchedly dirty huts they are accustomed to, will understand better why they are glad to stay and work on the canal. A prominent American of long experience with these men says, — " These West Indian laborers have never known, and in their most pleasant dreams have never hoped for, the splendid care and liberal treatment they are receiving from our govern- ment on the Isthmus of Panama."

At the mess-kitchens for the negroes the Commission furnishes them three good meals per day for about thirty cents. It is said that at first they objected to the strength- ening American food because it made them feel too much like working. "It consists of rice, beans, onions, fresh and salt beef, codfish, lard, bread, sugar, and coffee, varied with occasional potatoes and bananas."

Despite good care and good food these negroes are not good workmen. Some are expert loafers. Many study to do just as little as possible. Nearly all are dull, stupid, and ignorant. Their movements are slow and their efforts lack energy and intelligence. Moreover, they object to working in the rain and run for shelter when the first drops fall. Theodore P. Shonts, at one time Chairman of the Canal Commission, relates the following story to show how

HOW THE LABORERS FARE

163

CLEAN DWELLINGS." — COMMON LABORERS' QUARTERS, COLON.

"THREE GOOD MEALS PER DAY FOR THIRTY CENTS."

1 64

AN EXPERT LOAFER

they work. A heavy piece of machinery was being unloaded from the hold of a vessel. The tackle got caught in the rigging on the deck above; the foreman in charge of the gang of laborers sent one of them above to free the tackle. The laborer went to the place to which he was sent and did what he was told to do. The foreman, paying no attention to him after he started on his errand, missed him a few minutes later, and, looking around for him, discovered him sitting peacefully at the spot to which he

CURIOUS TURBANS AND FOREIGN FACES."

had been sent. "What are you doing there?" yelled the foreman. "You told me to come here, Sah." "Well, why didn't you come back?" "You didn't tell me to,

LABORERS FROM ASIA

165

Sah." Altogether these men probably do not accomplish more than one half as much as such laborers in a cooler climate.

Better than the negroes in the value of their work are some East Indians. There are not many of them on the canal. They have come chiefly from Asia to the British West Indies and thence to Panama. What odd-looking fellows they are! The curious turbans on their heads and

A .GROUP OF SPANISH LABORERS.

their foreign faces make them seem quite out of place on an American canal. How much larger and more energetic than the negroes they are, and how slowly but quietly and

i66

SPANIARDS AND ITALIANS

steadily they go about their work! The Commission would be glad to get more of them, for they are thoroughly good workers, peaceful, sober, and industrious. We shall usually see them carrying the 5o-lb. boxes of dynamite from the powder houses to the other workmen. They are proud of their race, remain closely by themselves, and even in Pan- ama keep many of their native customs.

Of all the " Silver Men," the Spaniards and Italians are

the best. They will do twice as much work per day as will the negroes, and they receive much more pay. There are about

8,000 of them at work in the Zone. Nearly all come directly to Panama from Spain or Italy. The Span- iards are perhaps less likely to suffer from the climate

and, therefore, accomplish more. They are small in size but muscular, willing to be taught, and anxious to be pro- moted to better positions as subforemen or foremen of

A GANG OF ITALIANS.

OTHER "SILVER MEN

167

their work. Where strength and intelligence are needed, these men can be depended upon. No amount of rainy weather can keep them from the work.

There are laborers of many other nationalities here and there on the canal work, but they are few in number.

INTERIOR OF A MESS HALL FOR EUROPEAN LABORERS.

Taking the " Silver Men " as a whole, we shall find them of mixed race and language, poor workmen, and hard to handle. And yet, under the leadership of the " Gold Men," we feel sure that in the end they will build the canal.

One more thing remains to be considered in respect to the working force. It is the problem of feeding them and '

i68 A DIFFICULT PROBLEM

of providing them with clothing and other necessities. Over

40,000 persons to be fed and the markets 2,000 miles away!

Certainlv this is no small matter. But here.

Supplies

too, the same careful plans were laid as for other parts of the work and the same satisfactory results followed. At Cristobal and at twelve other vil- lages stores were built, in which food and all other neces-

TYPICAL LABOR TRAIN.

sities can be purchased at prices only slightly above cost. An ice plant was erected at Colon and with it a cold storage plant, so that meat and vegetables and other perishable food can now be kept in as good condition as in any part

SATISFACTORY RESULTS 169

of the United States in summer time. Early each morning a special train with cold storage cars is rushed out over the railroad to carry supplies to all points on the canal line. So it has come about that quite as good food is served in the hotels and mess-kitchens as is provided for men in similar work in the United States.

CHAPTER XIV

MACHINERY AND THE PANAMA RAILROAD

It is an old saying that a poor workman puts the blame for his poor work upon his tools. It is equally true that a good workman cannot work well with poor tools. The United States government determined that whatever the quality of the laborers at Panama might be, the tools and machinery should be the very best.

We have spoken of the American laborer as the best in the world. He does the most and in the shortest time. This may be so in part because he has better machinery with which to work. American inventors and machinery lead the world. All over our broad land, on the farms and in the factories, in the mills and quarries, on the rail- roads, and hidden in the unseen parts of great buildings, ships, and mines, is a vast amount of wonderful machinery. It does easily, cheaply, and swiftly, work that no number of human hands could do.

Perhaps the most interesting to watch are those great machines that accomplish the heavy tasks of cutting, lift- ing, or carrying. We shall see many of this sort at work on the canal. Indeed, it would be safe to say that without

the splendid American machinery that our government has

170

OLD MACHINERY USED 171

been able to secure, no canal could be built at Panama. Human hands alone could never do the work.

When our government purchased the property of the French Canal Company, it came into possession of an immense amount of machinery of all sorts, scattered along the line of the canal. That was in 1904. Much of the French machinery had been at work as far back as 1889, and so, of course, was out-of- Machinery date. Much also had been ruined by rust and neglect. Some, however, could be used. For instance, it was found that more than one hundred and twenty-five of the old French locomotives could be repaired and put to work again. Some old dredges, scows, tugs, dump cars, etc., with many miles of track, were still ready for service. What work the Canal Commission accomplished during the first two years of preparation was in large part done with this old machinery. We can still see some of it at work on the canal. It has been said that the old French machinery was worth fully $2,000,000 to the United States.

In general, however, an entirely new outfit of tools and machinery was necessary. Here again the distance of Panama from supplies of this sort added tre-

New Outfit

mendously to the difficulties. Locomotives and dump cars, dredges and steam shovels, barges and rock crushers, and a vast amount of hand tools were purchased and shipped to the Isthmus. In the Zone itself docks for handling machinery, coal, lumber, etc., were built. Long

172

SPLENDID NEW EQUIPMENT

lines of track were laid to carry the machinery and supplies to the scene of work. The largest cement-mixing and handling plants ever built were here constructed. Com- pressed-air plants to furnish power for the drills, and great

" ONE OF THE Two GREATEST REPAIR SHOPS."

general repair shops were erected. We shall surely be astonished, as we travel along the line, to see the splendid equipment for work that the Commission has secured.

At Empire, for instance, is one of the two greatest repair shops. Tt is close to the line of the canal. Notice how the railroad tracks are arranged so that even the largest pieces of machinery can be brought directly to the shop. In this

THE GREAT STOREHOUSE

173

one place we can see 1,000 men at work. The shops are modern in every way and equal to the best railroad repair shops in the United States. Here is a foundry and a lum- ber mill and everything necessary to repair or rebuild any piece of machinery on the canal.

Near the repair shops is the great storehouse. Let us step inside. See the great rooms with shelves on shelves of all sorts of articles neatly labeled and laid away! We

STOREHOUSE AT EMPIRE.

are told that here are over 10,000 different articles used in the canal work. Suddenly in rushes a workman with a note from some engineer or foreman out on the canal. A steam shovel has broken down or a drill is out of order

174 AMERICAN METHODS

and a new part is needed at once. Immediately the men in charge of the storehouse can pick out the exact article, and before we know what has happened, the workman is

TEN THOUSAND ARTICLES — " NEATLY LABELED AND LAID AWAY."

out again on the canal and the broken machine will soon be in order. This is the American way, — no confusion, no lack of materials, no delay. Time is as valuable at Panama as in New York.

Around the shops and storehouse at Empire has grown up the largest town in the Canal Zone, exclu-

Empire

sive of Colon and Panama City. It is a pleasure to see how clean and neat the whole place is. It is more

PANAMA RAILROAD 175

like a park than a town. The ground has been cleared of jungle for a long distance away from the houses. Here, as in all the canal towns, the Commission has done every- thing to make living comfortable and healthful.

When the United States purchased the French Com- pany's machinery, it also secured the Panama Railroad. Like almost everything else left by the French it was in need of repair. Its docks, yards, warehouses, tracks, loco-

" POWERFUL LOCOMOTIVES WERE ALSO ADDED."

motives, and cars were not fit for the great increase in busi- ness which at once came to the Isthmus. The road had been in the habit of doing everything in the most expensive

176 A FIRST-CLASS RAILROAD

way. The unloading of coal from steamers is a good exam- ple. It was done almost entirely by the hands of negro laborers and cost $1.30 a ton. The Commission put in a modern coal-hoisting machine and did the work better

"Now THE ROAD is IN FIRST-CLASS CONDITION." Private car of Chairman of Isthmian Canal Commission.

and quicker for 12 cents per ton. In the same manner the road was improved by heavier rails, by double track for nearly all of its length, by new and better wharves, and by larger yards and cars. Eighty-two powerful locomotives were also added. Now the road is in first-class condition. But all this work required many months of labor and much money. Real digging was still delayed.

CHAPTER XV

SEA-LEVEL AND LOCK CANALS

The two years filled with the slow and costly work of preparation which we have been describing, seemed very long indeed to those who wished to see the "dirt fly." We can now understand clearly why so much delay was neces- sary. The canal could not be built without it. And when the work of digging once began it could go faster and more successfully.

During these two years also a careful study was made of the land between Colon and Panama City, in order to see what sort of ship canal was best for the Isthmus at that point. Ship canals are not all alike. There are two kinds or types, as they are called, that we must understand before we can know what is being done at Panama.

The first is the sea-level type. This type is easy to understand. A sea-level ship canal means merely a great open ditch dug at the same level between two bodies of water. The water flows freely Typ~eLevel through it from one end to the other. It is dug as deep and as wide as is desired. The canal is thus

what the geographies would call a very narrow "strait."

177

178 CORINTH CANAL

Ships can pass back and forth through it from ocean to ocean without difficulty or delay.

Of the nine ship canals of the world three are sea-level canals. They are the Cronstadt, the Corinth, and the Suez canals. With the latter we are already acquainted. The Cronstadt is in Russia. It is 20 feet deep, about 300 feet wide, and is about 16 miles long. The cost was $10,- 000,000. The canal was opened in 1890. The Corinth canal is in Greece and connects the Gulfs of Corinth and ^Egina. The length is but 4 miles. The work was begun in 1884 and completed in 1893. The cost was $5,000,000. A picture of this canal, with Mr. J. P. Morgan's yacht Cor- sair passing through it, gives a very good idea of a sea- level ship canal.

This picture also shows several interesting things about the Corinth Canal. As can be seen, it is perfectly straight. This is true for its entire length. The depth of water in the canal is 26 feet, but the width at the bottom is only 69 feet and at the water's surface only 80 feet. Imagine a great ocean liner like the Lusitania, — 88 feet in width, attempting to squeeze through. It would be impossible. Two very much smaller vessels could not pass each other. It is clear that in its present condition it is not useful for the large ships that carry the commerce of the world.

No other ship canal has so high or so steep banks. This is possible only because it was cut down through granite and hard clay, and because the rainfall during

AN OLD-WORLD ENTERPRISE

179

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood.

THE "CORSAIR" PASSING THROUGH THE CORINTH CANAL.

i8o ST. MARYS FALLS CANAL

the year at Corinth is not great, and no rivers flow into the canal.

But this sea-level type of canal is not possible where the

two bodies of water to be connected are not on the same

level or where the land between them is too

high to be cut through. In such cases a lock

canal is necessary. This is the second type.

To understand exactly what a lock canal is, let us take an illustration from our own country. The St. Marys Falls Canal connects Lake Superior and Lake Huron at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Some of us have seen this little canal and perhaps have passed through it. It is but ij miles long, and is 160 feet wide and 25 feet deep. The important thing to notice concerning it is the fact that Lake Superior is about 20 feet higher than Lake Huron.

If a ship on Lake Huron sails into the lower end of the canal and wishes to pass on to Lake Superior, it must be lifted 20 feet at some place in the canal. If, on the other hand, a vessel wishes to pass in the opposite direction, it must be lowered 20 feet. This raising and lowering is done in a portion of the canal known as a lock.

How does a lock work? Some pictures and a drawing

may help to show. In the drawing the lock is seen to be

a portion of the canal enclosed by strong walls

A Lock

and by two double gates A and B, one at each end. The walls are usually of masonry or concrete. Power is supplied by machinery, so that the gates can be

HOW A LOCK WORKS

181

opened or closed at will. Below gate A the water is at the lower level and a vessel is ready to sail into the lock. The water in the lock is at the lower level. Suppose that the gates at A are then opened. The vessel passes through into the lock and the gates are tightly closed after her. We

r GATES

DIAGRAM SHOWING OPERATION OF A CANAL LOCK.

can now see her in the second position, ready to be raised. The inside of the lock is connected with the outer water lev- els by large pipes. When the flood gates in these pipes are opened the water from the higher level rushes in and rapidly fills the lock. The vessel meantime has been lifted by the in-rushing water until she floats in the lock on a level with the upper part of the canal. Then the gates at B are thrown wide open and the vessel sails away through the remainder of the canal.

The same thing can be done for a ship that wishes to go in the opposite direction. The gates at B are opened when the lock is full of water. The vessel passes in and

182

A STEAMER IN THE LOCK

THE ST. MARYS FALLS LOCK

183

the gates are tightly closed after her. Next the flood gates are opened, the water in the lock runs out until it is down to the lower level, the gates at A are then opened wide and the ship continues on her journey.

t \

AN EMPTY LOCK — SAULT STE. MARIE CANAL.

Now, if we look at the picture of the great locks in the St. Marys Falls Canal, we can see the process actually going on. In this canal there are two locks side by side with a power house between them operation to furnish the power needed to operate the gates. In the distance, on the left of the picture, the upper level of the canal can be seen. Nearer to us is a vessel

184 TWO BUSY LOCKS

in the lock. We can see that the flood gates are being opened, for the water is rushing out, white with foam, directly toward us. It will not be long before the water has all run out and the ship been dropped to the lower level and then be ready to leave the lock. The lower level is shown in the foreground, and on it another vessel is waiting to enter the lock and be raised. On the right- hand side of the power house a third vessel has been low- ered from above and is just passing out of the other lock.

Probably none of the large-sized locks in the world are more busy than these two at St. Marys Falls. More ships pass through this canal in a year than through any other ship canal, — three times as many as at Suez. They carry over 30,000,000 tons of freight and thousands of passengers.

When two locks are placed side by side, as these two are, they are said to be "in duplicate." If Lake Superior were much more than 20 feet higher than Lake Huron, one lock would probably not be able to do the work of raising and lowering the vessels. Several locks might then be built, — one directly following the other, and each capa- ble of raising or lowering ships for a part of the full dis- tance required. The locks would then appear somewhat like great steps, one above the other. A number of locks so arranged are called a "flight of locks." "Flights of locks" may also be "in duplicate."

We can now understand what is meant by a lock canal. The Erie canal, for instance, between Albany and Buffalo,

ERIE CANAL 185

is only seven feet deep, and is not therefore a ship canal; but its locks are on the same plan as those just described, though smaller. In the 387 miles of this canal there are 72 locks. Of the nine ship canals of the world six are of the lock type.

CHAPTER XVI

THE LOCK CANAL AT PANAMA

What is the best type of canal for Panama? At first thought this would not seem to be a difficult question to answer. If a deep channel, at least 500 feet wide at the bottom, could be cut from ocean to ocean and could be kept clear for the passage of ocean vessels of the largest size, it would be, of course, the ideal canal. But it is cer- tain that such a sea-level canal would cost at least $500,- 000,000 more than a good lock canal and would require very many years to build. The idea of ever digging such an enormous ditch was given up as impracticable more than twenty years ago.

De Lesseps originally planned a sea-level canal. It was to be 29 feet deep and 72 feet wide at the bottom. He declared that it could be built in eight years for about $128,000,000. Before his scheme failed he had been forced to change his plans to the lock type with a depth of only 15 feet.

The United States took possession of the Canal Zone in May, 1904. For more than two years the type of canal that we were to adopt was in doubt. Probably no engi- neering question of this sort ever aroused more widespread

186

BEST TYPE FOR PANAMA 187

interest in America. While the preliminary work of clean- ing the Zone and making it a healthful place, and securing workmen and machinery, was going on, scores of engineers were at work on the canal plans. Holes were dug and borings made in many places to find out what sort of soil or rock lay beneath the surface. Surveys of all sorts were made and maps drawn. Both Houses of Congress dis- cussed the problem at great length. And magazines and newspapers printed hundreds of articles on the subject.

In order to secure the most expert advice President Roosevelt appointed in 1905 a board of consulting engi- neers consisting of thirteen men. Of these,

The Board

eight were Americans and five were foreigners, of consulting This board included some of the world's fore- most authorities upon the construction of dams and canals. These men visited the Isthmus, studied all the facts they could secure, and listened to all who had ideas to suggest. Finally, in January of 1906, they made their report. Three Americans and all the five foreigners favored a sea-level canal. The five other Americans voted for a lock canal. At the same time the Isthmian Canal Commission, which was actually to have the digging in charge, voted 5 to i in favor of the lock type. So it was difficult to decide which of the two types was really better.

Before we examine the two types more carefully, we should remember the following facts about the canal route. First, a canal of either sort will be fifty miles long, from

i88 A DIFFICULT ROUTE

Atlantic to Pacific, 41 miles through the land and 9 miles of channel in the harbors at the two ends. Second, the 41

miles through the land naturally divides itself the* RouteU mto f°ur parts. From Colon, on the Atlantic, to

Bohio, the route passes for 12 miles through low swampy ground not much above sea level. During the next 15 miles, from Bohio to Bas Obispo, the land rises to about 50 feet above sea level. Thence the canal cuts through the hills for 9 miles more to Miraflores. The highest point of land is Gold Hill at Culebra and is 662 feet above the sea. But there is a " saddle" between the hills through which the canal will run, which, at its lowest point is 312 feet above sea-level. This part is the famous Culebra Cut. It is mainly through a moderately hard rock. From Miraflores to the Pacific is a distance of 5 miles and is about at sea level. Third, the greatest difficulty is the control of the floods of the Chagres river arid its many tributaries. For 23 miles the route follows the valley of this river and crosses and recrosses its bed. This Chagres is an unruly stream. Though it is only a small stream in the dry season, in flood time tremendous quantities of water rush down its valley. It is estimated that during the great flood of 1879 it was, for several hours, three fourths as large as the Niagara river. A canal of either type must be so built as to pro- vide safe protection from such great floods.

Bearing these facts in mind we are now ready to exam- ine the two types. Those engineers who favored a sea-

SEA-LEVEL PLAN 189

level canal proposed a narrow channel of 41 miles in length, from 150 to 200 feet in width at the bottom, and 40 feet in depth. This is 10 feet deeper and

Sea-level

about 70 feet wider on the average than the canal at

Suez Canal. It would not be possible to make the width greater without too great expense. Nor would it be possible to dig a perfectly straight channel as at Corinth. Nineteen of the 41 miles are on curves such that vessels would be obliged to sail very carefully, — not over 4 miles per hour. If two ships were to pass each other, one must be stopped and tied to the bank, in order to avoid danger of collision. Two of the largest ocean liners could not pass at all.

For the first 25 miles from Colon the channel would be largely through soft, swampy mud and not through rock. No one knows whether it would be possible to dig a ditch 50 to 90 feet deep through such material and prevent the banks from constantly caving in and obstructing the chan- nel. Through the 9 miles of the Culebra Cut the ditch \vould be through rock and from 100 to 373 feet in depth. No such enormous rock cut as this has even been accom- plished.

It is estimated that this sea-level plan would require the excavation of at least 300,000,000 cubic yards of earth and rock. Each cubic yard would weigh about a ton. Can we picture to ourselves such a great mass? If it were piled up into a wall 3 feet wide and 20 feet high, it would extend

190 LOCK PLAN

entirely around the world at the equator! To dig this canal would require fully eighteen years of labor and between $500,000,000 and $600,000,000 in money. The mind is staggered by these figures.

Now, if we look at Map VIII, we can see what the pro- posed lock canal is like and how it differs from the sea- level type. In route and length it would be at° Panama tne same as the sea-level plan. There would be the same channels also in the harbors at both ends. Beginning first at Colon a nearly straight channel is to be dug at sea-level for i\ miles to Gatun. It is to be 41 feet deep and 500 feet wide. At Gatun a great dam will be built across the valley of the Chagres. This will form an artificial lake 165 square miles in area. The surface of the water in Gatun Lake, as it will be called, will be 85 feet above sea-level. Beside the Gatun dam, it is proposed to place a duplicate flight of three locks to raise and lower vessels this distance of 85 feet. For 23 miles beyond Gatun the channel will be through the lake and from 500 to 1,000 feet in width and from 45 to 85 feet in depth. The same water level continues through the Cule- bra Cut to the Pedro Miguel Locks, and here the channel is to be from 300 to 500 feet wide. At Pedro Miguel one lock in duplicate will raise or lower vessels 30 feet. Below it is the little Miraflores Lake and just beyond it is to be a duplicate flight of two locks with a combined lift of 55 feet. Then comes 4 miles of sea-level channel 500 feet wide

THE CANAL ROUTE

191

PEDRO MIGUEL L

Mira/lores Lake MIRAFLORES LOCKS

MAP VIII. — ROUTE or CANAL AND RAILROAD.

192

FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

and 45 feet deep to the waters of the Pacific. A simple dia- gram of this plan may help us to remember the figures.

Its enemies have made the following objections to the lock type of canal for Panama, — first, that the Gatun dam will rest on an unsafe foundation of earth; second, that

is

ATLANTIC SEA

GATUN LAKE

2 3 M,les

^ULEBRACUT |^

DIAGRAM SHOWING LOCK TYPE OF CANAL AT PANAMA.

the locks are so much greater in size than any ever built that serious accidents might happen in them to injure vessels and hinder traffic; third, that the locks would delay the vessels in transit; fourth, that they might be destroyed by earthquakes, and fifth, that an enemy with guns or dynamite might so injure them in time of war as to put the canal out of commission for many months or even years.

The friends of the lock type of canal declare that these supposed dangers either do not exist or are unimportant. They think that the lock canal will have many advantages. It is estimated that it can be built in one half the time re- quired for the sea-level canal, — that is, in about nine years. It will cost at least $200,000,000 less. It will require only one half the excavation. Dangerous earthquakes, they say,

THE FINAL DECISION 193

do not occur on the Isthmus. And because vessels can travel at full speed in Gatun Lake, and will be delayed but three hours in the locks, the total time of transit will be no more than in the narrow and crooked sea-level canal.

Most important of all the advantages, we are told, is the great Gatun lake. It will be so large that the Chagres floods that pour into it will affect its level no more than would a cup of water poured into a tub. The Chagres river will thus serve merely to supply the water necessary to operate the locks. As one well-known engineer has said, the lock canal will transform the Chagres river "from a dangerous enemy into an excellent friend."

All these points and many others scarcely less impor- tant -were carefully considered by Congress during the winter of 1905-6. Though a majority of the Decision in members of the Board of Consulting Engi- Favor of a

0 ° Lock Canal

neers voted for the sea-level type, both Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Taft favored the lock canal. On Feb- ruary 19, 1906, President Roosevelt, in a message to Con- gress, declared, "In my judgment a lock canal is advis- able." At the same time Mr. Taft wrote of the sea-level canal that "the time and cost of constructing such a canal are in effect prohibitory." After much discussion Congress finally adopted the same view and, on June 29, 1906, voted to build the lock type of canal at Panama. Since that date the work done on the canal has more and more clearly shown the wisdom of this choice.

CHAPTER XVII

BUILDING THE CANAL

To many of us the study of types of canals will be rather tiresome and the figures hard to remember. Instead of carrying this on any further, let us go out for a day's trip to the real canal work. It will be much more interesting to see the machines and men busy on the great ditch. If we do succeed in remembering some facts about the lock type, we shall understand more easily what they are trying to do.

Scarcely two miles from the City of Panama is the Pacific end of the canal. It comes out into a large bay or harbor at the base of Ancon hill. This is called the Port of Ancon. At the mouth of the canal is a small town named La Boca, or Balboa, as it has more recently been called. There is a good chance that we shall see in the harbor near Balboa some old French ladder dredges.

Dredges

They have been repaired by our men and put to work at the task of cutting out a channel from the canal mouth to deep water in the Pacific. Each dredge has a series of large buckets on a sort of endless chain. A power- ful arm carries the buckets to the bottom and when they

are set in motion they each cut away and bring up and

194

OLD-STYLE DREDGES

dump a small load of earth. The material which is thus dredged up is loaded on scows and carried where needed, or more often carried far out to sea and dumped.

There is also another old style dredge at work. It is

AN OLD FRENCH LADDER DREDGE — LA BOCA.

known as a dipper dredge, because it has a very long arm with a sort of dipper on the end. With this it reaches down and scoops up the bottom.

If we count the channels to be dug in the harbors at Colon and Balboa, as well as the low swampy parts of the canal at each end, we shall find that nearly sixteen miles will be cut out by dredges. This method is so much cheaper

196

RAPID WORK

AMERICAN SUCTION DREDGES

197

than any other way of digging, that our engineers use dredges wherever possible.

The American suction dredges are much more powerful than the old French machines. What odd-looking affairs they are, like great, floating docks with engines and ma- chinery on board and with a deck and rooms above for the workmen to live in. Each dredge has a tube stretching

MEN AT WORK DRILLING HOLES FOR THE CHARGES.'

away from it like an enormously long tail. Upon inquiry, we shall find that each dredge has large suction pipes that extend downward to the soft muddy bottom. This is rapidly sucked up through the pipes and then forced out

198

BLASTING

through the long tube and deposited wherever it is desired. When the bottom is too hard for the suction pipes to draw up, it is often loosened by charges of dynamite. This

LOADING DRILL HOLES WITH DYNAMITE.

method of digging by dredges costs only about eleven cents per cubic yard. As fast as a dredge cuts out the channel it is floated along from place to place. In very hard soil or rock, a dredge is of no value.

Another interesting feature of the work is the blasting. It would be safe to say that without power- ful explosives the canal could not be built. Dynamite is the chief one used. In the year 1908, 8,850,000

Blasting

DRILLING

199

pounds were shipped from the United States and used in the Canal Zone.

All along the portions of the canal that extend through rock and hard soil, we can see the men at work drilling the holes for the charges. Some are made only 3 or 4 feet deep, others are 10 or 20 times that depth. These drills are about the noisiest machines on the canal. The clatter of a half dozen of them is almost deafening. They

EXPLOSION IN PROGRESS, MATACHIN. — 19 HOLES, 11,200 POUNDS DYNAMITE, 17,980 CUBIC YARDS DISPLACED, JANUARY 10, 1908.

are worked by compressed air from the power plants. It is brought in long pipes to each drill. Usually many holes are drilled for each explosion of

200

POWDER MEN

dynamite. They are skillfully arranged by the " powder men" to get the greatest possible effect. When the holes are all charged, the drills are moved away and the workmen retire to a safe distance. An electric wire extends to a cap

LOADING DIRT TRAIN BY STEAM SHOVEL.

in each hole, and pressure on a single button sets off the entire charge. A rumbling sound is heard. The earth in the neighborhood heaves and trembles. And great masses of mud and water and rock are thrown into the air. It is often the case that a number of tons of dynamite are exploded at one time. Imagine an amount of rock larger than a six-story building torn away by one explosion, and

STEAM SHOVELS

2OI

broken and churned into such small pieces that it can be at once loaded on cars and carried away.

In the care and use of the dynamite the workmen have become very expert. It is true that every now and then the charge in some particular hole fails to go off. This fact will probably escape the notice of the men. When later the hole is disturbed an explosion may occur and cause much injury or even death. The hospitals treat many men injured by the blasts. But on the whole the serious accidents are surprisingly few.

When the soil or rock is shattered by the blast, the steam shovels can dig it up and load it on the dump cars. Long trains of these loaded cars are constantly being drawn out of the great ditch. They will be dumped at some con- venient point and the cars rushed back for fresh loads.

There are about one hundred steam shovels at work on the canal. It is certainly fascinating to watch one of them.

STEAM SHOVEL — SHOWING ARM AND DIPPER.

202 A CLOSER VIEW

Running on a little track of its own, it slowly moves for- ward, as it eats its way through the broken rock or soil. Let us go up close to it in order to see exactly shovels now it is built and how it works. Note the let-

ters I. C. C. on its side. These mark it as the property of the Isthmian Canal Commission. And note also, the smaller letters which tell that it was built at Marion,

A FIVE-YARD DIPPER.

Ohio, or at South Milwaukee. The shovel itself seems to be somewhat like a long railroad flat car. Covering a large part of the car is a sort of iron hood. Inside of this hood is the powerful engine and the wheels and gears that control

A GIANT AT WORK

204 "ALMOST HUMAN"

the shovel. Attached to the forward end of the car is an immense steel arm. This arm can be swung freely from side to side by large chains connected with the machinery inside the hood. Swung from the arm is a great shovel or dipper, as it is called. On the larger steam shovels the dipper is of sufficient size to hold five cubic yards of ma- terial. This means nearly five tons of earth or rock. The bottom of the dipper can be swung open at will, in order to dump out the contents upon the flat cars. On a seat at the base of the long arm sits the man who guides its move- ments.

As we stand watching, a locomotive pushes up beside the shovel a long train of empty flat cars. With a loud clatter of chains and the hiss of escaping steam the dipper is lowered. See the almost human way in which it digs in its teeth and comes up again full of the rough, broken material. The long arm swings the dipper over a flat car, the bottom opens, and the load is dropped on the car at the exact spot where it is wanted. And back again goes the dipper for another load. Perhaps this time it is a single great rock that is to be lifted. To get beneath this rock and to nicely balance it on the dipper requires such wonder- ful skill on the part of the steam shovel men as only long practice can give. Up comes the rock, nevertheless. Before we realize it, the flat car is loaded and another is pushed into its place. And so the work goes on from hour to hour with much noise and steam and smoke.

THROUGH THE ROCKS

205

206 THE AMERICAN SPIRIT

Upon the locomotive engineers depends the important

work of supplying empty cars for the steam shovels to fill.

Unless there are cars at hand the shovels must

Rewinds*01 st°P' ^0 there has grown up among these

engineers a rivalry to hold the record for the

largest number of cars handled in a day or week or month.

Each engineer takes unusual pride in his engine and his

record. Each is determined to beat the others.

This same rivalry is especially keen among the steam shovel men. Every crew is anxious to hold the record for the largest amount of material excavated. Each shovel is pushed to the limit of its capacity. In an eight-hour day one of them has been known to excavate and to load on cars almost 3,500 cubic yards. This means about 160 car loads or one car every three minutes. In the Canal Record, a paper issued weekly in the Zone, the best shovel records are published. Take as an example the issue of May 26, 1909. More than a column of the paper was occupied by the records of the steam shovels for the month of April. The following is a single paragraph:

The record for a single day's excavation was broken on April 8, when 57 shovels took out 78,559 cubic yards, an average of 1,387 cubic yards per shovel. The best day's record for one shovel during the month was on April 12, when No. 266 in the Culebra District excavated 3,340 cubic yards.

"GOLD MEN" AT WORK

207

We can easily understand the pride which the crew of shovel No. 266 took in their shovel and their record, and the struggle which they would make to continue to hold it.

We cannot fail to note, as we examine the men at work, that the same spirit seems to animate all the " Gold Men." The American laborers know that they are down here on the Isthmus for a great purpose. When off duty they are'

STEAM SHOVEL AT WORK ON THE SITE FOR THE PEDRO MIGUEL LOCKS.

a joking, jolly lot of men. But when at work the set, stern expressions on their faces show that they know that their work requires the best that is in them. In some ways the great steam shovels and their crews, more than anything

2o8 THE PAY TRAIN

else in the Canal Zone, seem to represent that fine, deter- mined, fearless, and energetic American spirit, that we believe will conquer all difficulties in the end and complete the canal.

LONG TRAINS OF FLAT CARS AT BAS OBISPO.

Interesting to spectators as well as to the workmen is the coming of the pay train each month. Though there Forty-four are between 30,000 and 40,000 men at work Tons of daily, the entire length of the canal is so great

Silver

that only a few can be seen at any one place. We shall find no better opportunity to observe large groups of the men than at the stations where the pay train stops. It is interesting to note also the large amount of coin han-

FORTY-FOUR TONS OF SILVER 209

died by the paymaster. The silver pay roll amounts to nearly $1,600,000 in Panamanian money per month. Each $1,000 weighs fifty-five pounds. The total, therefore, equals forty- four tons. We are told that five men are almost con- stantly at work counting this money and putting it up in rolls convenient for payment.

Only those who visited the canal as far back as 1904 can

COMING OF THE PAY TRAIN."

fully appreciate all that has been done along the route to make it a comfortable and healthful place

Culebra

in which to work. When we reach such a

neat, clean, well-built town as Culebra, for instance, we

2IO

NEAT, CLEAN, WELL-BUILT

THE MONSTER DAM 211

can scarcely realize that here was once a dense jungle unfit for human habitation. Now we find a town of 5,000 people. It has its own electric light plant, water works, sewage system, library, and club houses. The streets are clean and the houses dry and comfortable. So it is all along the line.

Of course, the two points of greatest interest are the Gatun Dam and the Culebra Cut. The monster dam is to be nearly a mile and a half long, across the

Gatun Dam

Chagres valley. It is difficult to find a point from which we can view the whole of it. Let us take our stand on the hillside near the cut for the Gatun locks. In the distance are the hills on the opposite side of the valley, and spread out before us is the valley itself with the Chagres river winding back and forth along it. At our feet is the cut for the flight of three locks. They will have a usable length of 1,000 feet, a width of no feet, and a total lift of 85 feet. There are no locks of this size in the world. Though the rock cut for these locks is completed, the work of putting in the concrete walls and bottom and the machinery will probably require more time than to complete all the remainder of the canal. A steady stream of concrete is being poured into the cut for all the twenty- four hours of each day. Not until this work is finished can ships cross the Isthmus.

The dam itself is beginning to rise across the valley. Dredges and steam shovels are sending in material for it

212

BUILDING A LAKE

"LIKE A SMALL MOUNTAIN"

213

in large quantities. Every load will be needed, for the great dam is to rise 115 feet above sea level and will be 100 feet wide at the top and 1,900 feet at the widest part of the bottom. It will be like a small mountain running directly

EXCAVATING FOR GATUN LOCKS.

across the Chagres valley; and, as President Taft says, "will be as solid as the everlasting hills." With all its floods the Chagres will require a whole year's time to fill to the required level the basin thus made. Yet some day there will be a fine, deep lake behind this dam. The largest vessels can push through it at full speed without the slightest danger.

2i4 THE GREAT DITCH

But the most impressive sight of all is the Culebra Cut.

This is the most gigantic cut ever attempted by engineering

science. Culebra is the backbone of the Isth-

Culebra Cut

mus. Here the fight with nature is fiercest. Over fifty steam shovels and their determined crews are making the attack. For nine miles the great ditch must be dug down through the solid rock, in places to a depth of more than 300 feet. The shovels are taking out from

EXCAVATION FOR GATUN LOCKS COMPLETED.

one million to one and one half million cubic yards per month. Yet how slowly the ditch grows!

Let us look down into it from a point opposite Gold Hill.

THROUGH SOLID ROCK

215

Here the cut will be deepest. It is already so enormous that the workmen on the farther side appear like pigmies. How many steam shovels and trains of cars can you count?

"Mosx IMPRESSIVE OF ALL is THE CULEBRA CUT."

Can you see the highest line of cutting on the slope of Gold Hill? That is the level where the French started their work. Below this is the American cut. More than eighty feet must still be taken out. Nowhere can we get a better idea of the magnitude of our Government's great task at Panama than right here opposite Gold Hill.

Yet we are told that the Culebra Cut is more than half finished. On this particular nine miles of the canal the

216 PROGRESS IN EXCAVATION

halfway mark of American excavation was passed on October 23, 1909. The record for excavation in Culebra Cut on that date stood as follows:

Excavation by French, 1882 to 1904 . . 24,588,520 cubic yards Excavation by Americans, 1904 to 1909, 39,002,299 Excavation remaining 39,002,299 "

If the present rate of excavation can be maintained, this part of the canal should be completed by the end of the year 1913.

Early in the same month of October, 1909, the grand total of American excavation throughout the entire length of the canal had reached 87,494,537 cubic yards. This was half of the total excavation that was necessary when the United States took possession to complete the canal from sea to sea.

All along the route the work is progressing rapidly. At no time since our government took possession has the num- ber of laborers been so great as during the autumn of 1909. Fewer changes are taking place in the force, and a larger number seem to have come with the intention of working for a long time in the Zone.

Already there are small portions of the canal in which the excavation is nearing completion. Five miles of the channel in the Bay of Panama are open to navigation, as far as the wharves at Balboa. On November i, 1909, a steam shovel was working on the bottom of the canal near Mindi at forty-one feet below sea level.

FORECAST OF THE END 217

It is the construction of the great concrete locks at Gatun and at Pedro Miguel that is expected to delay the opening of the canal until 1915. How tremendous this concrete work is to be, is easy to understand when we are told that at Gatun alone it is estimated that 2,250,000 barrels of cement will be required. Nevertheless the end is now surely in sight. The canal is more than half finished. By 1915 we may hope to see it entirely completed.

On November 22, 1909, Mr. Tawney, chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representa- tives, sent to Colonel Goethals the following message:

''' The Committee on Appropriations extend to you and your associates their hearty congratulations on your splendid organization and the marvelous progress you have made the past two years."

When we finally leave Culebra Cut and return by train to Panama City, we shall surely feel that our day on the canal line has been well spent. We shall have a new interest in American methods and American machinery and a new pride in American pluck and energy. F. S. Brereton, a distinguished Captain in the English army, describes con- ditions in the Canal Zone as ua marvel of organization, and something to be carefully noted and remembered by those who in future have similar work to undertake.'7 The Canal Zone is, indeed, the "best great construction camp that the world has ever seen, and one of which every Ameri- can should be proud."

CHAPTER XVIII

THE MEN BEHIND THE CANAL

Two names will be forever connected with the Panama canal. These names are Roosevelt and Taft. No two

Americans have been more closely associated anxT-raft witn the work of building the canal or know

more of its inner history. It was Mr. Roose- velt's courage, energy, and breadth of view that led our Government to begin the work. His wisdom guided the Canal Commission in the early and difficult years of prep- aration and labor. From its beginning, too, the canal has been under the special care of Mr. Taft. It owes much to his honesty, devotion, and good judgment. Now that he is President, the work, so well begun, will continue to receive his care and attention. Both men have been fitted by a personal knowledge of Panama, by a long study of the problems there presented, and by the possession of the best traits of American character, to lead the people of the United States in this great enterprise. The canal will be

a lasting monument to both of them.

The Workers

But it will be a monument also to the great company of Americans who have put their hands to the rough

work of digging at Panama. They have braved the dangers

218

THE FIRST COMMISSION 219

of a strange climate and strange diseases. Their strength and faithfulness will build the canal.

Great credit, too, is due to the members of the Isthmian Canal Commission. Since March of 1904 the work has been under their control. They have cleared

Isthmian

the ground, laid the plans, hired the men, canal com- purchased the machinery, and directed the work. They have met and conquered the difficulties. And hardest of all, they have borne much undeserved and bitter criticism. The American people are often very impatient and very unfair.

A complete account of the Canal Commission would make too long a story for our attention here. Yet we should know a few facts concerning it. The Commission ap- pointed in 1904 was composed of seven members, with John G. Walker as chairman. The latter was a Rear-Admiral of the United States Navy, on the retired list. He had been at the head of two former commissions which had been sent to study canal routes at Nicaragua and Panama, and was familiar with the general subject of the canal. Asso- ciated with him was Major-General George W. Davis and five expert engineers. The Commission thus formed held office for about one year. In July of the same year John F. Wallace, an eminent engineer of Chicago, was appointed Chief Engineer. Dr. W. C. Gorgas, Colonel in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, was made Sanitary Officer of the Canal Zone. This was the group of men which be-

220

THE COMMISSION OF 1909

CHANGES 221

gan the slow and difficult task of preparation with which we are already acquainted. They worked against discouraging odds both at Panama and at Washington, but accomplished much of great value.

The Commission was reorganized in April of 1905. Five of the old Commission resigned and five new men took their places. The new Chairman was Mr. Theodore P. Shonts, ot Illinois, a railroad president. Mr. Wallace con- tinued as Chief Engineer but was now also a member of the Commission. Under this new control the work was contin- ued for two years more, except that Mr. Wallace resigned in June, 1905. Mr. John F. Stevens took his place. Both men made first-class records on the Isthmus.

On April i, 1907, a change in the Commission was again made. There were new conditions at Panama that made the change seem necessary. This time the position of Chairman and Chief Engineer were combined as one office, and Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Goethals, of the United States Army Engineer Corps, was appointed to fill the place. Furthermore the members of the new Commission were ordered to make their headquarters at Panama instead of at Washington, D. C., in order that they might be in more close personal touch with the work. Colonel Gorgas was made a member of this Commission and continued in charge of the sanitary work in the Zone.

Lieutenant- Colonel Goethals was graduated from West Point in 1880, and became an Engineer Officer in the United

222 CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF ENGINEER

States Army. Before the opening of the Spanish War he

had had many years of experience in the construction of dams

and locks and had become an accomplished

Goethals

and expert engineer. During the war he was made Chief Engineer of the First Army Corps. He was detailed to the General Staff in 1903. As Chairman and Chief Engineer at Panama he has not only won the respect and admiration of all who have come in contact with him, but also has made greater progress in canal work than was ever thought possible. We cannot look at his erect figure and fine face without knowing that he represents the very best spirit and traditions of the American Army.

CHAPTER XIX

FUTURE OF PANAMA AND THE CANAL

If we were able to look into the future and to know what the next four hundred years of Panama history are to be, we might find a story quite as romantic and interesting as has been the history of the past four hundred years. Though this pleasure is in part denied to us, we may feel sure of at least a few things that the years will bring.

The days of pirates like Henry Morgan are passed. The City of Panama will never again need the protection of its old, moss-covered walls to save it from bands of robbers and cut-throats. Wars may plnlma°

come again and the Bay of Panama be filled with battleships, but homes will be safe and peaceful trade will take the place of plunder. Bancroft Library

What a long tale of death by murder and disease has filled the past four hundred years! This cannot be in the future. As the jungle is cut away and the swamps are drained, as roads are built and towns grow up, we may hope to see the whole of Panama as healthful as is the Canal Zone today. Colonel Gorgas has exploded the idea that white men from Europe and America cannot live with safety in Panama.

In fact, American brains and money have made the Canal

223

224 WILL THE CANAL PAY?

Zone an object lesson in health for all the tropical parts of the world.

Coal and oil and the precious metals are known to lie buried underneath the hills. And the soil is splendidly rich for all sorts of tropical agriculture. Men are sure to go in larger and larger numbers to make their homes on the Isthmus and to open the mines and to clear the ground. Travelers, too, will stop at Panama, especially in the drier part of the year, to see the wonders of the canal and to enjoy the brilliant tropical beauty of the land. The state of Pennsylvania has a population of 6,000,000. Panama is two thirds as large but has now only 350,000. "The time will come," says an American who has lived for more than fifty years in Panama, "when the wild region now included within the limits of the Isthmus will be transformed into smiling summer lands where millions will find homes."

Panama may be blessed in the future by the coming of the canal, but will the canal itself pay? Let us see what the chances are.

A common way of measuring the size of a vessel is to estimate the number of tons of cargo that it carries. The average freight steamer of today is thus spoken of as of about 2,500 tons register. The greatest ocean liners are of more than 30,000 tons register. The charge, or toll, which a ship is obliged to pay when using a canal is a fixed amount per registered ton. At Suez the toll has been $1.70 per ton and $2 in addition for each passenger. To pass

IN WAR TIME 225

through the Suez Canal costs the average vessel not far from $10,000. Such a sum seems very large, and yet the total cost of the much longer trip around Cape Good Hope would be even more. Nearly all steam vessels bound for the ports of Asia from eastern United States or from Europe pay the toll and use the Suez Canal. Since it was opened its total receipts have been over $385,000,000. Those who own it have been richly paid.

Now, whether our canal at Panama will bring in an equally large return or not, no one can say with certainty. It has been estimated that the first ten years will show receipts of $150,000,000. But this Receipts

depends upon the toll which the United States will charge and upon the growth of traffic in that direction. It does not seem unreasonable to expect a large profit in future years.

To the United States in time of war the canal will be of great value. We shall need no longer to have two fleets of battleships, one on the Pacific and one on the Atlantic, and separated from each other by the whole length of South America. By using the canal one large fleet can guard both coasts with equal freedom. Of course, the canal must be protected, but there seems to be no reason why this cannot be easily done. All our interests and possessions on the Pacific will feel at once the military effect of the canal. By increas- ing the power of the United States in that ocean we may

226

THE NATIONAL POLICE

IN TIMES OF PEACE 227

fairly hope that it will contribute much to the peace of the world.

But how will the canal affect the United States in times of peace? This is much more important. We note first of all that the canal will make our eastern and

,, ,. Distances

western seacoasts practically one coast line, shortened and shorten enormously the distance between the two. A vessel that now leaves San Francisco for New York by way of the Strait of Magellan (Map IX) must travel 13,090 miles. By way of Panama the distance will be but 5,300 miles, — or 7,790 miles saved. In the same manner more than 5,000 miles will be saved between our Pacific ports and the ports of Europe. San Francisco will be within 14 days of New York, by steamers making 16 miles an hour, instead of 60 days, and within 21 days of any English port, instead of 35. This will make possible a great saving in the cost of shipping goods along these routes. Lumber, fish, grain, and fruit from the Pacific states can reach our Atlantic ports or the ports of Europe and can be sold more cheaply and with greater profit.

The canal will also bring the Mississippi valley and the Southern and Eastern manufacturing states much nearer to the rich markets of eastern Asia and of the other Pacific countries, — especially the western pacific ^ coast of South America. One half the popula- tion of the world dwells in the lands that border the Pacific. But our coal, iron, steel, cotton, and all manner of manu-

228

TRADE ROUTES

MAP IX. — INFLUENCE or PANAMA CANAL ON TRADE ROUTES.

WORLD-WIDE FREEDOM OF TRADE 229

factured products, cannot now reach the Pacific markets by water so cheaply and easily as can the products of Europe. Thus we now lose the trade. When the canal is opened, the west coast of South America will be 3,000 miles nearer to our ports than to those of Europe, and splendid new op- portunities will be opened to our merchants and manu- facturers. From New Orleans to Callao in Peru is 10,100 miles by the Strait of Magellan, but by way of Panama it is only 2,750. From New York to Japan or China by Suez is more than 13,000 miles. By the Panama canal the dis- tance will be 3,000 miles shorter.

Nor will the United States be the only gainer by this shortening of distances. Far greater than in the days of Columbus is the modern demand for shorter and cheaper trade routes. For more than four hundred years the whole world has desired this great gateway to the Pacific. Panama and Suez long kept the East and West apart and obstructed world-wide freedom of trade. One great Isthmus has been conquered. The other soon will be. Now that we are acquainted with Panama and its canal, we can join heartily in the opinion of that Chairman of the Isthmian Canal Com- mission who said, — "I believe that when, through American generosity and under American control, the canal shall be thrown open to the commerce of the world, it will be hailed, and will prove to be, a priceless boon to all mankind."

INDEX

Africa, west coast of, 5

Alligators, 66, 68, 103

Amador, Doctor, Health Officer in Panama City, 138, 139

America, North and South, coasts of, explored, 9

American battleship Oregon, 128, 129

American energy, 100

American engineers, 130

Ancon, city of, 132; port of, 194

Ancon Hill, 78, 79

Animal life, 58

Anopheles, 152, 153

Ants, wood-eating, 96

Armadillo, 63, 64, 65

Asia, coast of, 4; waterway to, 4; riches of, 5; shorter route to, 6; Portuguese route to, 9

Atlantic Ocean, "Sea of Dark- ness," 3

Atrato, river, 12

Bahia de los Navios, 47

Balboa tree, 15

Balboa, Vasco Nunez de, 12, 13;

escapes from Santo Domingo, 1 5 ;

discovers Pacific Ocean, 17;

death of, 18; 96, 194 Baldwin, James L., 101, 102, 103 Bamboo trees, 50 Bananas, 54 Bas Obispo, 132

Bay of Caledonia, 72, 74

Bishop's Palace, Panama, 80

Black Swamp, near Colon, 103

Blue herons, 58

Bocas del Toro, 56

Bogota, capital of Colombia, 36

Bolivar, Simon, 36

Bread-fruit, 57

Brereton, F. S., Captain in English

army, 217 Bridge on the old road from

Panama to Porto Bello, 21

Calentura, jungle fever, 101

California, discovery of gold in, 98

Callao, 229

Canal receipts, 225

Canal, St. Mary's Falls, 180

Canal Zone, 132, 133, 135, 137, 138,

144, i5J> i52. 154, i55, 156, i74,

186, 217, 223 Cape 'Good Hope, 5, 6 Cathedral bells, Panama, 83 Cathedral of Panama, 80 Cedar trees, 52 Central America, waterways across,

108 Chagres River, n, 29, 46, 50, 103,

188, 193, 211, 213 Chagrestown, destroyed by pirates,

1

23I

Charcoal burners, 74 Charles V of Spain, 108

232

INDEX

Chepo, Rio, 50

Church, oldest Spanish, 35

Clark, Captain, commander of battleship Oregon, 128

Clay, Henry, 129

Climate, 42, 44, 50

Club-houses, 211

Coal, 224

Cocoanut palm, 52, 77

Cocoanuts, 52, 54

Coco-bolo tree1, 50

Colombia, province of, 36; de- clared independent in 1811, 36

Colon, 41, 46, 47

Columbus, Bartholomew, 6

Columbus, Christopher, 3, 4, 5; leaves Portugal, 6 ; voyages of, 7 ; enemies of, 7 ; return to Spain, 1 1

Comogre, Indian chief, 16

Concrete work, 217

Congress, United States, 187

Consulting engineers, board of, 187

Cordillera de Bando, 48

Corinth ship canal, 178, 189

Corsair, J. P. Morgan's yacht, 178, 179

Cortez, Spanish ruler of Mexico, 97

Cristobal, port of Colon, 132

Cronstadt ship canal, 178

Cuba, 7

Culebra Cut, 132, 188, 189, 190, 211, 214, 215; town of, 209

Dam at Gatun, 190

Dampier, Captain, pirate, 28; his

experiences with monkeys, 61, 62 Darien, Gulf of, 72, no Davies, pirate, 28 Davis, Major-General George W.,

132, 219

De Lesseps, Count Ferdinand, 114, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122, 123, 125, 127; statue of, 127 De Lesseps' Palace, 122, 125 Diaz, Bartholomew, return to Por- tugal, 5

Dipper, 195, 202, 204 Disease, conquest of, 137 Docks in the Canal Zone, 171 Dredges, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198,

312 Drilling holes in rock for blasting,

199, 200 Dwelling-houses in Panama, 159,

163 Dynamite in excavation, 198, 199,

Earthquakes, 192

Empire, town in Panama, 132, 172,

i73» !74

Engineers, Board of, 187

English attempts to control water- ways on the Isthmus, 112

Excavation, rapid work in, 206; in Culebra Cut, 216; to be com- pleted, 216

Ferdinand and Isabella, 6

Fire department, 136, 150

First locomotive across the Isth- mus, 106

Flowers, brilliant coloring of, 50

Food for the laborers, 162

Forty-niners, 98, 99

French Canal Company at Panama, 113, 117, 119, 123, 171

French Canal, opening ceremonies of, 114; failure of, 123; sale of to United States, 131

INDEX

233

French machinery, 121, 124, 125, 126, 171, 175

Gargona, 132

Gatun dam, 190, 211

Gatun lake, 190

Gatun locks, 213, 214

Gatun, town of, 132

Genoa, markets of, 4

Goethals, Lieutenant - Colonel George W., Chairman of Isthmian Canal Commission, 218, 221, 222

Gold, greed for, by the Spanish, 22

Gold Hill, 1 88, 214

"Gold Men," 157, 158, 160, 167, 207

Golden Castile, 12

Gonzales, 108; crosses the Isthmus in 1521, 109

Good Hope, Cape, 5, 6

Gorgas, Colonel William C., chief sanitary officer, Panama Canal Zone, 144, 146, 147, 149, 219, 223

Government established in Prov- ince of Panama, 133

Grande, Rio, 50

Grant, Ulysses S., 130

"Grave of the Spaniards," 36

Haiti, 7

Healthful Panama, 155

Herons, 58

Highway robbers, 4

Honduras, Cape, 9

Hospitals at Panama City, 119, 146

Humming-birds, 58

Incas of Peru, descendants of, 20

India, 5

Indians, 7, 10; San Bias, 69, 70, 72

Insects, noxious, 101

Isthmian Canal Commission, 132,

J36> J37» X44, 156, 160, 162, 166,

171, 172, 175, 176, 187, 218;

members of , 219, 220, 221 Isthmus of Panama, shape of, 42;

location of, 42; temperature of,

42; seasons at, 42; rainfalls in,

44, 45; traffic across, 45 Isthmus of Suez, 116', 117, 118,

119, 120, 127 Italian laborers, 166

Jackson, Andrew, 130 Jaguar, 59, 60 Jamaica, Island of, 34 Japan, 6

King Charles II, 34 King Ferdinand, 9, 12 King John II, 5, 6, 7

La Boca, 194

Laborers, scarcity of, 103, 160; number of, 156; wages and care of, 157, 160

Lake Huron, 180

Lake Miraflores, 190

Lake Nicaragua, 109

Lake Superior, 180

Lock canal, 177, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 190, 192, 193; diagram of, 192

Locomotive, first across the Isth- mus, 106

Locomotives, 175, 176

Lottery at Panama, 87, 88, 89

Lusitan-ia, 178

234

INDEX

Magellan, Strait of, 228

Mahogany trees, 52

Malaria, 150, 152, 154

Mangoes, 57

Manzanillo Lighthouse, 45, 46

Marco Polo, 4

Markets of Panama, 86

Mediterranean Sea, 3, 4

Mindi, 216

Miraflores, 188; lake, 190

Money, Colombian, 133; in the

Canal Zone, 135, 160 Monkeys of Panama, 61 Morgan, Henry, prince of pirates,

28; his exploits at Panama, 28;

82, 105; knighted by Charles II,

34, 109; destroys Panama, no Mosquito brigades, 153 Mosquitoes, 70, 101, 142, 151, 153,

154; cost of extermination, 155

Native huts of Panama, 76 Natives, of Panama, 70, 71, 103;

climbing for cocoanuts, 51 Negroes as workers, 162, 176 Nelson, Captain, British naval

hero, 112; monument, 1 1 1 Nicaragua canal, 130, 131; lake,

109, 131 ; seized by Spaniards, 19 Nicuesa, 12; misfortunes of, 15, 16 N ombre de Dios, 15

Obaldia, President of the Republic

of Panama, 89 Oil, 224 Ojeda, 12, 13 Oranges, 56 Oregon, United States battleship,

128, 129

Padrarias, Governor of the Isth- mus, 17; cruelties of, 18; builds road from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 19; 96

Palm trees, 52

Panama Canal, 119, 120, 193, 194-

222

Panama hats, 84, 85

Panama, Isthmus of, 10; the old city of , 3 1 ; walls of new city of, 34; fall of the city of, 35; site of new city of, 35; department of Colombia, 36 ; Republic of, 36, 43 ; modern, 41 ; size of, 41 ; city of, 48 ; population of Republic of, 48 ; white inhabitants of, 70 ; Gulf of, 78; city of, 78-89; growth of, 224

Panama monkeys, 61

Panama railroad, 99-106

Papayas, 56, 57

Parasites, 150

Parrots, 58

Paterson, William, no

Paying the laborers, 208, 209

Pearl Islands, 19, 78

Pedro Miguel, town of, 132; locks at, 190

Pelicans, 58

Peru, 20,21; conquered by the Span- ish, 22 ; enormous wealth of, 22

Peso, Spanish coin, 133

Pineapples, 56

Pirates, 4; Spanish commerce ruined by, 28; battle with, by the Spaniards, 31; 109

Pizarro, Francisco, 13, 19, 20

Plague, 150

Plantains, 77

Plaza, Independence, in Panama city, 80, 81, 87

INDEX

235

Policemen, 134

Porto Bello, harbor of, 10, n, 19,

22, 28, 29 Portugal, 9 Portuguese ships, 5 Postage stamps in Panama, 135 Prince Henry of Portugal, 5

Raikoad travel in Panama, cost

of> 93

Rainfall, 44, 45 "Rat Brigade," 151 Rats on ships, 150 Recreation of the workers, 160, 161 Reservoirs, 148 Rice, 77 Road-building on the Isthmus, 96,

97 Roadways across Central America,

93 Roosevelt, Theodore, 130, 131,

132, 193, 218

Route of canal and railroad, 191 Royal palm trees, 52, 155

Saint Augustin, tower of, 32, 33, 34 St. Marys Falls ship canal, Sault

Ste. Marie, Michigan, 180, 183,

184

San Bias Indians, 65 San Francisco, 227 San Juan river, 109 San Lorenzo, Fort, capture of, 29 San Miguel, Gulf of, 72 San Sebastian, 13 Santa Maria, town in Panama, 15,

16, 17

Santo Domingo, 13 Sault Ste. Marie, 180 Scotch colony in Darien, no

Scott, Lewis, pirate, 28

Sea-level canal, 177, 178, 179, 186,

187, 189, 190, 192, 193 Seasons, 42, 44, 46 Sea-wall, city of Panama, 99 Sewers, 148

Sharp, Captain, pirate, 28 Ship canals, at Panama, 113-116;

at Suez, 117, n 8, 127; at Cron-

stadt, 178; at Corinth, 178, 179,

181, 182, 185

Shonts, Theodore P., 162, 221 Sierra Leone, 5 "Silver Men," 160, 166, 167 Snakes, 59 Soil, 224 Song birds, absence of, in the

tropics, 58

South America, west coast of, 22 Spain, 7; her riches and power, 24;

effect of her conquests, 2 7 ; end

of her power in the New World,

35

Spaniards, greed for gold, 1 6 ; de- feated by pirates, 3 1 ; attempts of, to build canal, 109

Spanish laborers, 165

Steam shovels, 198-204

Stegomyia, 150, 153

Stevens, John F., 221

Storehouses, 173

Strain, Lieutenant, U. S. Navy, 72,

74 Streets of Panama, 76, 78, 79, 140,

142, 143; of Colon, 142-149 Suez, Isthmus of, 116-120, 125 Suez ship canal, 178, 189, 224, 225 Supplies for canal laborers, 168,

169 Swamps, near Colon, 48

236

INDEX

Taboga, island of, 56, 78

Taft, William H., 132, 193, 213, 218

Tapir, 65, 66

Tawney, James A., chairman of

committee on appropriations,

217

Tehuantepec Bay, 97 Temperature, 42, 44 Tides, 83

Totten, Colonel G. M., 101, 105 Tower of Saint Augustin, 32, 33, 34 Tropical fruits, 54, 55; vegetation,

50, 58; diseases, 105, 119, 140 Turks, 4 Tuyra, Rio, 50

United States and Panama, 128 United States battleship in harbor of Colon, 44

Vasco da Gama, 9

Vegetation, luxuriant growth of,

So, 58

Venice, merchants in, 4 Vultures, 58

Walker, John G., rear-admiral, 219

Wallace, John F., engineer, 219, 221

Warrees, 60, 6 1

Washington, George, 36

Waste and extravagance in build- ing French Canal, 120

Water lizard of Panama, 66

Water supply in the Canal Zone, 148, 150

Waterways across Central America, 108

West India Islands, 7, 9

Wild hog, 60

Women of Panama, 77

Working force for building canal, 156, 218

Yams, 77

Yellow fever, 70, 119, 138, 142, 150, 151, 152, 154

Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, 1 60

Yucatan, 9

Yucca, 77