THE ISTHMUS—THE CANAL—COLON
Two days from Jamaica, six, seven, eight, or nine from New York, one
arrives at Colon, eager to witness the wonderful operations now
well-nigh concluded, or to behold the finished work, when great ships,
no longer halting at the Atlantic shore, shall, through a broad channel
among green hills and islands, sail onward to the serene Pacific. Every
one knows of the marvellous transformation on the Isthmus during the
last ten years, but the most imaginative person, now arriving for the
first time, will hardly fancy what it was like in 1903.
=Colon=, once called the most repulsive, disagreeable, filthy hole of a
place in all Christendom, though always a pretty picture _from the sea_,
is at present fair enough on land. The climate only remains unchanged.
It still rains—and _rains_: 130 inches a year: not all the time even in
the rainy season, which it is very apt to be, as that continues eight
months, from the first of May to January, leaving a dry season of only
four. Even in this period it is liable to rain, so it behoves every one
to be provided with raincoat and umbrella, if not with overshoes.
Everywhere there are good walks and in the towns, paved streets, beyond
which the tropical sun soon dries the mud.
The agreeableness of the Isthmian climate as a whole and in various
localities, if to some extent indicated by figures, is largely a matter
of individual temperament. With little difference in temperature Colon
has double the rainfall of Panama with a corresponding excess of
humidity. Yet happily for the welfare of the great work and the workers,
it has been the fashion on the Isthmus for every one to have local
pride; to like his own station the best, whether on either shore, or in
one of the pleasant villages along the line. It is genuine summer
weather all the year around; not excessive heat, like our days in the
90’s and 100’s; but mostly in the plain 80’s by day, with cooler and
comfortable nights.
HISTORICAL
This section of the New World was first visited in 1501 by Columbus,
who touched at Nombre de Dios and Porto Bello east of Colon, perhaps
sailing into Limon Bay; this he certainly did in 1502, naming the
place Puerto Naos, Navy Bay, as it was called until recent years. It
is just 400 years ago, September 25, 1513, that Vasco Nuñez de
Balboa first saw the great Pacific, then named the South Sea,—not,
as often said, from the hill near Gorgona, called Balboa, more
properly the Cerro Gigante, but from another 120 miles east, as he
was crossing the San Blas country. Thence he continued to the Bay
San Miguel of Darien. This bold explorer, like many another, fared
badly. He was beheaded a few years later at the age of forty-four.
In 1519 the site of an Indian fishing village near the farther shore
was selected by Governor Pedrarias as that of his future capital,
and in 1521, it was made a city by royal decree. This was _Old
Panama_ which soon became a place of great wealth and luxury, as for
a century or more the rich treasures of Peru passed by this route to
Old Spain. Yet it suffered many vicissitudes from fires, buccaneers,
and insurrections till at length, when its prosperity had already
begun to wane on account of the ships going by the Strait of
Magellan, it was captured, plundered, and destroyed, by the
freebooter, Henry Morgan, January 19, 1671, never to be rebuilt.
January 21, 1673, the new city of Panama, about four miles distant,
was dedicated. Until 1821 the Isthmus was under the dominion of
Spain, and after that, in spite of numerous insurrections, remained
a part of the country of New Granada, later Colombia, until its
sudden practical transfer to the United States. On November 3, 1903,
its independence was proclaimed, on the sixth the infant Republic
was recognized by the United States, and on February 26, 1904, a
treaty with the United States was signed by which it became a
Protectorate, with a position similar to that of Cuba.
As early as 1527 an explorer from Panama city went from the Pacific
up the Rio Grande Valley, crossed the divide by Culebra and sailed
down the Chagres River to the Atlantic Ocean. Soon this was a
popular route,—to sail up the Chagres to a point fifteen miles from
Panama and continue by land to that city. As early as 1534 the idea
of a canal occurred to that great monarch, Charles V, who had a
route surveyed. Pronounced too expensive even for his great wealth,
the project was abandoned, but 381 years later, a far greater canal
than he dreamed of will be opened in the very same track which his
surveyors followed.
THE FRENCH CANAL
Various canal projects in the meanwhile have been cherished, though the
building of the Panama Railroad, 1850-1855, had a deterrent effect on
the enterprise; but in May, 1876, the Government of Colombia made a
concession for the work to a French Company and operations soon
followed. After surveys by Lieutenant Wyse a sea-level canal from Limon
Bay to Panama by the pass at Culebra (meaning snake) was decided upon.
January 10, 1881, Ferdinand de Lesseps, promoter of the Suez Canal, made
the ceremonial beginning at the Pacific entrance, and January 20, 1882,
the first excavation was begun near the continental divide where, in the
section called the Culebra Cut, work has proceeded ever since except
from 1888 to 1891. The French were badly handicapped by disease,
Colombian interference, incomplete plans, and insufficient funds, and
were injured at home by rumors of sickness, extravagance, etc. In 1887
the sea-level plan was transformed to a lock-level, and February 4,
1889, the company went into the hands of a receiver. Several persons
were convicted of fraud including Ferdinand de Lesseps, who, eighty-six
years of age, was probably in entire ignorance of the business details.
He died soon after.
In 1894 energetic work was recommenced by the new company which
continued operations until the Americans took possession, May 4, 1904.
$225,000,000 had been spent upon the work for which the United States
paid $40,000,000. Recently it was estimated to have been worth
$42,799,826. The advantages of the Americans over the French in having
political control of the region, modern sanitary methods, better means
of excavating, and unlimited money should be considered; and due credit
and admiration should be awarded by all to de Lesseps and the Frenchmen
who did so much, according to the verdict of praise rendered by our own
engineers.
=Panama Canal.= In June, 1904, Chief Engineer Wallace, Col. W. C.
Gorgas, and others sailed to the Isthmus to pursue the great work which
had been transferred to the United States, May 4, by the French. Digging
in the Culebra Cut was continued, but the chief labor for two years and
a half was to remedy the unsanitary conditions, to provide
accommodations for the employees, to perfect the organization, to
reconstruct and double-track the railroad, and to improve the terminal
facilities: necessary preparations for the colossal task. The sanitation
of Colon and Panama included repaving, sewerage systems, and fresh water
supply, as a part of the war against yellow and malarial fever. A
proportionate sum spent on sanitation in the United States would be
$12,000,000,000 a year, one-third of the entire amount devoted to all
government expenses. Since January, 1907, the work has progressed
rapidly, so that the canal is expected to be completed and in operation
some time before the date of its formal inauguration January 1, 1915.
In spite of being hampered in many ways, much valuable work was
accomplished by Chief Engineer John F. Wallace, who resigned after one
year, and by his successor, John F. Stevens. He serving until 1907 is
said by Col. Goethals to have laid out the transportation scheme in a
manner which could not have been equaled by any army engineer. The
engineering skill and the great administrative ability of Col. George W.
Goethals, Chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission, Chief Engineer,
President of the Railroad, Governor of the Zone, etc., are so well known
and already so highly honored as to need no encomiums here. A benevolent
despot, able, wise, just, and honest, it is indeed a pleasure in this
day and generation to find one as to whose virtues all are agreed, whose
undying fame is as yet free from the malice of petty jealousy.
The length of the Canal, from deep water on one side to the same on the
other, that is, from the Toro Point breakwater on the Atlantic side to
Naos Island on the Pacific side, is about 50 miles,—40 miles from shore
to shore. From the Atlantic entrance, by a channel 41 feet deep with a
bottom width of 500 feet, it is seven miles to Gatun, two-thirds of
which is in Limon Bay, the rest apparently along a fairly broad river.
At Gatun, as everybody knows, are the locks, a double series of three,
by means of which the ships will be raised 85 feet to the level of Gatun
Lake. This, with an area of 164 square miles, is without doubt the
largest artificial sheet of water in the world. The lake naturally has a
widely varying depth and a highly irregular shape, with large and small
arms, promontories, and islands; but vessels may sail at full speed
along a channel from 500 to 1000 feet in width for a distance of 24
miles until at Bas Obispo the Culebra Cut is entered. This, about nine
miles long, has a bottom width, except on the curves, of 300 feet only,
making a slower rate of speed necessary. At Pedro Miguel the ship will
be lowered by one lock to a smaller lake covering 1200 acres, 30 feet
below. A mile and a half beyond, at Miraflores, the ship, by means of
two locks, will return to sea level, thence sailing on, 8½ miles more,
out into the Pacific.
The sail from ocean to ocean will to all be of intense interest, though
more highly appreciated by those who visited the region before it was
submerged, watched the great shovels cutting away the range of hills
which forms the continental divide, and saw the locks in process of
formation.
The great Gatun dam seems a wonderful creation, though the only
remarkable feature is its size. It should be borne in mind that the
extensive surface of the lake among the hills does not cause any greater
pressure upon the wall of the dam than if it covered but a single acre;
the _depth_ of the water being the determining factor, not the extent of
surface. The dam is nearly a mile and a half long at the top; half a
mile wide at the bottom, 400 feet at the water surface, and 100 at its
crest, designed to be 105 feet above sea level and 20 feet above the
normal level of the lake: a very wide margin of safety. Of the entire
length of the dam only 500 feet, a small fraction, one-fifteenth, of the
whole, will be exposed to the maximum water head, 87 feet. The thickness
of the dam is greater than was deemed necessary by engineers, with the
result that there is no seepage: but it was thought best to satisfy
over-apprehensive Congressmen by the employment of excessive caution.
The interior of the dam is an impermeable mixture of sand and clay
obtained by dredging above and below, placed between two parallel ridges
of rock and ordinary material obtained from the steam-shovel
excavations. The upstream slope of slight grade is thoroughly riprapped
ten feet below and ten above the mean water level. The 21 million cubic
yards of material composing the dam, which covers 400 acres, is
sufficient to build a wall three feet high and thick nearly halfway
around the world.
The Gatun Lake will receive all the waters of the Chagres basin of 1320
square miles and will contain at its ordinary level 206 billion cubic
feet of water. An outlet, an obvious necessity, is provided in the
spillway, a cut through a hill of rock nearly in the center of the dam,
southwest of the locks. This opening, lined with concrete, is 1200 feet
long and 285 feet wide, with the bottom, at the upper end ten feet above
sea level, sloping down.
Until the construction of the dam was well advanced the water from the
Chagres and its tributaries flowed out through this opening. Then it was
closed at the upper or lake end by a dam of concrete 808 feet long in
the form of an arc of a circle, its crest 69 feet above the sea. Upon
this, 13 concrete piers rise to a height of 115.5 feet, with steel gates
by which the water level of the lake will be regulated.
The immense double locks deserve more than a cursory glance. Similar in
construction and dimensions, each has a usable length of 1000 feet and a
width of 110 feet. The chambers have floors and walls of concrete with
mitering gates at each end. The walls, perpendicular on the inside, are
45 to 50 feet thick near the bottom, but the outer walls narrow from a
point 24 feet above the floor to a thickness of 8 feet at the top. The
middle wall separating the double locks is 60 feet thick and 81 high,
with both faces vertical; but in the upper part it is not solid. A
tunnel in the wall has three divisions, the lowest for drainage, the
middle for electric wires to operate the gate and valve machinery, the
highest as a passage way for the operators. An enormous amount of
concrete has been employed for the locks, four million or more cubic
yards, with as many barrels of cement, enough to make a sidewalk 9 feet
wide and 6 inches thick more than twice around the world.
Matching the walls are immense steel gates, 7 feet thick, 65 feet wide,
and from 47 to 82 feet high, with a weight of from 390 to 730 tons each.
At the entrance to the locks are double gates, also at the lower end of
the upper lock in each flight, in case of ramming by a ship accidentally
breaking through the fender chain; for there are 24 chains in addition
to the gates, to prevent the gates being rammed by a ship under its own
steam or having escaped from the towing locomotive. The chains will be
lowered into a groove to allow the ships to pass.
Ships will not be permitted to enter the locks under their own steam,
but will be towed through by electric locomotives, usually four to each
vessel, two ahead and two astern, the latter to keep the vessel in the
middle, and in the right place. The gates and valves are also operated
by electricity, with power obtained through water turbines from the head
created by Gatun Lake. The locks will be filled and emptied by a system
of culverts, one of which, about the size of the Hudson River tunnels of
the Pennsylvania Railroad, 18 feet in diameter, extends along the side
and middle walls, with smaller branches under the floor of the locks.
The water enters and leaves by holes in the floor. The culverts are so
arranged as to economize water by passing it from one twin lock to the
other. To save both time and water each lock chamber has a single gate
near the middle dividing it into two parts, only one of which will be
used for vessels less than 600 feet long. To fill and empty a lock will
require about 15 minutes: to pass through the three at Gatun, about an
hour and a half, and as much more to go down the locks on the Pacific
side. The entire passage through the Canal will occupy 10 or 12 hours
according to the speed of the ship, in the narrower parts all being
obliged to go slowly. While it is hoped that the first steamer will pass
through the Canal in December, 1913, if not earlier, there is no
expectation of its being open for general traffic before the summer of
1914.
=Colon.= Passengers arriving on a Panama Railroad Steamship at
_Christobal_, practically a part of Colon, may find waiting on the dock
a special train to carry them across the Isthmus. The tourist, en route
to a Pacific port, with his heavy baggage checked through, may let that
go on to Balboa, the place of embarkation on the other side, and himself
remain with hand luggage to look about Colon. Tourists on other steamers
land at a Colon dock, from which it is a five minutes’ walk to the
railway station. Men and boys are about, to assist with hand baggage.
All that is checked through _should_ be transported to Balboa without
personal care; but the cautious traveler will have an eye upon it to see
that it goes to the station here, and aboard the proper steamer on the
Pacific side.
HOTELS. Washington, E. P. Rooms $3.00 per day and up, December 1 to
June 1. June to December $2.00. Meals $1.00 each or à la carte.
Imperial Hotel, Park Hotel.
_Carriage Fare_, 10 cents for one, 20 cents for two, 25 cents for
three, 30 cents for four. By the hour 75 cents for one, $1.00 for
two, and so on.
Regular trains for Panama (June, 1913) at 5:10 and 10:30 a.m., and
4:25 p.m.; time two and one-half hours. Inquire as to special
sight-seeing trains.
Landing early in the morning one may have sufficient time to look about
Colon and Christobal before taking the afternoon train for Panama. Those
planning a longer stay, to enjoy some of the excursions available, will
drive at once to the new Washington Hotel on Colon Beach, near the site
of the old house of that name, which, giving way to its stately
successor, now stands in the rear of Christ Church and there fulfills
its original purpose to supply lodging for the railway employees. The
new hotel, built of hollow tiles and re-enforced concrete in a
modification of the Spanish Mission style, is quite up to date with
baths, electric lights, lounging rooms, etc., broad verandas on the side
towards the sea, and a pretty garden between the house and sea wall. A
swimming pool has been constructed near by, 100x125 feet, from 3 to 9
feet deep, open on the sea side, where a baffle wall protects it from
rough water. In 1903 I looked at the water with longing eyes, but the
numerous sharks deter most persons from venturing into the ocean. The
hotel with some rooms with bath, and others without, accommodates 175
persons. Like the Tivoli it has no bar, and since April 24, 1913, there
are no saloons in the Zone outside of the cities, Colon and Panama,
which except for sanitary regulations are under Panamanian control. The
hotel enjoys a breeze all the year around and is said to be as cool as
Bar Harbor in July, and no warmer in winter; but it did not seem that
way to me when I spent a few days in Colon in 1903, the excessive
humidity rendering the heat oppressive.
In the center of the garden in front of the hotel is a rather ugly
monument, a red granite shaft on a triangular base, bearing busts of
John L. Stephens, Henry Chauncey, and of William H. Aspinwall, after
whom Americans called the town for some years. To these three men, in
December, 1848, a concession was granted by Colombia to build a railroad
across the isthmus. The discovery of gold in California made it possible
to raise money for the enterprise. Work began in 1850, and the first
train crossed the continent January 28, 1855. The passenger and the
freight trade have been both heavy and expensive, so that from 1852 to
the present time annual dividends of from 3 to 61 per cent have been
paid. Most of the traffic to California and Oregon was diverted on the
completion in 1869 of the transcontinental railway, but good dividends
continued. In 1881 the French Canal Company bought most of the shares,
as the road was an obvious necessity to their work; it therefore came
into possession of the United States Government, May 4, 1904, when the
purchase of the French rights, work, and equipment was consummated.
The city of Colon, which the Colombian Government very properly insisted
upon calling after Columbus, is on the Island of Manzanillo (formerly
separated by a narrow strait from the main land), a coral reef with a
mangrove swamp at the back. Here in 1850 some shanties and stores were
built by the pioneers of the railroad. The village grew and prospered in
spite of the swampy location, which was improved by the deposits of rock
and earth made by the French on the part now known as Christobal for the
homes of the employees. In 1904 there were 10,000 people in the town,
9000 living in shanties on stilts in the terrible section back of Front
street. Now in Christobal-Colon there are 20,000 people, and the place
is drained and healthful.
Just east of the Washington Hotel is the gray stone building, modified
Gothic, of Christ Episcopal Church, dedicated in 1865. Built by
contributions from the Panama Railroad Company and various missionary
societies, it was at first American, after 1883 Anglican, and in 1907
again American Episcopal. Whites and blacks here worship together, with
a majority of negroes.
Half a mile farther on is the fine Colon hospital with 525 beds, of
course a Commission affair. Built right over the water on piles a few
feet high, one is almost tempted to be sick to be housed in so
attractive a place. Beyond is the quarantine station where persons
coming from plague or fever ports are detained six or seven days.
The numerous negroes from Jamaica and Martinique will interest many,
their dwellings on the back streets, the drainage ditch, and Front
street lined with stores, where curios of a sort could formerly be
purchased better than in Panama,—bags or caps of cocoanut skins, heads
carved from cocoanuts, and carved gourds, large and small, the latter
used as drinking cups.
In Christobal are dwellings of the Canal employees; a large building
occupied by the Commissary Department contains a cold storage plant, a
bakery, and a laundry, which serve all the employees of the canal, the
railroad, and the U. S. Government on the Isthmus:—these with their
families numbering at times 60,000. Also there is a Commission Hotel
with meals at 30 cents for employees, 50 cents for transients, providing
better fare than can be procured in most parts of the United States for
the price to employees; and a Y. M. C. A. building which supplies a
reading room, opportunity for games and for social diversions including
dances, lectures, and other entertainments. There are five other similar
structures along the line.
At the end of the Point are two houses constructed for Ferdinand de
Lesseps and his son, now moved closer together and devoted to offices of
the Commissary and Health Departments. Beyond is the statue of the great
Discoverer: the monument, cast at Turin, a replica of one in Lima,
presented by Empress Eugénie to the Republic of Colombia to be erected
at Colon. Columbus, of noble countenance, is represented in attitude of
explanation to an Indian maiden personifying America, whose face
expresses wonder and alarm.
=Porto Bello.= With time to spare an excursion may be made to the
beautiful harbor of Porto Bello, 18 miles northeast of Colon, where the
Commission has been operating, in a great rock quarry, one of the
largest stone crushers in the world. Millions of cubic yards of rock
have been taken from here, a smaller size for the concrete of the Gatun
locks and spillway, a larger size for the Colon breakwater. Porto Bello
and Nombre de Dios were the two safe harbors found by the Spaniards on
this coast. The former has been a Spanish town since 1597. With a fine
location the town is considered unhealthy, having an extraordinary
amount of rain, 237 inches in 1909. A tug leaves Christobal wharf every
morning returning at night. One has two hours or more to view the
American settlement of 1000 people at the stone quarries and to cross
the bay to the old village to see the finest ruins on the Isthmus: an
old customs house, old bridges, the remains of Fort San Jerome, and the
old plaza. There is a population of over 2000, with a church and stores.
Some miles beyond Porto Bello begins the large section of country
inhabited by the _San Blas Indians_, who have been smart and sensible
enough to keep the white man out of their territory, thus preserving
their independence to the present day. They come to Colon to trade, but
seldom allow a stranger to remain over night in their territory.
=San Lorenzo Fort.= Another excursion of interest is to San Lorenzo
Fort, at the mouth of the Chagres River, either by sea in a motor boat,
or better, in a canoe down the river from Gatun, a sail of ten miles,
during which one has a glimpse of the real tropical jungle; the sea
route affords a better view of the old fort. The remains are very
complete, an outer wall, and a castle to be entered by a drawbridge.
There are strong rooms, galleries for prison cells, manacles, etc.,
seeing which the tourist is apt to be more contented with his own lot.
At the foot of the hill is the little village of Chagres.
In front of Christobal a construction of five piers is being made
enclosing ten docks capable of berthing ships 1000 feet long, these
being the Atlantic terminal docks for the canal. Across the bay is _Toro
Point_. From this headland a breakwater has been constructed to protect
the canal entrance and Limon Bay from the violent northers which
occasionally visit this coast. It will also reduce the amount of silt to
be washed into the dredged canal. From Toro Point the breakwater extends
northeast for a distance of over two miles. The bottom width varies with
the depth of the water; at the top it is 15 feet wide and 10 feet above
mean sea level. A double-track trestle was first constructed, from which
carloads of rock were dumped into the sea. The cost is about $5,500,000.
It has recently been decided to construct an additional though smaller
breakwater on the Colon side, extending west, some distance north of
Christobal Point. Fortifications for the defense of the canal are being
raised, both at Toro Point and on the east side at Margarita Island, one
mile north of Manzanillo.
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