COLON TO PANAMA—PANAMA CITY
Four daily trains in about 2 hours at 3.00, 6.00 and 10.40 a.m. and
4.00 p.m. Special train for sight-seers, round trip fare $4.00, from
Colon at 8 a.m., with barge service on lake, $1.50 extra.
Guides for tourist parties to inspect Canal, $7.50 per day, on
application to Railway Ticket Agents, Colon or Panama.
While the sail through the great canal will be an extraordinary delight,
the railroad ride will also afford much pleasure. On leaving Colon the
line passes various docks, the Government printing plant, the marine
shop and dry dock at Mount Hope, and the main storehouse of supplies for
canal and railroad. On the east side of the railroad, opposite the
warehouse, is Mount Hope Cemetery, where many French and others are
buried, on a knoll which for a time was called Monkey Hill on account of
the many monkeys there. These creatures are found in the woods all over
the Isthmus. Stone piers which may be seen on the east beyond Mindi were
erected by the French for a viaduct with the design of relocating the
railroad. This, obviously necessary for the Americans, has been
accomplished at a cost of nearly $9,000,000. In the swamp lands along
here much papyrus is growing.
=New Gatun.= From Colon to Gatun a distance of 7 miles the track rises
95 feet. New Gatun, on the hill, is a village but a few years old, the
site of the ancient town now being covered by the dam. In 1904 Gatun was
a busy place on the Chagres River, where sometimes 100 dugouts loaded
with bananas would tie at the bank, and seven or eight car loads a week
would be shipped. In former days the railroad followed up the Chagres
Valley, but now it is obliged to turn east to make a detour around the
lake. It is desirable to alight here to examine the locks and if
possible the spillway. Along the edge of the lock walls may be seen the
cog rail for the towing locomotives, and farther back the return track
without center cog. Tall concrete columns along the top of the walls are
the standards for electric lights to illuminate the locks. Tall towers,
apparently light houses, are range lights on the center lines of the
straight stretches of the canal, so that a vessel lining up with the
tower would know it was on the center line of the canal. From the
building on Gatun hill containing the office of the Division Engineer
may be had the best view of the canal obtainable from any one point.
Northward are the waters of Limon Bay; and the masts of shipping at
Colon harbor are visible. Close at hand are the locks and dam and a
broad stretch of the lake.
Leaving Gatun the new road turns east along Gatun ridge, then south with
pretty glimpses of the jungle, crossing the Gatun Valley to Monte Lirio.
From this point it skirts the east shore of the lake to Bas Obispo at
the beginning of the Culebra Cut. Several immense embankments were
necessary to cross the Gatun Valley section above the surface of the
lake, and others were made for dumping the spoil from Culebra Cut near
its north end. Half a mile beyond Monte Lirio the railroad crosses the
Gatun River by a steel girder bridge 318 feet long, built in three
spans, one of which may be lifted to permit access by boat to the upper
arm of the lake. Another steel girder bridge, one-quarter of a mile
long, crosses the Chagres River at Gamboa, with the channel span a
200-foot truss, the other fourteen, plate girder spans, each 80 feet
long. From this bridge, at the north end of which a new town-site has
been laid out, a glimpse of the northern end of Culebra Cut may be had.
It was originally expected to carry the road through the Cut, 10 feet
above the water level, but the slides making this impracticable, the
relocation has been made by cutting through a ridge of solid rock and
working around east of Gold Hill, passing Culebra at a distance of 2
miles. Then the track runs down the Pedro Miguel Valley to Pedro Miguel
Station, where it is within 300 feet of the locks. The highest elevation
of the track is 270 feet above the sea about opposite Las Cascadas. The
Continental Divide is crossed 240 feet above the sea in about the same
line as Culebra.
Journeying by the new road from Gatun, the old traveler or resident will
miss some familiar names, the bearers of which, if not concealed under
water, are now remote and vanishing. Lion and Tiger Hills were small
hamlets, but Bohio was quite a place, where the French had a machine
shop. It was once considered as a possible site for the locks and dam.
Frijoles (beans) and Tabernilla have been places of some importance and
Gorgona of more, because here were the American machine shops, now
removed to Balboa. The place with the peculiar name Matachin, which
everybody remembered, will not be covered over with water, but like
others farther on will relapse into a small hamlet. The prevalent notion
that this name was derived from _matar_, to kill, and _Chino_, and was
applied on account of the wholesale deaths of Chinese is incorrect. It
is the Spanish word meaning a dance by grotesque figures.
_Bas Obispo_ beyond Gamboa is one of the old places still visible, at
the north end of the Culebra Cut. Near by, December 12, 1908, occurred
the greatest accident in the construction of the Canal when 44,000
pounds of 45 per cent dynamite which had been packed into fifty-three
holes were set off by the explosion of one, as the last hole was being
tamped. As the hour was 11.10 many men were passing home to lunch. The
hillside, falling into the Cut, as had been planned for a later hour,
buried several men, and others were struck by flying rock. In all
twenty-six were killed and a dozen permanently maimed. Near Bas Obispo
is Camp Elliott, where a battalion of marines has long been stationed.
=Empire.= Las Cascadas, where once a stream tumbled down a precipice 40
feet towards the Chagres, formerly came next, then Empire, one of the
largest of the Canal villages. Here the French began excavations in the
Cut, as previously mentioned, January 20, 1882, before a large
assemblage of officials of the Canal Company and of Panama. The work was
blessed by the Bishop and the too common champagne celebrated the
occasion.
=Culebra= was the real capital of the Zone after John F. Stevens in 1906
moved his quarters there from Ancon. Here has been the home and office
of Col. Goethals, the head of everything, and of other prominent
officials. In 1908 Culebra had a population of 5516, but is now much
smaller. The side of the hill towards the Cut has been gradually
slipping away, taking a part of the village, but so slowly that the
houses were first removed to the rear slopes.
The average depth of the Cut through its nine miles of length is 120
feet. The heaviest point is near Culebra village between Gold Hill on
the east side and Contractors’ Hill on the west, where the depth
averages 375 feet. The summit of Gold Hill is 660 feet above the sea, of
Contractors’ Hill, 410 feet. Beyond Gold Hill is the troublesome
Cucuracha slide, though the largest is the one at the Culebra village on
the west. One slide here involved 1,550,000 cubic yards. At this point
the Cut is about 2000 feet across. The dwellings of the employees here,
as at Christobal and all along the line, look very pretty and
comfortable with their screened verandas. Market facilities have been
good with prices generally lower than at home for meat and other things
brought in cold storage from the States. The climate is not
objectionable to the majority, and many will be grieved, when, the Canal
being finished and only a select few remaining for its service, they
shall be obliged to return home again. Some, no doubt, being now weaned
from excessive affection for one particular spot, will go on to other
parts of Spanish America. There, intelligent men of the right spirit,
who have saved a portion of their earnings, will find agreeable
opportunities for work and for investments of various kinds.
Beyond Pedro Miguel is the Miraflores Lake and the two Miraflores locks
by which the ships reach sea level again. After passing through a
concrete lined tunnel 736 feet long, Ancon Hill, overlooking the Pacific
entrance to the Canal, is straight ahead. One more station, Corozal,
headquarters of the Pacific Division, and the city of Panama is reached.
PANAMA CITY
HOTELS. The Tivoli, $5.50 and up a day, American plan; the Central,
$3.00 a day, American plan; the International, Metropole, and
several others, smaller and less expensive, but some of them neat
and respectable.
_Carriage Fare_, 10 cents, U. S. currency, for one person, 20 cents
for two, etc., in Panama City, or 20 cents and 40 cents silver,
Panama money. Panama to Balboa docks, 50 cents U. S. currency.
_Automobile Tariff_, first hour, for cars seating five, six, or
seven persons, $5.00, $6.00, or $7.00; second hour $1.00 less. Local
fares about the city, 50 cents for each person. To Balboa Docks and
return, $3.50, five-seat car; $5.00, seven-seat car. To Old Panama
and return, $5.00, or $7.00, if within one hour; if more, on hourly
basis.
_Electric Cars_, fare five cents, run every ten minutes from Hotel
Tivoli past the railway station down Avenue Central to the National
Palace near the sea wall; also beyond the Tivoli to the Catholic
Chapel on the Ancon Hospital road. Of two other lines, one runs from
Santa Ana Park by C, 16th, and B streets, and so on to Balboa;
another branching from Central avenue at 13th street and following
North avenue goes out the Sabanas road.
=The Republic of Panama=, proclaimed Nov. 3, 1903, by treaty of Feb. 26,
1904, came under the protection of the United States, receiving
$10,000,000 cash for the sovereignty of the Canal Zone and after 1913 a
yearly rental of $250,000. The form of government of the Republic is
similar to that of the United States. The country is 340 miles long from
east to west, from the Atrato River on the Colombia side to Costa Rica
on the west. From north to south its widest point is 120 miles in the
province of Veraguas, and the narrowest less than 40 in Darien. There
are mountains 7000 feet high in Darien and 11,000 feet in Chiriqui; the
lowest pass, 312 feet, is that used by the Canal and Railroad. The
population, outside the Zone about 340,000, includes 36,000 Indians, and
a very large proportion of negroes and mixed races. The country has
excellent possibilities for agriculture and cattle raising, with smaller
ones for minerals.
=Panama.= The new city of Panama, founded January 21, 1673, was soon
protected by a sea wall, still standing, and on the single land side by
a wall, and a deep moat crossed by a drawbridge. To make it proof
against further raids two forts were erected on the land side and one by
the sea. The residences built of wood suffered from various fires so
that few old buildings remain, yet the masonry structures have the
appearance of age. One hundred and twenty years ago the city had 7857
inhabitants, double that in 1870, and in 1911, 37,505.
=Hotel Tivoli.= Arriving at Panama, almost every one who can afford it
will go to the Hotel Tivoli, near the station, delightfully situated at
the foot of Ancon Hill, on the farther side of a small park called the
Plaza de Lesseps. It is intended some day to erect in the center of the
plaza a statue to the hero of the Suez Canal, initiator of the great
work at Panama. On a knoll, overlooking the city and part of the bay,
the hotel has many rooms opening on the broad verandas which afford
charming prospects. The nights are comfortably cool, and the table
affords good American fare. The hotel was erected by the Government
especially to accommodate Canal employees on their arrival, and persons
whose business with the administration caused them to come to the
Isthmus. Also it was designed to afford recreation to employees on the
line desirous of an occasional trip to the city. With this end in view a
large dance hall was provided about 80x40 feet, where the Tivoli Club,
organized among the employees, has given dances two Saturday evenings
each month. The hotel, opened Jan. 1, 1907, has 220 guest rooms, and a
dining-room seating 700. The building, 314 feet long with wings 156 feet
deep, has a court in front 91 feet in depth with a carriage road and
garden. Of late on account of increased travel the hotel has been
enlarged and is much used by tourists. The prices, $5.50 a day and up,
will seem reasonable enough to patrons of the large New York hotels.
=The Hotel Central= may be preferred by some on account of the lower
prices, $3.00 and up, or because it is in the center of things on the
principal plaza of Panama (now called the Independencia), opposite the
cathedral; its location and its clientele afford an opportunity to see
more of Spanish American life. The building is four stories high, in
Spanish style around a central court or patio. Built in 1880 it has
recently been renewed, and the rooms are large and airy. The table
formerly left something to be desired, but has very likely improved with
the competition. Once it was the _only_ place where anybody could go.
=The International Hotel= is most convenient to the railway station on
the Railway Plaza; a large fireproof building in Spanish Mission style,
completed in 1912, and affording all modern conveniences. The smaller
hotels on the Avenida Central may be patronized by those to whom the
saving of a few dollars is important. The _Hotel Metropole_ is
pleasantly situated on the Santa Ana Plaza.
A new and modern hotel, accommodating 500 persons, built by British
capital on Chiriqui Point overlooking the bay, is expected to be ready
for guests in November, 1914.
Sight-seeing may begin from the Tivoli or International with a walk or
ride down the Avenida Central, which goes first in a rather southerly
direction, but in town when crossing the plaza about east and west. The
northern part of the town is rather new, belonging to the Canal period,
French and American. On the right at some little distance a three-story
white concrete building, very ornate, with broad portico, is the club
house of the Spanish Benevolent Society. Next door is the American
Consulate. Two blocks farther is the Plaza Santa Ana, with trees,
plants, and walks, where on Thursday nights there is a band concert and
hundreds of people promenading. Besides the Church, there are saloons, a
Variety Theater with roof garden, promenade balcony, and fine interior
decorations, erected 1911-12, and on the west side the Metropole Hotel.
On the road, one block south of the plaza, leading west to Balboa is the
Santo Tomas Hospital, with 350 beds, under the direction of an American
doctor with good nurses and physicians, maintained by the Panama
Government. The three cemeteries are beyond, one each for Chinese,
Hebrews, and Christians. Tragic tales are told of the yellow fever days,
and space for burial is still leased.
Three blocks from the Plaza on the Central avenue is the Church of La
Merced. Diagonally across from it is a piece of the old wall formerly
extending from tidewater on one side to the other. One should climb the
steps to get an idea of the walls, the cost of which caused wonder to
the King of Spain. This was one of the bastions commanding the
drawbridge and the _sabanas_ or plains to the north. Here the youth now
play tennis, and a circus encamps once a year. The area is at least 1500
square feet, and there is a drop of from 30 to 35 feet to the level
outside. A parapet 3 feet high still shows the embrasures for the brass
cannon. The old wall extending to the south had rock faces with earth
between.
Beyond this wall is the real city, mostly of natives, with its own
peculiar spirit and fascination. They always come back, it is said, when
people go away. Here in the narrow streets, plazas, churches, even
stores, and on the old sea wall, a spell is woven over those who linger,
which has alluring power. The _Plaza Independencia_, three blocks from
the wall, is the heart of the city, a charming place, with the Cathedral
on the west, the Central Hotel east, the Bishop’s Palace north, and the
Municipal Building and the French Administration Building on the south.
The last, four stories high, was built in 1875 as a hotel, but leased to
the French and used for offices. The Americans took possession of it May
4, 1904, but finding it to be infested with the _stegomia_ mosquitoes
during the yellow fever epidemic in 1905, it was abandoned by them in
1906 when the Chief Engineer moved to Culebra. It is now occupied by the
health and municipal bureaus of Panama and by their printing office.
The new _Municipal Building_, on the site of the old _cabildo_, council
chamber, in which independence was declared in 1821, was completed in
1910 and is called the handsomest building in the city. Here are various
offices, the Columbus Library with valuable historical works, a marble
_bacchante_ in the corridor, and a front door of a dozen varieties of
native hard woods.
The _Bishop’s Palace_ erected 1880, besides his residence, offices, and
a boys’ school, has in one corner the office of the Panama Lottery.
Though gambling is prohibited by the Panama Constitution, the lease of
the company is good till 1918. Every Sunday morning drawings are made
for prizes ranging from $1.00 to $3500, taken from 10,000 tickets. It is
said that most of the money comes from the Canal workers. The offices of
several of the steamship companies are on the Plaza, but that of the
Peruvian Line is on 11th street near Central avenue.
Continuing on the Central avenue, passing on the right the French
consulate and the American Legation, one reaches the _National Palace_
or Government Building on the left, occupying a whole square, with a
central patio. The Assembly Halls and offices are on the south side, the
_National Theatre_ on the north and various Government offices on the
sides. Begun in 1905 it was finished in 1908. It is of the modified
Italian renaissance style and is said to be fireproof. The handsome
theater seats 1000 people. There is a week or two of opera and of
theater every year. Other entertainments are occasionally held, and
public meetings of a non-political nature.
The _Plaza Bolívar_, formerly San Francisco, is at the southeast corner
of the building, with the San Francisco Church and Franciscan convent on
the east side, the latter in ruins, destroyed by fire in 1756; the
former, also burned, was restored 1785-1790. The church is a basilica
with a nave and two aisles, the arches supported by square masonry
pillars, and with transept and apse. The high altar is wood painted to
imitate marble. A picture in a shrine at the left of the entrance has a
very definite representation of purgatory, with a view of heavenly
regions above.
The ruins of the old convent still show a fine row of arches. Within are
wooden buildings now used as schools.
From the Central avenue going along the water front, one will pass a
Methodist Episcopal Church, parsonage, and school, buildings of concrete
erected in 1908. At the sea front is the south bastion called _The Sea
Wall_. Under the arches are many dungeons once filthy, where thousands
of criminals and political suspects suffered and died. These are used no
longer, but the Chiriqui prison, suitably provided and clean, is here
located, partly in the large barrack building formerly occupied by the
garrison of soldiers. In the late afternoon or early evening one should
visit this interesting spot. Close by is the new home of the _University
Club_ where some say the best meals in Panama are served and the best
collection of English books and periodicals is found. The library and
reading room with hardwood floor are sometimes cleared for dancing. The
membership of two hundred includes one hundred twenty-five American
employees and seventy-five residents of Panama. Organized in 1906 for
college men, the restriction was soon abandoned.
Two blocks from the Plaza Bolívar, keeping to the sea front, is the home
of the Union Club, a large white building from the roof of which is a
fine view of Panama Bay. A swimming tank refilled at every tide is among
its luxuries.
On the water front near this Club, at the foot of 5th street which
passes in front of the Hotel Central, is the _Marine Building_ where
passengers go aboard small boats to be rowed out to ships engaged in the
coasting trade. Diagonally across the street is the _Presidencia_, a
two-story building of Spanish Mission style where the President of the
Republic lives and has his executive offices.
Two blocks along the front from the _Presidencia_ there is a steep
incline where the old wall passed to the sea. On the beach below, a
market was established in 1877, now in a large open building, where not
only vegetables, fruits, meat, and fish are sold, but lace and other
commodities. Close by, boats at high tide run up on the beach, saving
expense of lighterage. A visit to the market early in the morning is
well worth while, as the assemblage of people and of commodities, many
of strange appearance, make this the most picturesque place in Panama.
On the way to the plaza one may pass various shops, several Chinese,
where bargaining is possible, though most of the other stores have one
price. Woolens, silk, lace, and some other things are cheaper than in
the United States, and odd bits may be picked up by a connoisseur.
Panama hats are found cheaper than in the United States, but may be
purchased to better advantage in Ecuador and Peru. A hammock, a kodak,
films, anything forgotten or newly thought of may here be supplied. But
if films are purchased, be sure that they are dated nearly a year ahead
and are in sealed tin boxes.
The churches of Panama are not especially fine, but a few should be
visited. It would be needless to say that due respect to the House of
God should be shown by the removal of the hat, and by courteous
behavior, but for the astonishing ill manners and rudeness displayed by
some American boors which have tended to make us unpopular with most
Latin Americans. If we are really so superior as some of us fancy, it
would be well to exhibit this by our good breeding. To avoid shocking
the prejudices of others, and in some cases to do _better_ than we would
be done by will increase the pleasure of a trip and pave the way for
business advantage.
The _Cathedral_, though first of the churches designed, was delayed in
construction. A negro, Luna Victoria, becoming Bishop in 1751, urged its
completion, himself making liberal contributions so that it was finished
in 1760. The architecture is of Moorish type with Spanish and American
modifications; the style of two towers is used in many Spanish American
churches. The cathedral has a nave and four aisles, an apse containing
the high altar of wood richly ornamented, with two side altars and the
episcopal throne. An old painting representing the miracle of the Rosary
is said to be a Murillo.
_The Church of San Felipe Neri_, with a tablet bearing the words Neri Ao
1688, on the corner of Avenue B and 4th street, is said to be the oldest
and perhaps the prettiest of the Panama churches. It is less gaudy or
tawdry than some of the others. An adjoining courtyard with a garden is
surrounded by houses of Sisters of Charity. At the corner of Avenue A
and 3rd street are the ruins of the old _Dominican Church_ with a little
statue still standing over the entrance. The woodwork was burned in the
fire of 1756 and it was never rebuilt. One of the arches was shattered
in the earthquake of 1882. A brick arch near the entrance, 50 feet wide
with but 10 feet between the heights of spring and arch, is unusually
flat. There are others, in the San Francisco and Jesuit churches, of
almost the same style.
A church and convent school erected by the Jesuits 1749-1751 was of
little service, as the Order was expelled in 1767. In 1781 the wood of
the structure was burned, but the ruins are still of interest. The
churches of La Merced and Santa Ana contain little to invite attention,
unless it be the effigy of the gentleman who provided the funds for the
reconstruction in 1760 of the latter church and who was thereafter
called the Count of Santa Ana.
A visit to _Ancon_ must certainly not be neglected. On its edge is the
_Panama National Institute_ opened in 1911, consisting of seven
buildings around a patio, including a gymnasium. This is to be the head
of the educational system, but at present is occupied with primary and
secondary instruction.
=Ancon Hill= is especially noted for the hospital, the buildings of
which were erected by the French soon after 1881. When Col. Gorgas and
his assistants arrived in 1904 they were pleased to find them in so
excellent a condition with French Sisters of St. Vincent still in
charge. Many additions and improvements were made, but most of the
twenty-three buildings are still in use. With crowding, 2000 patients
may be accommodated, but for the last five years the percentage of
health has been remarkably good. Thanks to the skill and efficiency of
Col. W. C. Gorgas, of the Regular Army, as Health Officer, and to his
corps of able assistants, yellow fever was practically stamped out in
1906 and malaria diminished, by the destruction of the mosquitoes,
screening, etc. Swamps were filled in, and the cities of Panama and
Colon were to some extent made over. Every street in Panama is now paved
with brick or macadam, all are well drained and provided with sewers,
and the dirtiest slum of the city is cleaner than many middle class
streets in most American cities, not to mention New York. A good water
supply is provided, and all these improvements are being paid for by
Panama from the water rates. The _Administration Building_ on one of the
knolls at the foot of the hill should be noted. There are located the
offices of the Sanitation Department, the Civil Administration, and the
Commission Secretary. The _Avenue of Royal Palms_ leading up from the
entrance to the hospital grounds will be admired by every one, and those
of botanical tastes will enjoy spending a considerable time in the
garden which was begun by the Mother Superior, Sister Marie Rouleau, and
which has recently been catalogued by Col. Mason. It contains a fine
collection of the plant life of the Isthmus, trees, fruits, nuts,
shrubs, and flowers. Persons not botanists will find pleasure in
examining many plants with familiar names, some never seen before,
others only in a hot house. The energetic individual will enjoy climbing
to the top of the hill which, 664 feet above the sea, affords a view of
bay, islands, city, and green hills, beautiful enough to reward even the
slothful: but near sunrise or sunset are the only suitable hours for a
climb in this temperature.
=Old Panama.= An excursion to Old Panama should be taken if possible. In
1911 a road was constructed by the Panama Government from the highway
traversing Las Sabanas, to the old city. Electric cars may be available
for the excursion, as well as carriage and automobile. Also one may go
by launch or horseback. Paths lead to the chief points of interest,—the
old bridges across the estuary that extended on two sides of the city,
the tower seen from afar and the church of St. Anastasius, the wells,
and the walls and foundations of public buildings. On the sea side is a
hole in the wall where still may be seen the old paved road leading into
the water. At high tide ships could come up to the city gate.
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