The sanitization of the Canal Zone and the cities of Colon and Panama
is one of the most interesting features of the history of the Panama
Canal. The want of proper sanitation was, no doubt, very largely the
cause of the French failure.
The French authorities, either not understanding the significance
of maintaining the health of the great mass of employees engaged in
their work, or being criminally negligent of the lives and the health
of their employees, failed to take the necessary measures for the
protection of life and health. Their laborers were allowed to live in a
haphazard way. The negroes were permitted to furnish their own food and
to sleep where they pleased.
The consequence was that the ignorant and the improvident ate food that
was not properly prepared, and slept very often in tents or on the
ground, subject to the night dews and miasmatic vapors of the tropics.
Diseases of the most virulent nature broke out in every camp, and
yellow fever became especially active in carrying off its victims.
[Illustration: THE EFFECT OF A BLAST ALONG THE CULEBRA CUT.