FIRST DAY ON THE ISTHMUS.--THE PANAMA CANAL.--HISTORY OF THE CANAL
ENTERPRISE.--PLANS OF BALBOA AND OTHERS.--THE VARIOUS ROUTES
PROPOSED.--STRAIN'S SURVEY OF DARIEN.--VISITING THE WORKS AT PANAMA.
"The idea of a waterway across the narrowest part of the American
Continent, or, rather, of the isthmus connecting North and South
America," said Dr. Bronson, "is almost as old as the discovery of the
New World."
[Illustration: BALBOA TAKING POSSESSION OF THE PACIFIC.]
"Quite right," replied their host. "In 1513, or twenty-one years after
the discovery of America by Columbus, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, having
taken possession of the Pacific Ocean, proposed making a passage through
the rivers of Darien, but his death shortly afterwards caused the
project to be dropped.
"Ten years afterwards, or in 1523, Fernando Cortez had conquered Mexico,
and proposed a waterway through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. He employed
Gonzalo Sandoval to make a very careful survey of the route, and
continued to urge his proposition after the Emperor Charles V. had
removed the government of Mexico from his control. But the emperor was
not favorably impressed with the scheme, which contemplated the
expenditure of a vast amount of money, and, besides, he was more
interested in obtaining a revenue from Mexico than in doing exactly the
reverse. The proposal of Cortez was rejected as emphatically as was that
of Balboa, but it is a remarkable circumstance that these two routes are
the northern and southern extremes of the lines proposed for
inter-oceanic canals.
"By reference to a book by a celebrated Portuguese navigator of the
sixteenth century, Antonio Galvao, it appears that, up to the year 1550,
four routes had been discovered and examined, though none of them had
been surveyed with care. Galvao states in his book that a maritime canal
can be cut in four different places: First, between the Gulf of Uraba
and the Gulf of San Juan; second, through the Isthmus of Panama; third,
along the San Juan River, and through Lake Nicaragua; and, fourth,
through the Mexican Isthmus. Several explorers were sent to examine
these routes, but they encountered many difficulties, and none of them
brought back any exact information. So, you perceive, the principal
routes for an inter-oceanic canal were known to the geographical world
three hundred years ago."
[Illustration: Map.]
There was a pause to enable Frank and Fred to examine the map which was
spread before them, showing the routes which Mr. Colné had mentioned.
When the examination was completed their entertainer continued:
"Very little attention was given to the subject for about two hundred
years from the time I have mentioned. In the latter part of the
eighteenth century the idea was revived again; England thought it would
be of great value to her if she could obtain control of a passage from
ocean to ocean, and in 1778 she sent an expedition against Nicaragua in
order to obtain possession of the country. The enterprise was
unsuccessful, and the commander, Lord Nelson, narrowly escaped with his
life.
"In 1780 and '81 surveys were made of the Panama and Nicaragua routes,
the former by order of King Charles III. of Spain, and the latter by
Antonio de Bucareli, Viceroy of Mexico. These were the first technical
surveys of the routes, all previous examinations having been made
without the aid of engineering instruments, and unaccompanied by
calculations as to the amount of earth to be removed, and the probable
cost of the work.
"In 1804, Alexander Von Humboldt and Admiral Fitzroy, the former having
made a personal examination of the Darien route, declared in its favor.
This route has had many adherents, and a large amount of money has been
expended in its examination. I will not weary you with the names of all
the explorers and engineers who have examined the various Isthmus
routes. The catalogue is a long one; many valuable lives have been
sacrificed in this work, and the most of those who returned alive were
able to present only unsatisfactory reports. The climate was fearfully
unhealthy; the natives were either hostile to the enterprise or
indifferent, and would rarely give assistance; and though the
governments through whose territory the routes lay were generally well
disposed, they could not always control their subjects."
"Probably the most thorough explorations," remarked Dr. Bronson, "were
those ordered by the government of the United States in 1870. Several
ships were fitted out, and the Darien, Nicaragua, Tehuantepec, and
Panama routes were examined. Commodore Shufeldt went to the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec; Commanders Hatfield and Lull went to Nicaragua, the latter
visiting Panama, to complete the exploration of that route. Commander
Selfridge and Lieutenant Collins examined the Darien route, and also
some of the rivers entering the ocean a little farther to the north. The
whole exploration occupied about three years, and the reports are very
voluminous. They are more interesting to the engineer than to the
general reader, and I did not bring them along as part of my baggage."
"I have read," said Fred, "about the expedition of Lieutenant Strain.
Please tell us what route he examined."
[Illustration: RESCUE OF THE SURVIVORS OF STRAIN'S EXPEDITION.]
"Strain's expedition was to survey the Darien route," replied the
Doctor. "It ended disastrously, as the party lost its way, and also its
instruments and provisions, and wandered for many days in a dense forest
where the men were obliged to cut their path at nearly every step. More
than half the party perished in the wilderness, and Lieutenant Strain
died soon after his return to the United States.
[Illustration: STRAIN'S ARRIVAL AT THE COAST.]
"The misfortunes of Strain's expedition were due in great measure to
information which proved to have been almost entirely false. An English
engineer, named Gisborne, had published a book containing a pretended
survey of the country, which he claimed to have surveyed; in consequence
of this report the governments of England, France, New Granada, and the
United States of America sent expeditions, all of which failed
disastrously. Strain's was the only one of the number that succeeded in
crossing from ocean to ocean, the rest having turned back on account of
the many unexpected difficulties, and the hostility of the Indians, who
attacked them repeatedly. It turned out that Gisborne had never crossed
the Isthmus, and his map of the Darien region was almost wholly
imaginary.
"Several companies have been formed at different times," the Doctor
continued, "for the construction of a canal from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, but the most of them have existed only on paper. The first of
these companies was based on Gisborne's imaginary surveys, and was
organized in England, with a capital of seventy-five million dollars.
Sir Charles Fox and other heavy capitalists were the promoters of this
company, and they confidently expected to complete their work before the
year 1860. The preliminary operations showed that the canal, if built at
all, would cost several times that amount, and the enterprise was
abandoned.
"Concessions have also been granted on other routes, but no serious work
has been performed; the concessions were limited in the time of
commencing and completing the work, and one after another the limit of
time expired without anything having been accomplished. The Panama route
is the only one on which there has been an attempt to make a canal; the
government of the United States has made a treaty with Nicaragua for the
construction of a canal through that country, but, up to the present
time, the scheme has not gone beyond the surveys and the reports of the
engineers."
"We are confident," said Mr. Colné, with a smile, "that our canal from
Aspinwall to Panama will be completed, and that large ships will pass
through it before the 1st of January, 1890. Indeed, some of our
engineers promise it for the New Year of 1889. Thus far the work has
progressed quite as fast as we expected at the outset, and if no
unforeseen difficulties arise, we shall have the canal completed before
1890."
One of the youths asked how much the canal was likely to cost, and how
it would compare with the Suez Canal, which they had visited on their
return from the Far East.
"Not to trouble you with details," replied the Doctor, "the estimate of
the cost was originally six hundred millions of francs, or one hundred
and twenty millions of dollars. Very few enterprises come within the
original estimates, and it is probable that not less than thirty
millions of dollars, and perhaps another hundred millions, must be added
to these figures, and some engineers say three hundred millions will be
required. The cost of the Suez Canal was about one hundred millions, and
the work at Suez was very light compared with that at Panama."
"I remember," said Fred, "that the Suez Canal is practically a great
ditch through a sandy country, with no elevation of more than sixty
feet, and but very little rock to be cut away. Nearly half the length of
the canal was made by filling up depressions in the desert, which were
turned into lakes by allowing the water to run into them. Is there
anything of the kind here?"
"Not by any means," was the reply; "the Panama Canal is being cut
through a region where the difficulties are enormous by comparison with
those at Suez. Instead of a waste of sand, there is a tropical forest
for the greater part of the way, and in place of the depressions which
were converted into lakes to form part of the Suez Canal, we have a
chain of hills which are nearly three hundred feet high at the lowest
points. The summit level of the Panama Railway is two hundred and
sixty-three feet above the level of tide-water on the Atlantic coast,
and the canal must have the enormous depth of three hundred feet, and at
some points more than that."
"That is quite correct," replied their host. "It will be the deepest
canal cutting in the world when it is completed. On the section of
Culebra, in a distance of little more than a mile, we must remove
twenty-five million cubic metres of earth and pile it up elsewhere.
Fortunately, our work is rendered easy in this respect, as there are
many valleys close to the canal where the earth can be disposed of. Do
you know how much is represented by twenty-five million cubic metres?"
Fred made a calculation on a slip of paper, roughly converting metres
into yards by adding one fifth. Then he reduced the yards into cubic
feet, and announced that, with the earth to be removed from the Culebra
section of the canal they could build a wall nine feet thick and twenty
feet high for a distance of twenty-eight miles, and have a good many
car-loads to spare.
[Illustration: VIEW ON THE CHAGRES RIVER.]
"This will give you an idea of the work to be performed here," replied
Mr. Colné, "and you must remember that it is only one single section of
the entire line. Then, too, there are great difficulties in the way on
account of the rains, and the sudden overflows of the Chagres River,
which crosses the line of the canal. Instead of being a depression to be
filled with water, it is liable to pour out at any moment much more
water than we want."
[Illustration: BEACH NEAR ASPINWALL.]
"The average rainfall of this part of the Isthmus," said Dr. Bronson,
"according to the official reports, is over twelve feet. This is not
distributed through the year, but is confined to about seven months.
During a single rain-storm six and a half inches of water have fallen.
"The consequence is that there are excessive floods in the rivers; the
Chagres River, which you see represented on the map as crossing the
canal, is, in the dry season, a stream about two hundred and fifty feet
wide and two feet deep. During a heavy flood it is fifteen hundred feet
wide, and over forty feet deep, and it has been known to rise thirty or
forty feet in a few hours. In these floods it brings down trees, rocks,
and earth, and sometimes houses, and the sides of hills. In one freshet,
an iron tank, that stood seventeen feet above the railway track, was
washed away, and on several occasions considerable portions of the road
have been destroyed."
[Illustration: IN THE RAINY SEASON.]
"We get over that difficulty," said Mr. Colné, "by making a _barrage_,
or dam, across the river, and between two hills, to retain the waters
during the freshets, and let them out gradually by lateral sluices. The
capacity of the reservoir formed by the dam will be much more than
enough to hold all the water coming down in the greatest rise that has
ever been known since the railway was completed, in 1855. Mr. De Lesseps
says that there are three reservoirs in the world of greater capacity
than this: one is at St. Etienne, France; one at La Gillappe, Belgium;
and one at Alicante, in Spain. They have stood for three centuries, and
are as good and strong as they ever were. Science has improved since the
great retaining walls of Alicante were erected, and the dam of the
Chagres River will be perfectly safe, and do justice to the science
which constructs it."
By this time the boat had reached the line of the breakwater which was
being constructed to protect the harbor from the strong "northers" that
sometimes blow at Aspinwall, and make anchorage unsafe. The earth
dredged from the canal and from the shallow portions of the bay was
partly used for forming the ground already mentioned, and partly for
constructing the breakwater. For the latter purpose it was piled
between walls of rock, and it was expected that the work would be
completed long before the canal was ready for use.
[Illustration: A HAND-CAR JOURNEY ON THE PANAMA RAILWAY.]
From the breakwater they were taken to the entrance of the channel
opened by the dredges for the canal, and the location of the proposed
new port was pointed out. Then they proceeded up the great ditch for two
or three miles, and landed where the canal and railway were close
together. Two hand-cars were standing on the track and evidently waiting
for them. The gentleman to whom they had brought the letter was there,
and also one of the officials of the railway. At the invitation of the
latter, the party was soon distributed on the vehicles, three on one and
three on the other. Comfortably seated on the front of the hand-cars,
which were propelled by natives in very scanty dress, our friends rolled
easily over the level track, in the direction of the high ground, and
also of Panama.
Frank and Fred thought they had never taken a more delightful ride. The
air was delicious; there was the luxuriant vegetation of the tropics
all around them; birds were abundant in the trees; monkeys occasionally
chattered above them, or swung from the limbs, as if inviting the
strangers to stop and visit their relatives; the speed was just enough
for comfort; their vision was unimpeded, and there was no locomotive in
front of them to poison the air with fumes of burning coal or shower
them with cinders. Then, too, their guide was a cyclopædia of knowledge,
as he had been for a long time connected with the railway and was
thoroughly conversant with its history.
[Illustration: SURVEYING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.]
"It was one of the most difficult roads to build that I ever heard of,"
said he, "and three times the work was suspended on account of the
impossibility of getting enough laborers or bringing forward the
necessary material. Everything had to be brought from New York or some
other American or European city, as there was no labor worth having to
be found on the Isthmus itself. Between Aspinwall and Monkey Hill the
engineers had sometimes to wade up to their waists while laying out the
line, and after the road was completed the track repeatedly sank down
out of sight. It happened several times that two or three hundred feet
of road would thus disappear in a single night, and then the whole force
of the road was put to work to fill up the cavities. There are some
places that were filled two or three times before the road-bed was solid
enough to stay. Since the canal company began operations here it has
built some new tracks, and occasionally meets with the same trouble, but
the old part of the line is all right now.
[Illustration: NATIVE VILLAGE ON THE ISTHMUS.]
"There is a good story of how the natives of the country around Gatun
had their first view of a locomotive. The track was completed to that
point, and a day was set for running an engine over it. People came for
long distances; they had heard wonderful stories of the witchcraft of
the strangers, and there was great curiosity to know about it. There was
an immense crowd, and at the appointed time the locomotive came in
sight, puffing vigorously, and emitting clouds of steam and smoke. There
was great excitement, which reached the pitch of terror when the
creature came into the midst of the crowd, and the whistle was blown.
The whole crowd fled to the river, and many of them jumped in, expecting
they would be pursued, and possibly devoured.
[Illustration: NATIVE IDEA OF THE LOCOMOTIVE.]
"Finding the monster did not follow them, they gathered courage and
reassembled, but stood at a safe distance, ready to run again if
necessary. They sent forward their priest to examine the animal; he
surveyed it carefully, and then informed his followers that it was not
an animal, but a machine, in which there was a veritable demon chained,
and compelled to work the crank which propelled it. The explanation was
sufficient; the good priest knew it was hopeless to attempt to enlighten
them on the uses of steam, and found the demon story the shortest way
out of the difficulty. It is just possible, though, that he was not
versed in natural philosophy, and his explanation may have been the
honest result of his observation."
At several points, as they passed along, Fred observed men cutting away
the bushes by the roadside, and, in reply to a question, he learned that
the growth of the tropical forest was so rapid that men were kept busy
all along the route in keeping it down, so that it would not touch the
passing trains. "But it is not without its advantages," said their
informant; "what it costs to keep down the rapid vegetation is more than
compensated by the interlacing of the roots through the road-bed so that
it makes a powerful resistance to the water which rushes down the slopes
after the heavy rains. Many a serious injury to the road has been
prevented by this mass of roots."
Their attention was called to flowers that grew in the forest, and the
eyes of the youths were constantly occupied with the varieties of trees
and plants that they passed in their ride. There were palms and
mangroves, canes, ferns, orchids, and creeping, climbing, and hanging
plants almost without number. There was hardly a tree without a
parasite, and many trees were covered from the base to the topmost limb
with foliage that was not their own. In some cases the trees were
actually killed by the parasites that clung to them, and reminded our
friends of the picture of a deer strangled by a serpent.
[Illustration: THE ESPIRITU SANTO FLOWER.]
Fred asked for the famous product of the Isthmus, a member of the orchid
family, _Peristera Elata_, known as "Flor del Espiritu Santo," or
"Flower of the Holy Spirit." It was pointed out to them, and, at the
youth's request, they stopped long enough to gather a few specimens.
The youths greatly admired the flower, and when they saw it neither of
them wondered at its name nor the reverence with which it is regarded in
Central American countries. It has a white blossom resembling the tulip,
and in the inside of the blossom is the figure of a dove. It needs no
imagination to show the form of the bird; there it rests, with its wings
drooping at its sides and its head bent forward so that the bill almost
touches the breast; the body of the dove is of a snowy white, while the
bill is tipped with red. The flower has a perfume resembling that of the
magnolia, and it blooms in the latter part of the summer months.
Frank wanted to send home some of the plants, and was told that he could
do so with ease, but the bulbs would not live unless they were procured
in May or June, when the stalks had been sufficiently developed to
produce the flower. It is said that the early Spanish explorers of the
Isthmus bowed before this flower and worshipped it, and the reverence
that was then developed has never been lost. Down to quite recently it
was very difficult to procure specimens of the Espiritu Santo flower,
owing to this reverential feeling, and it is only since the colonization
of the Isthmus by Americans that the stranger has been able to obtain
all he wants. The flower is now cultivated in hot-houses, and has been
transported to other tropical countries, where it is successfully grown.
[Illustration: GATUN STATION.]
Fred called attention to several trees resembling some they had seen in
Java and Ceylon, and Frank picked out three or four varieties of
mahogany which he could recognize. Occasionally there was a clearing
devoted to bananas and other fruits, and at Gatun Station, where the
road was close to the bank of the Chagres River, several natives offered
the fruits for sale. The old village of Gatun was on the opposite shore
of the river, and consisted of a group of huts half concealed by the
foliage. In the old days of California travel, before the construction
of the railway, the inhabitants of Gatun drove a prosperous trade with
the gold-seekers; according to one writer, "eggs were sold for
twenty-five cents apiece, and the ground-rent for a hammock was two
dollars a night."
An excavating machine was in operation not far from the railway, and
huge mounds of earth had been thrown up on either side of the line of
the canal. Hundreds of laborers were at work, and the scene was, in many
respects, a repetition of what they had encountered at Aspinwall, or,
rather, at the new city which has risen near it. "This is an American
machine," said their guide, as he pointed to the excavator, "and it will
interest you to know that the excavators and dredges from New York have
proved more satisfactory than those of French construction. They are
very effective, and rarely get out of order; the French machines were
admirably adapted to the Suez Canal, but the soil here is much harder
than that at Suez, and requires a more powerful engine for its removal."
From Gatun the party returned to the canal entrance, and thence to their
hotel in Aspinwall. Later they dined with their new friends, and when
they retired for the night they felt that they had crowded a good deal
of sight-seeing into their first day on the Isthmus.
[Illustration: A TROPICAL HARBOR.]