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THE PANAMA CANAL
Of all subjects now occupying the
attention of the world at large,
and of importance not only to the State of
California, but to all the
territory west of the Rocky mountains and the
islands and coasts of the
Pacific Ocean, over which the American flag floats
in sovereignty, none
is paramount to the construction of the Panama Canal.
The completion
of the canal, while a world event, will, of course, be of
peculiar
significance and importance to that portion of the globe which
borders
on the Pacific Ocean. Countries, islands, coasts and States that
for
centuries have been isolated and far distant by water routes from
the
centers of population of Europe and Eastern United States, will
be brought
thousands of miles nearer to, and consequently, into more
intimate social,
industrial and business relations with the more highly
organized governments
of Europe and America.
In effect, the opening of the canal in 1915 to the
commerce and trade
of the world will be the realization of the dream of
Columbus, who
sailed across the Atlantic in 1492 to discover a shorter water
route
between Europe and Asia, and the fulfillment of the prophecy of
Baron
von Humboldt, who, between the years of 1799 and 1805, explored
and
surveyed a great portion of Central and South America. Humboldt, as
a
result of his explorations, predicted that within a reasonable period
of
time the two largest oceans of the world, the Atlantic and the
Pacific, would
be united by an artificial water-way. This water-way,
in his opinion, as
expressed in a letter to his friend, the German poet
Goethe, would be
constructed by the little republic at the north, the
United States, even then
beginning to take an important place among the
powers of the world.
In
1867, the energy and foresight of Seward acquired Alaska as an
addition to
American territory; and though Seward was laughed at and
reviled as a foolish
dreamer because of his purchase of a so-called
iceberg and a fog-bank,
nevertheless, that able statesman and diplomat
pointed out to the people of
the United States that some day the
Pacific Ocean must become the world’s
greatest sea of commerce and
trade, and that in that day Alaska would become
one of the most
valuable possessions of the American nation.
Those
dreams and prophecies today are reaching their culmination
and fulfillment in
the opening of the Panama Canal, which will be
celebrated in San
Francisco,--yes, not only in San Francisco, but
throughout all California and
the sister States of the western
coast--by the greatest international
exposition ever conducted in the
history of civilization. It will be a
jubilee celebration in which all
the States and principalities, nations and
empires of the world will
join in proud and thankful
participation.
The History of the Canal
The idea of
constructing an artificial water-way between the Caribbean
Sea and the Gulf
of Panama is as old as the discovery of America.
Christopher Columbus, in
early life, became converted to the idea that
the world was round, and his
studies led him to believe that by sailing
in a direct course and sailing far
enough, he could circumnavigate
the globe and come back to the point from
which he started, provided
he could keep on that straight course. This belief
naturally led him
to the conclusion that by sailing westward from Spain,
across the
Atlantic, he could reach the coasts and the islands of Asia,
which
about that time were coming into great prominence as a desired
market
for the exchange of the wares of the producers and the manufacturers
of
Europe.
[Illustration: RUINS OF SANTA DOMINIE CHURCH,
PANAMA.]
The only mistake made by Columbus was that he estimated the
circumference
of the world at about 8,000 miles, instead of over 24,000.
Following his
theory, Columbus embarked on his first and greatest voyage, and
was
successful, as we know, in discovering one of the islands of the
West
Indies. Columbus made four voyages in all to the newly discovered
land,
but it is doubtful as to whether or not he ever reached the mainland
of
America. One of his historians claims that on his last voyage he
landed
upon the coast of Honduras in Central America, and on the land now
known
as Venezuela, farther toward the south. This fact is of little
importance
to us at this time. We do know, however, that Columbus died in
ignorance
of the fact that he had discovered a great continent instead of
some of
the islands of the East Indies.
Immediately following the
death of Columbus, his enterprising
lieutenants, men like Vespucci, Ojeda,
Balboa, and others of equal
prominence, pushed their explorations farther
westward, and Balboa,
the boldest of the Spanish conquistadores, fitted out
an expedition in
Hispaniola, which island was then the base of operations of
Spanish
exploration and conquest, and sailed across the narrow sea to the
coast
of that portion of Central America we now call Panama.
Balboa
established a rendezvous and base of supplies and operations
on the coast,
and thence continued his journey inland, and on the 23rd
of September, 1513,
surmounted the heights of Darien, and from that
eminence beheld the expansive
stretches of watery waste known today
as the Pacific Ocean. Balboa,
continuing his explorations along the
coasts of Panama, soon discovered that
the land was not an island, but
a continent, and becoming acquainted with the
Indians who inhabited the
country, he learned that there were two large
bodies connected by a
smaller body.
Balboa understood this statement
to mean two large bodies of water
connected by a smaller body of water, and
therefore, naturally came to
the conclusion that the Indians meant that the
Pacific and the Atlantic
Oceans were connected at some point or other along
the isthmus by a
natural water-way. What the Indians really meant was that
there were
two large bodies of land, to the north and south, and that these
large
bodies were connected by a long, narrow strip of land, part of which
he
was then exploring.
The Spaniards, naturally eager to extend their
explorations into the
great western ocean, began to search for the connecting
water-way, and
this quest was continued by them for nearly half a century;
but they
finally realized that the two great oceans of the world were
separated
by the impassable barrier of a continuous chain of mountainous
land.
The conquerer of Mexico, Cortez, after finishing the subjugation of
the
Indians of that part of the Spanish possessions, in 1526, was
commanded
by the King of Spain to proceed to the Isthmus and to assist in
the
search for the secret water-way.
Cortez answered the command of
the King by saying that if he could not
find the natural water-way he would
proceed to make one. The brave
old soldier, all his life trained in the habit
of surmounting great
difficulties, declared that if there were obstacles and
mountains,
there were also men with brains and hands, and that if he could
not
find the water-way as commanded by the King, he would carry out
the
order by constructing a canal to connect the two oceans. And so,
the
idea of Columbus being to find a short water-route between Europe
and
the East Indies and coasts of Asia, by the completion of the
Panama
Canal, the United States is carrying out the original purpose
of
efforts of the discoverer of America and the orders of the King
of
Spain to Cortez, to make an artificial water-way which will shorten
the
lines of trade and commerce around the globe.
Between those early
days and the present time every great maritime nation
of the world has been
interested in isthmian canal construction--Spain,
Portugal, Holland, Germany,
France, Great Britain and Italy have all, at
one time or another in the
intervening years, considered the advisability
and feasibility of
constructing a canal somewhere across the narrow
territory between the
Atlantic and Pacific.
Nine Different Routes Proposed
In all,
nine routes have been surveyed or considered by some nation or
some company.
The first route to the north is known as the Tehuantepec
route, which extends
across Mexico from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Pacific Ocean, a distance of
nearly 200 miles, and over which route an
English syndicate, headed by the
Pearsons, is now operating a splendid
railroad system. Captain Eads, one of
the most prominent of American
engineers of his time, advocated the building
of a ship railway over
this route, a railway so constructed that cars could
be let down into
the water under the bottoms of ships, drawing them out of
the water and
across the land to the ocean on the other side.
Of
course, this project might have been feasible with the smaller
sized merchant
ships of forty years ago, but it would hardly be so for
transporting the
gigantic freighters and passenger vessels that now
traverse the
seas.
The second route, towards the south, was called the Honduras Bay
route,
a route across the Republic of Honduras from Honduras Bay on the
east
to the Pacific.
The third route came to be known as the
Nicaraguan route. For a long
time this was the most popular of all the routes
with the American
Congress and the American people. The Nicaraguan route
contemplated the
utilization of the San Juan River on the east, between the
Atlantic
Coast and the Nicaraguan lakes, the Nicaraguan lakes as far as
they
extended westward, and thence through a canal across the dividing
land
from the upper lake to Nicaragua to the Pacific Ocean at Brita.
The
Nicaraguan route would be 377 miles shorter between San Francisco
and
New York than is the Panama route, along which the United States is
now
constructing a canal.
A fourth route was surveyed between the
Chirique Lagoon on the eastern
side to the Pacific Ocean.
The
Isthmian Routes
Three routes across the Isthmus of Panama have been
surveyed and
considered--two besides the one which the United States is
now
utilizing; and farther south two possible canal routes have
been
surveyed across the territory of Colombia. The two southern
routes
would use the Atrato River as a part of their course, and from
that
river across to the separating lands an excavation would be
required.
[Illustration: WATER FRONT, PANAMA.]
Of these nine
routes only three have been seriously contemplated by the
engineers of the
various governments and companies who have examined
them. The three are the
Tehuantepec, the Nicaraguan, and the Panama
Canal route.
In the year
1800 all South American territory, with the exception of
Brazil and a few
colonies, was under the sovereignty of Spain, but
about the year 1811 a
series of revolutions broke out in various parts
of Central and South
America, having for their object the establishment
of independent republics,
and by 1823 all Central and South American
countries had achieved
independence. The province of Panama secured her
independence in the year
1823, maintained that independence for a short
time and then merged with the
Republic of New Granada.
Panama remained a part of New Granada for
several years, and then
became a part of the New Granadan and Colombian
confederacy, and
continued to be a part of that confederacy through various
vicissitudes
of fortune and misfortune arising out of revolutions and war
until
November 3, 1903, when she seceded from the Colombian
confederacy,
hoisted her old flag, and resumed her ancient
nationality.
In 1825, the South and Central American Republics, desiring
to bring
themselves into closer relations and sympathy so that trade
and
commerce and industry might be better developed, conceived the idea
of
holding a convention in the City of Panama, in the year 1826.
The United
States Government was invited to participate and take a
prominent part in
that convention, and in order to induce the President
of the United States to
send his representatives, the subject of canal
construction across the
Isthmus was to be one of the most prominent
subjects considered.
Henry
Clay, the Secretary of State of the United States at that time,
was at first
very eager to participate in the Pan-American convention,
but was prevented
by objections of the President from sending
representatives to Panama.
However, he sent a note of felicitation and
encouragement and promised the
support of the United States in any
mutual project that would be to the
advantage of all the countries,
and particularly pledged that support to any
feasible project of canal
construction. This was the first official interest
taken by the United
States in the construction of an Isthmian
Canal.
Like nearly all conventions, the one that was held in Panama in
1826
met and resoluted a great deal and indulged in much oratory,
but
adjourned without accomplishing very much of practical value.
However,
a congress composed of representatives of several of the South
and
Central American States authorized the construction of an
Isthmian
Canal, and actually went so far as to enter into negotiations with
a
prominent engineer for the purpose of having one constructed, at
some
point to be decided upon later; but owing to revolutions and
disorders
soon after developing, plans for the project were for the
time
abandoned.
In 1837 the Congress of the United States authorized
canal surveys to
be made and a commission was appointed for the purpose of
surveying
and exploring the Central American country so that data might
be
secured that would give the American Congress information as to
the
practicability of the different routes that might be utilized.
From
that time on, until today, the subject of Panama Canal
construction
has been almost constantly before the American
Congress.
Of course, action in that body was more or less sporadic. The
subject
would be taken up from time to time when some pressing need for
quicker
and cheaper transportation to the Pacific Coast made itself
apparent.
In 1846 the United States entered into war with Mexico, which
engaged
the energies of the nation for the time being and canal
legislation
was forgotten. After the war with Mexico came the discovery of
gold in
California, and the rush of the argonauts to the Golden State made
it
necessary that quicker and cheaper routes be established than
those
around Cape Horn by water, or the long trail over the plains
and
mountains to the Pacific Slope. A company was organized in New
York
which established a line of transportation by means of steamers
from
New York to Greytown, thence through the San Juan River to the lakes
of
Nicaragua, and thence by the stage lines to the Pacific Coast,
where
again vessels were taken for San Francisco Bay and for the coasts
of
Oregon and Puget Sound.
The Panama Railroad
About the
same time a railway company was formed in the United States
which secured a
concession from the Republic of Colombia for the
purpose of constructing the
railway system across the Isthmus, which is
now known as the Panama Railroad.
This railroad was completed in 1856,
and this addition to the means of
transportation to the Pacific Coast
again indefinitely postponed the
necessity for canal construction.
In 1861 the United States drifted into
the Civil War, and once more
the subject of canal construction was forgotten.
After the close of
the Civil War the transcontinental railroads, headed by
the Union and
Central Pacific Companies, pushed their lines westward until
they
reached the Pacific Coast, and as soon as the first railroad
had
crossed the continent active opposition to canal construction began
to
show itself in the American Congress.
The transcontinental
railroads, fearing opposition in transportation,
from that day until the
Spooner bill was passed, June 28, 1902,
maintained an active lobby at
Washington, and whenever canal
legislation was suggested, having for its
object the construction of an
Isthmian Canal at any point, this railroad
opposition manifested itself
in every form, and no doubt canal construction
by the United States was
postponed for many years by that
agency.
However, in 1889, Congress authorized the incorporation of a
company
known as the Maritime Canal Company of the United States, and
under
that authority Hiram Hitchcock, of New York, as president,
together
with Warner Miller and several other capitalists, proceeded to
raise
about six million dollars, which was actually used in
obtaining
franchises and concessions from Costa Rica and Nicaragua for a
canal
route through these countries. Some money was also spent in
doing
necessary preliminary work.
The Maritime Canal Company was a
favorite in the United States for a
great many years, principally because it
was championed by Senator J.
T. Morgan, of Alabama. Senator Morgan made this
the dearest project
of his later life, and no doubt his last years of public
service were
embittered by his failure to secure Government co-operation for
the
building of the canal through Nicaraguan territory.
[Illustration:
PRESIDENT AMADOR’S RESIDENCE, PANAMA.]
The French Company
In
the meantime Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, the brilliant and
successful French
engineer, having completed the Suez Canal, turned his
attention to the
Isthmian country. After a thorough investigation of
all the possible routes,
through a series of negotiations, he succeeded
in securing a franchise from
the Republic of Colombia, giving him
authority to organize a French company
and the right to construct a
canal between the little city of Aspinwall (now
known as Colon) on the
eastern side, and the City of Panama on the Western
side.
So great was the popularity of de Lesseps that he had no difficulty
in
forming a strong company in France. The stocks offered to the
French
public were subscribed for rapidly. The French are a frugal people,
and
even the poorest of the French peasants and working men have always
a
little hoard of savings. The French people had such confidence in
de
Lesseps’ ability to complete successfully his great American
enterprise
that the first issue of his stocks were taken almost at
par.
De Lesseps’ Plan
De Lesseps’ plan contemplated the
building of a sea-level canal, 42
miles in length, from shore to shore, 100
feet wide and 28 feet deep.
His authority from the Colombian Government
amounted to merely a right
to excavate the canal, the Colombian Government
retaining jurisdiction
over the soil and the people. The estimate of the cost
of the type
of canal proposed was fixed by the French company at
$120,000,000.
The work of construction was inaugurated on February 1, 1881,
with
ceremony by the officers of the French company, and was
participated
in by officials of France, Panama and Colombia. But within a
very short
time, owing to the magnitude of the scale of operations, coupled
with
wasteful business methods, the first fund of $120,000,000 was
expended.
The company put out a second issue of stock which they offered
to the
people of France as the first issue had been offered. This second
issue
was taken up as the first had been, but with some suspicion on
the
part of the buyers. The second issue sold at a considerable
discount;
still they found purchasers, and again the coffers of the company
were
supplied with cash.
But the wastefulness and extravagance of the
company continuing, the
proceeds from the second issue of stock were soon
exhausted and a
third issue was offered. The sale of the third issue was made
with a
great deal of difficulty, and premiums were given to prominent
men
of influence or authority, or any line of business, providing
they
would use that influence in the marketing of the company’s shares.
So
flagrant did these irregularities become that they culminated in
criminal
prosecutions.
The sum total of the capital stock subscribed to by the
buyers of
the French Panama Company’s shares was $393,505,100. This
great
volume of stock sold to the purchasers produced for the company
only
$201,546,740, the difference of $191,958,360 being lost in
discounts
and premiums paid in marketing the stock.
Wastefulness
of the French Company
This appalling exhibition of criminal wastefulness
and unlawful
business methods caused the utter collapse of confidence in the
success
of the enterprise, not only of the investing public of France, but
of
the world as well, and hastened the time when such methods must
reach
their logical conclusion in bankruptcy. The old timers on the
Isthmus
will tell the inquirer that of the enormous sum of money raised
by
the French Canal Company, one-third was wasted, one-third grafted
and
one-third probably used in actual work.
It seemed as if anyone who
had any sort of influence might sell that
influence to the Panama company for
some kind of a consideration. On
the Isthmus today they will show you a
storehouse containing about half
a ship’s cargo of snow shovels which a
manufacturing company in France
succeeded in selling to the French Panama
Company, no doubt in return
for the influence they might be able to give in
assisting in the sale
of the French Panama Company’s stocks. Of course, one
can easily see
the ridiculous side of the purchase of half a cargo of snow
shovels to
be used in the tropics.
Practical bankruptcy came in the
year 1889, and from that time on
the French Canal Company simply held its
franchise and concessions
from the Republic of Colombia for speculative
purposes only. Then the
officers of the French company, seeing that the
United States Congress
was beginning to take a lively interest in canal
construction, and was
showing signs of a disposition to pass legislation that
would commit
the United States as a Nation to the building of a canal, began
to
look toward the United States as a prospective customer for
their
uncompleted canal project at Panama. In the meantime the
Nicaraguan
company had gone upon the rocks of bankruptcy, and they, too,
were
offering their concessions and franchises to the American
Government.
And so with these two propositions before Congress, time drifted
on to
the opening of the war between our country and Spain.
When the
Spanish war was declared, it was reported in the United States
that a Spanish
fleet was cruising in Asiatic waters. Of course, it was
not known how strong
that fleet might be. There was no way of knowing
whether or not it would be
able to cross the Pacific and take San
Francisco or some of the other cities
or ports of the western coast
of the United States. So the Secretary of the
Navy ordered the crack
battleship of the navy, the “Oregon,” to maintain her
station in San
Francisco Bay with steam up, prepared to go into action at any
moment.
Significance of the “Oregon’s” Course
Everyone who
lived around the Bay of San Francisco in those days
remembers what relief the
news in the papers brought on a bright May
morning that Admiral Dewey, in
response to an order from Secretary
J. D. Long had proceeded to Manila and
destroyed the Spanish fleet.
This meant there was no longer any danger of the
bombardment of San
Francisco.
There was no longer any necessity for
holding the “Oregon” in Pacific
waters, and so quickly followed the order
from the Secretary of the
Navy that she should at once take her departure to
the coasts of Cuba
and join the American squadron operating there. The
citizens of San
Francisco swarmed the hilltops to see the departure of their
favorite
battleship. She sailed majestically out through the Golden Gate
and
turned her prow southward. The patriotic hearts of the men and
women
of California followed her course as they read each morning in
the
newspapers the description of her successful voyage down the
western
coasts of Mexico and Central America, on past Panama and along
the
coasts of South America, through the Straits of Magellan, then to
the
northward to her station on the coast of Cuba. But they noted that
this
voyage consumed sixty-five days of time.
[Illustration: THE
CULEBRA CUT, LOOKING NORTH.]
Then the President, the American Congress,
and the American people
awoke to the fact that if the safety of the cities of
the seaboards
of the Atlantic and the Pacific depended upon naval protection,
and
that if such a long voyage would have to be taken by ships
stationed
upon the opposite coast, it might mean the destruction of
incalculable
wealth.
The entire Nation began to realize that if the
“Oregon” could have
sailed from San Francisco to Panama and passed through
the isthmus by
means of a canal such as we are now constructing, she could
have made
the voyage from San Francisco to the coasts of Cuba, consuming
three
days at Colon or Panama to take on stores and ammunition, and
still
could have been at her station on the coasts of Cuba in sixteen
days’
time. The people of the country began to realize that the
difference
between sixteen and sixty-five days might mean the safety of
the
Nation, and especially so if we were at war with a maritime power
such
as Great Britain, Germany and Japan.
This startling demonstration
of the absolute necessity for a Panama
Canal from the standpoint of American
national safety, at once swept
aside all opposition at Washington to canal
construction. Immediately
a universal wave of sentiment in favor of a
national American Isthmian
Canal swept over the land and found its expression
in instructions
by every constituency in the Union to Congressmen and to
Senators to
do all in their power to assist in bringing canal legislation to
a
successful termination.
The Canal Commission
Immediately
thereafter President William McKinley was authorized by
Congress to send a
commission to Panama and Nicaragua to examine those
two routes and to receive
offers from the different companies as to the
amounts the different projects
could be purchased for.
The result of the investigations of the
commission was that the
Panamanian Company offered their uncompleted canal,
their franchises,
their plans and specifications, the Panama Railroad, which
was worth
about $12,000,000, and a line of steamships from Colon to New
York,
consisting of five medium-sized steel vessels of modern
construction,
for the sum of $110,000,000. The Nicaraguan Company offered
their
concessions from Costa Rica and Nicaragua, in addition to all
their
other property, for $6,000,000. They simply desired to be
reimbursed
for the amounts spent in securing their concessions and making
their
preliminary surveys.
After careful consideration the commission
recommended the purchase
of the Nicaraguan proposition. It was at this
critical state of the
negotiations that President McKinley was removed by the
bloody hand of
the assassin, and as a result Vice-President Roosevelt took
his place
as the head of the American Government. President Roosevelt decided
on
the Nicaraguan proposition; but before the matter was closed the
French
Panama Company came fully to the realization that if the United
States
purchased the concessions of the Maritime Canal Company and began
the
construction of a canal through the Nicaraguan territory, without
any
question that project would be completed in a reasonably short
space
of time, as it would have the power of the entire American
Government
behind it.
[Illustrations: BONEYARD OF THE OLD FRENCH
MACHINERY.]
They also realized that if the Nicaragua Canal was
constructed it would
probably make their holdings in Panama of far less
value; and as they
were practically bankrupt then, they begged an opportunity
to submit
a lower price for their property. This opportunity was granted,
and
the result was that the French company offered their franchises
and
holdings, including the railroad and the steamship line, for the sum
of
$40,000,000.
This amount was so much lower than the amount
originally demanded
that it caused a reconsideration by the President and
Congress, which
terminated in the decision of the President and Congress to
purchase
the rights and the property of the French Company.
The next
step was to ascertain whether or not the French company could
convey a valid
title to the United States, and Attorney-General Knox
was instructed to go to
France and consult with the proper French
authorities and determine if such a
legal conveyance could be made.
As a result of his investigations, General
Knox on October 30, 1902,
decided that the French company could convey an
absolute title to the
American Government.
A great nation such as the
United States could not contemplate
becoming the tenant of any other country
under the sun, much less a
feeble republic of Central America. The dignity of
the United States
required absolute sovereignty over any territory through
which the
American Nation might decide to construct an isthmian canal.
Absolute
sovereignty over an isthmian canal, however, on the part of the
United
States had been waived by the terms of the Clayton-Bulwer
treaty
entered into with Great Britain a half century before. The terms
of
this treaty provided that in case either nation should construct
an
isthmian canal, such canal should not be fortified nor controlled
by
either power; and that should any other nation construct an
isthmian
canal, the United States and Great Britain should join in
preserving
its neutrality.
Before the United States could exercise
absolute sovereignty over
any strip of territory across the isthmus, the
Clayton-Bulwer treaty
would have to be abrogated, and to accomplish this
Secretary of
State Hay entered into negotiations with Great Britain. He found
the
representatives of that country very willing to meet every
reasonable
demand. After a short series of negotiations he succeeded in
having
passed and ratified by both countries the Hay-Pauncefote treaty.
Under
the terms of this treaty Great Britain waived all claims to
sovereignty
and control over an Isthmian Canal, and substantially agreed to
the
jurisdiction and control of the United States over any canal that
might
be constructed by that country.
Acquirement of the Canal
Zone
When this obstacle was removed the next step was to secure a
canal
zone, and the United States entered into negotiations with
the
Government of Colombia with that end in view. The result of
the
negotiations was that an agreement was reached by which the Republic
of
Colombia agreed to convey to the United States a strip of land
thirty
miles wide and extending a marine league into the waters on either
side
of the isthmus. The terms of the treaty were that the United States,
in
consideration of the zone proposed to be transferred, should pay to
the
Republic of Colombia ten million dollars in cash on the
ratification
of the treaty by the separate governments, and commencing nine
years
from the date of ratification, the sum of one hundred
thousand
dollars a year for all time. This tentative treaty found great
favor
in Washington, D. C., and was immediately ratified by the
American
Senate, and then sent back to Bogota for ratification by the
Colombian
authorities. But much to the astonishment and chagrin of the people
of
the United States, and to the extreme disappointment of the people
and
the authorities of Panama, this so-called Hay-Herran treaty was
refused
ratification by the Colombian Senate.
The refusal of this
ratification ultimately led to the secession
of Panama from its allegiance to
the Republic of Colombia and the
acquirement of independence.
While on
the Canal Zone in 1907 on an official visit I came into close
contact with
the officials of Panama, particularly President Amador,
the first President
of the Panama Republic, and General Arrias, who
held the combined offices of
Secretary of State and War for the new
republic.
At a dinner given by
the American Minister, being placed beside
General Arrias, I took occasion to
inquire of him the reasons why the
Hay-Herran treaty was refused ratification
by the Senate of Colombia,
after it had been tentatively agreed to by the
Colombian authorities.
General Arrias’ explanation was to the effect that
there were four
reasons why the Hay-Herran treaty was refused ratification on
its
return to the Colombian Senate. The first was that the German
influence
was strong in Colombia, and the German merchants and diplomats
were
very much opposed to the extension of American influence down the
west
coast of South America, particularly in the Colombian Republic.
The
German merchants, seeing the collapse of the French Canal Company
near
at hand, hoped that a German company might purchase the wreck of
the
French enterprise and carry the canal to completion, realizing
that
this course would mean much in the way of German
aggrandizement.
The second influence, according to General Arrias, was
that of the old
transcontinental railroad management of the United States.
Popular
demand for an isthmian canal having swept away all obstruction
at
Washington, D. C., the scene of operations was shifted to Bogota,
and
railroad influence and railroad money were probably used to induce
some
of the Senators to refuse to vote for the ratification of the
treaty.
The third influence was that of patriotism. Some of the
Colombian
Senators were opposed to a transfer of any portion of Colombian
soil
to a foreign power, more especially as the Colombian
constitution
contained a clause making it treason for any Colombian subject
to
become a party to the alienation of any part of Colombian territory
to
another country.
The fourth and the most potent influence was the
fact that the French
Panama Canal Company had failed in every respect to keep
the terms of
their contract with the Colombian Government. Not only had they
failed
to complete the canal at the time specified in their franchise,
but
having obtained an extension of that time, had failed to observe
the
terms by which the extension had been secured.
Therefore the
Colombian Government might very properly proceed to a
forfeiture, which could
be obtained through due process of law in
something less than ten months’
time.
Many of the Colombian Senators took the position that it would
be
lawful and more expedient to declare a forfeiture upon the
French
company, and take over the canal under the terms of such
forfeiture
as provided by the franchise. The Republic of Colombia would
then
be in a position to sell the same to the American Government
for
forty million dollars, and since then they would secure ten
million
dollars for a zone and a perpetual rental of a large sum annually,
the
financial condition of the country would be very much improved. As
the
finances of the Republic of Colombia were at that time in a
desperately
depleted condition, this prospect of their rehabilitation must
have had
powerful effect with many of the Senators.
[Illustration:
GATUN MIDDLE LOCK, LOOKING SOUTH FROM EAST BANK.]
These four reasons
operating, no doubt caused the Colombian Senate to
refuse ratification to the
Hay-Herran treaty.
But in Panama the people and the authorities were
determined not to
submit to the action of the Colombian Senate. The
Panamanians were
aware of the fact that the President of the United States
had been
authorized by Congress to make a choice between either the
French
Panama or the Nicaraguan route, and that under that authority he
would
at once proceed to close a contract with the Maritime Canal Company
of
Nicaragua if he could not secure a canal zone. They also realized
that
if once the American Government began the work of excavating a
canal
through Nicaraguan and Costa Rican territory, in all human
probability,
the French Panama Company’s project would be
abandoned.
Thus the cities of Colon and Panama, and the territory
surrounding,
would be relegated to obscurity so far as world’s trade was
concerned,
for many years. This the Panamanians were determined to
prevent
if possible, so they took every step necessary to inaugurate
and
successfully carry out a revolution in case of the refusal of
the
Colombian Government to ratify the Hay-Herran treaty. They sent
Dr.
Varilla as their representative to New York and instructed him
to
remain in close touch with the cable, and should he receive a
cablegram
that Panama had thrown off her allegiance to Colombia and had
resumed
her old-time independence, he should proceed at once to
Washington,
D. C., notify President Roosevelt of the fact, demand recognition
of
the new Republic of Panama as an independent power, and enter at
once
into negotiations with the United States for the recognition of
that
independence and the transfer of a canal zone.
The New
Republic of Panama
This program was carried out later on. The Panamanians
had very little
trouble in overawing the few Colombian officers within their
territory.
They knew that the Colombian Government had no navy, from the fact
that
a year before the Colombian navy had been sent to the City of
Panama
to coerce the authorities there who were disputing with the
Colombian
Government over some items of revenue which were an issue; and
meeting
force with force the authorities of the City of Panama had
succeeded,
with the assistance of a small tug-boat and one piece of cannon,
in
sweeping the seas of the entire Colombian naval power, and as
evidence
of their success the two masts of the Colombian navy were sticking
up
out of the mud-banks of Panama Bay.
Nor were the inhabitants of
Panama or Colon much concerned as to
a possible attack from a Colombian army.
That would entail a long
march of hundreds of miles through morass and
jungle, and could not
be successfully accomplished in less than a year’s
time. And so the
Panamanians were free to act in their purposes of securing
independence
without danger of very much interference from the home
government.
The result of the revolution was very gratifying to the
Panamanians.
As soon as they learned that the treaty had been refused
ratification,
they immediately wired to Dr. Varilla at New York. He
apparently was at
his post waiting the news, for it was whispered in
Washington that he
took the night train from New York, reached Washington in
the morning,
and arrived at the White House early in the forenoon. And from
all
indications President Roosevelt must have been waiting just inside
the
door to receive him, for it is said that the President was on hand
to
grasp Dr. Varilla by the hand and welcome him to the White House,
and
that when he came out two hours later, Panama was virtually
recognized
as an independent government. Within a few days a treaty was
negotiated
between Panama and the United States.
Terms of the
Treaty
This treaty, called the Hay-Varilla treaty, was ratified in
December,
1903. Its terms provided that the sum of ten millions of dollars
be
paid by the United States to the Government of Panama, and the
further
sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year for all
time,
commencing nine years after the ratification of the treaty by
both
countries. The Republic of the United States was to have
absolute
title and sovereignty to a strip of land ten miles wide, five miles
on
either side of the center of the canal prism, extending from Colon
to
Panama, and three miles out into the water on either side, but
without
including either of the cities of Colon or Panama within its
area.
This treaty further provided that the United States should
guarantee
the independence of the Panamanian Republic, the terms being
most
explicit that the United States should protect the
Panamanian
Government from insurrection within and invasion from without.
This
little joker in the treaty between the United States and Panama
makes
that little republic the strongest of all the republics on the
American
continent next to our own. In fact, the Republic of Panama is as
strong
as the United States, and will be so as long as the American
flag
floats in sovereignty over a foot of American soil.
The treaty
also provided that the United States should have the
privilege of sanitizing
the cities of Panama and Colon, and that the
cost of the same should be a
charge against the Government of Panama.
When all obstacles to the
acquirement of the zone were removed under
the Hay-Varilla treaty, the next
step on the part of the American
Republic was to begin the most important
work of sanitization.
Sanitization of the Canal Zone
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.
Upper Picture--Before; Lower--After a Blast.]
So with this
dreadful experience as an example and a warning, the
American authorities
realized that the first work of importance was
that of subduing the
unhealthful conditions of the Canal Zone so
that labor might be engaged in
with reasonable safety by the tens of
thousands of employees who would be
placed upon the line of operations
of the canal when work was actively
commenced.
Fortunately, surgeons of the American army had gained a great
deal of
experience during the Cuban campaign, and one army surgeon had
achieved
particular prominence in his handling of tropical diseases. Dr. W.
C.
Gorgas, who had campaigned in Cuba and assisted General Leonard Wood
in
the cleaning up and sanitization of Santiago and Havana, was
peculiarly
fitted for the important work of establishing healthful conditions
on
the Zone.
Dr. Gorgas had also had the advantage of being a
collaborator as well
as a fellow officer of Dr. Reed in Cuba. Dr. Reed was
one of the first
army surgeons to become familiar with the theory that the
yellow fever
and the malarial fevers of the tropics were carried and
distributed
through the agency of mosquitoes. In fact, Dr. Reed himself
became
a victim to his desire for scientific knowledge, he having
allowed
himself to be bitten by a mosquito that had first filled itself
with
the virus of a yellow fever patient, and died as the result of
the
experiment.
War on the Mosquito
Dr. Gorgas carried on
the work of the investigation and development
of the mosquito theory after
the death of Dr. Reed, and became a
recognized world-wide authority on the
science of tropical diseases
and sanitation, when he was chosen as the
officer to whom the
sanitization of the Zone should be entrusted. He was
given ample funds
by the American Government and furnished with a force of
men numbering
more than 2000, his theory being that by the destruction of
the
breeding places of mosquitoes he could finally eliminate the
mosquitoes
themselves.
In carrying out his plan the vegetation on
either side of the canal for
half a mile was cut down and burned, the dead
trees destroyed, the low
marshy places drained where possible; and where it
was impossible to
successfully drain the ground and water pools they were
covered with a
petroleum mixture. In fact, petroleum was found to be so
effective that
it came to be the favorite means of destroying the mosquitoes,
and one
approaching Colon today, if the wind is in the right quarter, may
catch
the odor of that ingredient one hundred miles at sea.
It was
found after investigation by Dr. Gorgas that the mosquito,
called the
stegomyia, was peculiarly partial to the yellow fever
victim, and that after
biting a yellow fever patient and becoming
inoculated with the poison, the
stegomyia became very active in its
distribution to other subjects. A
mosquito called the anopheles, by
some peculiar freak of nature, had a like
attraction for the victims of
malarial diseases.
And so, between the
two kinds of mosquitoes there seemed to be a
rivalry as to which could do the
most damage. But fortunately neither
one of these pestiferous insects could
fly over a quarter of a mile,
and so the theory of Dr. Gorgas was that by
destroying their breeding
places and eliminating them from the Canal Zone, he
might preserve the
health of the workers.
Colon was overhauled by
repaving the streets after first saturating
the ground with petroleum,
bringing in fresh water and constructing
sewers. In fact, all the measures
that were necessary to establish
healthful conditions were used.
The
same course of treatment was given the City of Panama, much to the
disgust of
many of the Panamanian residents, who had been using water
from wells and
cisterns that had been dug two centuries before, when
Panama was
founded.
A splendid system of hospitals was built up by rehabilitation
of
the hospital system left by the French company and the addition
of
others. Thousands of cabins were built for the common laborers,
the
so-called “silver men,” and better cottages for white men who
might
take their families with them to the Zone while engaged in labor
there.
Dormitories for single white men were built at every
construction
point. Restaurants were established at which a meal of four
courses was
furnished the superior class of white employees at 35 cents.
Provision
was made for the issuance of cooked rations at a price of 10
cents
per ration to the “silver men,” who are nearly all negroes, it
being
the policy of the commission to protect the life and health of
every
employee of the Zone, so that the health of the individual would
become
a guarantee of the safety of the whole body of working
men.
The Present Low Death Rate
Time and experience have
conclusively shown Colonel Gorgas’ theories
to have been correct, and the
gratifying result is that because of
the wonderful precautions taken and the
very effective work done in
scientific sanitization since the commencement of
operations under
Colonel Gorgas tropical diseases have almost been eliminated
on the
Zone. As a matter of fact, there has not been a case of yellow
fever
on the Canal Zone since June, 1906, and the malarial fevers have
been
reduced to a minimum. The Canal Zone has now a lower death rate
than
most American cities, and has almost become a health resort. In
the
opinion of some of the most eminent authorities, the most
effective
work entering into the entire construction of the canal is the work
of
sanitization so successfully accomplished by Colonel Gorgas and
his
able assistants.
While the work of sanitization was under way, the
President of the
United States was taking counsel with a board of engineers
as to the
type of canal that should be constructed. As usual in all such
matters,
the authorities were about equally divided, half of the engineers
being
strongly in favor of a sea-level canal, and the other half
advocating
what was called a lock canal.
The Two Types of
Canal
The difference between the two types of canal is this: A
sea-level
canal contemplated an excavation from shore to shore at the level
of
the sea; a lock canal contemplated the construction of a great
dam
across the valley of the Chagres and the course of the Chagres
river,
which dam would have the effect of holding the waters of the
Chagres
river. The accumulation of those waters in time would form a
lake,
the surface of which lake, of course, would be considerably above
the
level of the sea on either side. The dam would necessarily have to
be
surmounted through the agency of locks.
After much controversy and
bickering, and a great deal of muck-raking
by the newspapers and magazines of
the United States and Europe, the
plan of a lock canal was finally adopted.
This plan contemplated the
impoundment of the waters of the Chagres river by
a dam constructed
at Gatun, a little village about three and one-half miles
inland
from the shore of Limon bay. This dam when finished would be 7700
feet
in length, half a mile in width at the base, and 135 feet in
height.
It was designed that this dam should hold the waters of the lake
at
a height of 85 feet above sea-level, but it was constructed 50
feet
higher so that all danger might be obviated in case of excessive
floods.
[Illustrations: AT WORK IN THE CULEBRA CUT.]
The plan of
the canal contemplated that this dam should be surmounted
by three locks
constructed in pairs, so that in case one series of
locks became impaired the
other could be used, or ships might pass up
one side and down the other at
the same time. Each of the locks was to
be 1000 feet long, 110 feet wide, and
have a lifting capacity of 28½
feet. Therefore, when completed, this series
of locks constructed of
concrete would be more than 3000 feet in length and
about 250 feet in
width, without doubt the largest concrete formation ever
constructed.
The engineers of the Panama Commission give four reasons for
the
adoption of the lock system instead of the sea-level type. In the
first
place, it would take twice as long to construct a sea-level canal
as
it would a lock canal. Secondly, it would cost twice as much money,
and
as the lock canal system is costing nearly four hundred millions
of dollars,
the difference in cost would be a great obstacle to the
construction to the
other type of canal. The third reason was that in
case a sea-level canal was
constructed it would be necessary to place
locks somewhere along its course
because of the fact of the variation
of tides between the Atlantic and the
Pacific Oceans.
The tide rises and falls at Colon, on the Atlantic side,
about 3½ feet,
at the time of extreme high tide; while on the Pacific side
the tides
rise and fall 27½ feet, and this great variation would cause a
current
to rush through the course of the canal so great that locks would
be
required for its control.
But the fourth was the most potent reason
of all why the lock system
was adopted. On the Isthmus of Panama the rainfall
amounts to 130 to
150 inches annually. Sometimes the precipitation will
amount to 10 or
12 inches in twenty-four hours. The Chagres river is the only
agency
for the drainage of a vast area of water-shed in the Caribbean
sea.
Therefore, at times the Chagres river might be a small,
inconsequential
stream that a boy could wade across, and yet before
twenty-four hours
had elapsed, because of a heavy rainfall, it might have
swelled into
a raging torrent that would wreck the strongest battleship of
the
American navy. The large volume of water discharged by the
Chagres
river could not be turned into the canal proper, as the currents
and
the rush of flood waters would soon impair the banks of the
canal.
The Lock System Adopted
Therefore it would be
necessary, under the sea-level type of canal,
to construct a series of
embankments and dams that would be far more
expensive to build and keep in
repair than would be one great dam over
the course of the Chagres river.
Besides, the safety of the lock system
would be much greater than that of the
sea-level type. These were the
reasons which finally controlled the
determination of the engineers to
construct a lock system of
canal.
After the type of canal was decided upon, the next step was
the
assemblage of the force of laborers and the mechanical
appliances
necessary for the physical operations. In order to carry out
this
scheme, a commission was originally appointed, composed half
of
civilians and half of military officers. The first engineers
were
selected as being the most eminent of their profession, and taken
from
civil employment.
But great difficulties were encountered in
perfecting the proper kind
of an organization to successfully complete this
stupendous project.
The engineers taken from private life and entrusted with
the work,
after a little experience on the Isthmus, would be offered
greater
inducements to abandon their Governmental employment and take
some
other position, generally far more lucrative, in the United States.
And
so, either through accident or design, the Canal Commission lost
the
services of such men as Wallace, Stevens, Shonts, Grunsky, and
other
noted engineers, and again it seemed as if canal operations would
be
badly crippled for want of the right kind of men to direct the
work.
Army Engineers Installed
This tendency of the civil
engineers to leave their employment caused
much concern to the President and
Congress, and finally President
Roosevelt, with his characteristic acumen,
decided that he would place
the work of canal construction under the army
engineers entirely. So,
at his suggestion, Congress reframed the law of the
Canal Commission,
and President Roosevelt remarked that under the new law he
would put
army engineers on the job, and that they would either stay there
until
it was done or get out of the army.
Experience has proved that
President Roosevelt’s judgment was correct,
for the work has gone on since
the reorganization of the commission
with the regularity of a machine. There
has hardly been a stop or
a break at any point along the line of operations.
Colonel G. W.
Goethals, one of the most successful of the army engineers, was
placed
at the head of the Canal Commission and given full charge, and his
work
has been so successful that he has demonstrated his ability to
command
and to control the operations placed in his charge to the
satisfaction
of the great powers that gave him his commission.
His
first step upon being placed in control was to provide the means
of feeding
and caring for an army of from 25,000 to 40,000 men. A
bake shop was built at
Crystobal, out of which 30,000 loaves of bread
are turned twice a day if
necessary, and a batch of pies and cakes in
proportion. Storage warehouses
have been built for the storage of meats
and vegetables and various other
supplies, that are brought from the
north by shiploads. Ice plants have been
constructed so that ice may
be distributed up and down the line of
operations. Every morning at 3
o’clock a supply train leaves Colon, and
furnishes every camp along the
line of the canal with fresh supplies for the
day’s consumption.
Thus, under army supervision the employees of the
Canal Zone are as
well supplied with rations and materials as they would be
on an army
reservation.
Following these necessary preparations for
handling the big force of
men, came the assemblage of the machinery and the
mechanical implements
necessary to perform the work. Without going into
exhaustive details,
it is only necessary to say that the very best materials,
implements
and machinery that money could supply, brought from all parts of
the
world, were sent to Panama.
Old French Machinery
One of
the most interesting things the traveler upon the Isthmus
will see is the
mass of discarded French machinery piled all along
the line of operations. No
doubt the French used the best machinery
that could be obtained at that time,
but that was thirty years ago,
and the progress of the world, particularly in
the use of labor-saving
machinery, is nowhere more thoroughly demonstrated
than on the
Isthmus of Panama by a comparison of the old French machinery
with
that assembled by the American engineers. There are piles of
French
locomotives that today are absolutely worthless, not because
the
machinery itself is defective, but because of their feeble power.
At
the town of Empire there are forty-five French engines piled in
one
heap that cannot be used by the Canal Commission. In fact, they are
of
such little power that they would hardly be used by a street
contractor
on a city job in the United States.
[Illustration: Upper
Picture--Gatun Lower Locks.
Lower Picture--Huge Traveling Crane Used in
Construction Work.]
In direct contrast to these are the splendid engines
sent to the
Isthmus by the commission--200 locomotives, not of the
largest,
but about of the medium size one sees on the American
railways;
2000 splendidly constructed steel dump cars for the hauling of
rock
and debris; 300 air-compressed drills for boring into the rocks
in
blasting operations; 125 steam shovels of 75, 90 and 125 tons
capacity;
apparatus and machinery for the moving of railroad tracks, so
effective
that a railroad track can be slung 10 or 12 feet to one side or
the
other, laid down and spiked almost as fast as a man can walk;
great
steel plows that are pulled across strings of gravel cars,
plowing
the gravel or debris off the cars on one side so rapidly that a
long
train of 25 or 30 cars can be unloaded in a few minutes. The
stationary
machinery is of the best quality that genius and money can
construct,
and so effective have been these means of labor saving that the
work
has been accelerated from time to time until it is now a realized
fact
that the canal will be actually constructed a year and a half ahead
of
time.
When the Canal Commission first began their work after the
completion
and the adoption of their plans, it was estimated that
110,000,000
cubic yards of debris must be excavated from the canal prism.
This
debris must be taken and deposited at some place so remote that
it
could never wash back into the canal by the rains and floods.
The
debris taken from the cuts on the high lands could not be used in
the
structure of the Gatun dam, as it would be too liable to
percolation.
The Gatun Dam
The Gatun dam is being constructed
by hydraulic process through the
instrumentality of suction pumps, which suck
up the slime and the
debris from the course of the Chagres river and the
swamps and morass
through which the canal is being constructed. This debris
and this
water are sucked up and allowed to run along the center of the dam,
the
water running off and the solid matter congealing there, and by
this
hydraulic process that great structure will be formed.
The
traveler upon the Isthmus today, if standing upon an eminence
overlooking the
cut through Culebra hill, would imagine himself on a
height overlooking an
industrial city like Pittsburg. There are scenes
of such immense activity on
every side that he forgets he is in a
remote part of the world far from his
home, and that he is actually
standing upon an eminence in the
tropics.
The development of labor-saving machinery has been so marked
since the
construction of the canal was actually commenced that each
month’s
work has marked an increase in the amount of debris excavated
from
the canal prism. When the Government began operations in 1906,
the
engineers had before them the task of excavating 110,000,000
cubic
yards. Their first month’s operations were very successful, and
they
reported at the end of the month an excavation of about 250,000
cubic
yards. They estimated that if they could keep up this amount of
work
through each month they could finish the canal at a certain time;
but
the carping yellow newspapers and magazines of the United States
and
Europe were extremely skeptical of the ability of the Canal
Commission
to continue to turn out 250,000 cubic yards per month. The
critics
foretold that when the rainy season came more debris would be
carried
into the canal prism by floods than could be taken out by
machinery
in the dry season. At times this criticism grew very irksome
and
disagreeable to the commissioners. However, they kept their temper,
and
continued improving their machinery, and month by month the output
grew
greatly. It grew to such an enormous extent that the estimated time
has
been shortened to the extent that I have formerly
indicated.
[Illustration: CANAL ADMINISTRATION BUILDING,
PANAMA.]
The Work of Excavation
To give a comparison by the
use of figures of the remarkable progress
made, I will say that about six
months ago I took up the report of the
Canal Commission and I found that in
the previous month the amount of
debris excavated for that one month exceeded
4,000,000 of cubic yards,
this tremendous output being a complete answer to
the criticisms of the
opponents of canal construction.
In order to
give a mental picture of the type of canal, let us take an
imaginary trip
through the canal proper. It will be forty-two miles
from shore to shore. In
addition to this there will be an excavation
out in Limon bay on the eastern
side, and in Panama bay on the western
side, of about four miles on either
side, in order to reach deep water.
Supposing that we are sailing down
through Limon bay, which is a
small bay at the bottom of the Caribbean sea,
on one of our American
battleships. We first enter the canal which leads from
the bay up into
the shore toward Gatun dam, and this section of the canal
will be 500
feet wide and 40 feet deep at low water level. This channel
penetrates
through the mud banks and land about four miles, when it
encounters
Gatun dam. Gatun dam must be surmounted through the agency of
locks,
which have been previously described.
Operation of the
Locks
Our vessel then sails into the first, or the lower, of the locks.
The
steel doors are closed and locked, and water from the chamber above
is
let down by means of pipes and valves which discharge underneath
the
vessel. This water flowing into the lower chamber, raises our
vessel
28½ feet to the level of the second lock. Our ship sails into
the
second lock, the doors are closed behind and locked, the water let
down
from above, and again our vessel is raised 28½ feet. And so the
process
is repeated the third time, until our ship sails out upon the
lake
which is formed by the impounding of the waters of Gatun
dam.
This lake, when filled to its capacity, will be thirty-three miles
long
between extreme points, and eight miles wide at the widest part.
The
course of a vessel from this lake will be twenty-three miles to a
place
called Bas Obispo. This is the point at which the canal begins to
run
through the hill called Culebra, and therefore the cut is called
the
Culebra cut, and is nine miles long. The canal through this portion
of
its course will be 250 feet wide at the bottom, and the sides of
the canal
will slope so gradually that at the highest point of Culebra
hill, which is
325 feet above sea level, the width will be about
one-half mile.
Our
vessel passes through this nine-mile course to Pedro Miguel. At
Pedro Miguel
there will be a pair of locks 1000 feet long, 110 feet
wide, and with a drop
or lifting area of 35 feet, instead of 28 feet.
Through this lock our vessel
will be lowered to a small lake formed by
the damming of two small streams in
the vicinity of the City of Panama.
This lake will be a couple of miles
across, and on the farther point,
called Miraflores, two pairs of locks will
lower our vessel to the
level of the Pacific Ocean. From the Miraflores locks
a channel will be
constructed out into Panama bay--500 feet wide and 40 feet
deep at low
tide, the same as on the Caribbean side.
The engineering
features of the Panama Canal are not intricate, and not
in any sense
difficult from an engineering standpoint, save for the
great magnitude. It is
the size of the enterprise that has appalled,
and discouraged the canal’s
construction, and not the technical
difficulties of the work
required.
The Future of the Canal
When the Panama Canal is
completed the commerce and trade of the
world will be revolutionized. San
Francisco will be brought nearly
9000 miles closer to New York than it is
today and European ports
nearly 6000 miles closer. It is estimated by
statisticians skilled in
transportation and in carrier service, that the cost
of transporting
the great mass of bulky products from the Pacific Coast to
Eastern
seaboards of the United States and to European points will be
reduced
nearly two-thirds. In other words, freights that now cost
approximately
$1.00 per 100 pounds over the transcontinental railroads from
Pacific
Coast ports to Eastern markets, may be carried through the canal
for
about 33 1/3 cents.
It is estimated that this saving of freight on
timber alone, which is
still standing in California, would pay the cost of
the canal, great as
it is, three times over. We can hardly estimate the
effect that this
shortening of water rates will have on all the countries
fronting the
Pacific Ocean.
It would seem as if the Western hemisphere
was at last coming into
its own in dignity and progress, in its relation to
all the world.
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