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W. p. Leber

Governor-President

R. S. Hartline Lieutenant Governor

Frank A. Baldwin Panama Canal Information Officer

PANAMA fV^i'-i CANAL

Official Panama Canal Publication

Morgan E. Goodwin, Press Officer

Publications Editors Louis R. Granger, Tomas A. Cupas

Writers Eunice Richard, Fannie P. Hernandez,

Jose T.iTurion, Willie K. Friar, and Luis C. Noli

Review articles may be reprinted without furttier clearance. Oedit to the Review will be appreciated.

Subscriptions: SI o year, airmail S2 a year; back copies (regular mail), 25 cents each. Published quarterly. Make postal money orders [xiyable to the Panama Canal Company, Box M, Balboa Heights, C.Z.

Editorial OFfices are located in the Administration Building, Balboa Heights, C.Z. Printed at the Printing Plant, La Boca, CZ

Contents

Maurice Thatcher 3

The onhj surviving member

of the Lstlimian Canal Comm/.S'.s/on turns 100 amid Jiis memorabilia.

Madden Forest Preserve 6

The jungle forest is an at- traction to tourists and sci- entists alike.

Morgan's Garden 10

A plant lover's delight, the

spraicling garden is open to evcrijbodij.

Tocunien International .Airport 12 Manif changes are planned

for Panama's busij airport.

Ship])ing Notes 15

Panama Canal Medals 18

Four medals tell the stonj

of the Panama Canal.

Fastlich Teenage League 20

The founder of the ba.seball league nanted to help

youngsters.

Molas 22

These colorful cloth panels

made hij Cuna Indian women have become objets d'art.

Anniversaries 26

Culinary Capers 28

Cooking the ancient Chinese tcai/ irith rcok and

cleaver.

Chinese Pavilion 31

Panama's first classic-.stt/le pavilion overlooks the city.

^^^^^ /
MAURICE H. THATCHER

A IT1«H Of nioBi) 6ib T»in. 100

Sitting at his desk in his Washington apartment, Thatcher talks about his past.

MAURICE H. THATCHER, only sur- viving member of the Isthmian Canal

Commission, a former U.S. Representative from Kentuckv, and a prolific poet, celebrates his lOOth birthday August 15

—the same date as the 56th anniversary

of the opening of the Panama Canal

which he helped build. A slender man with bushy white eye- brows, Tliatcher may be getting along

in years and may not move about as quickh as he once did, but his mind

is as sharp as that of a man half his age. Although he has given up his law

business in Washington, D.C., he continues to write poetry and is making a collection of his memoirs.

He is a widower and lives alone in a four-room apartment on busy 16th

Street in Northwest Washington. A maid

fixes breakfast and cleans the apartment,

but Thatcher makes his own dinner. Last September he suffered a bad fall which he says "weakened me consider- ably—but not my mind." He sustained

a cut on the back of his head but was

able to call a taxi to take him to a doctor.

In an inter\'iew in Washington in July,

Thatcher said his health was still good,

and he rises about 7:30 a.m. and sometimes works on his memoirs until midnight. This is a continuing project, and

once he gets his papers and memorabilia

organized, the collection will be placed on display at the Scottish Rite Temple

just across the street from where he

lives. He has an editorial assistant who

helps him index the papers,-, photographs, and clippings. Already 80 scrap- books have been sent to the temple.

Walking Sticks Among other things he has an impressive collection of walking sticks and

14 pens which were given to him bv

U.S. Presidents from Coolidge to Johnson after having been used to sign bills which Thatcher sponsored or had some

part in promoting.

He has no special plans to celebrate

his 100th birthday although the people

JtlE recalls that when

he first arrived in the

Canal Zone as the youngest

member of the Isthmian

Canal Commission,

he felt that he was part

and parcel of the

greatest enterprise of all

ages. Since then he

has been honored by three

Latin American nations.

in the office building where he had his law office for a number of \cars usually

have a cake for him. "Ordinarily I don't pav much attention to birthdays,"

he savs. Last vear the Washington Post newspaper printed a 99th birthday story about Thatcher. And President Nixon

sent him a personal letter of congratulations. At that time Thatcher told how

he got to be 99.Sound Life

"I don't eat meat. I eat vegetables,

eggs, and milk. I don't drink; I don't smoke; and I don't drink tea or coffee.

. . . It's not a religious thing," he said.

"I just wanted to live what I considered

a sound biological life. I noticed that the smokers and chewers and drinkers had a hard time quitting when they

wanted to. I just quit early. I'm a good

sleeper, always was, and I still get about

8 hours' sleep a night."

A few months ago Thatcher appeared

(Please see p. 4)

The Panama Canal Review
"1 lia\e always had great faith in the future of the Canal and in the future of aviation"—Thatcher.

(Continued from p. 3) on the television show "They Said It Couldn't Be Done" when the subject was on the Panama Canal. He prefers listening to his shortwave

radio than watching TV although he has

a large color set. "There are too many

commercials on TV. I would rather

listen to music while I'm working," he

says. He likes to tr\' to get Panama on

his radio and often has been successful. Thatcher came to the Canal with his late wife in 1910, a time when the Canal construction was moving along at a quick pace. There were 4 more years

of work ahead, but most of the major

construction problems had been solved.

Appointed By Taft The question of organizing the Canal

Zone Government was being discussed

in 1910 and Thatcher was appointed as a member of the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC) by President Taft to concentrate on that project.

He was named to head the Department of Civil Administration and

because of his duties he was given the

unofficial title of Governor of the Canal

Zone. His offices were in the present

District Court building, then called the Administration Building. In a book compiled and edited in 1911 by F. E. Jackson entitled "Makers

of the Panama Canal," Thatcher was

said to be "a man who is splendidly

equipped for the exacting position he

fills. It is no light task to be Governor

of the Canal Zone and to have in hand

the civil administration of its widely

varied interests. Not only does he have

supervision and oversight of the divisions of police and prisons, fire protection, customs and taxes, roads and

streets, water supply and plumbing,

postal affairs and schools, but he has

super\ision also over the street, water,

and sewer systems of the Panamanian

cities of Colon and Panama; and he is the official channel through which musl

flow all communication with the Republic of Panama for, or on behalf of, the Isthmian Canal Commission or the Canal Zone Government."

Greatest Enterprise

Thatcher, whose memon,' is prodigious, said that when he arrived in the Canal Zone he felt like many other men

working on the Canal in that he was

part and parcel of the greatest enterprise

of all ages.

"1 have always had great faith in the

future of the Canal and in the future of

aviation," he said. He recalled that back

in 1912 there was a man named Fowler

who made several unsuccessful attempts

to cross the Isthmus by plane.

"I knew that he would try again when

the wind died down, so I looked out the window and sure enough, I saw the plane take off toward the Atlantic side." Fifty-eight minutes later Thatcher got a call from the Cristobal police who re- ported, "Governor, Fowler just landed." That short flight across the Isthmus

got Thatcher thinking about aviation and its possibilities. While in Congress some years later he worked hard convincing businessmen and Government

leaders that it was feasible to carry mail

by air over long distances. He recalls that on two occasions he

flew over Washington, D.C. with Charles

Lindbergh. The flyer had just completed his famous solo flight to Paris. When he went to Washington, Lindbergh offered rides to senators and con- gressmen and their wives. The first day v he took up Mr. and Mrs. Thatcher. Two

days later Thatcher went up with a lady

from Panama named Mrs. Lola Conger

who begged him to get her a ride with

Lindbergh.

Thatcher persuaded Lindbergh to do

it so he made his second flight in the same week to accompany Mrs. Conger.

This, however, was not his first experi- ence in the air. His first was a ride in a balloon at what was then Camp Knox, now Fort Knox, Ky.

Thoroughly Drenched

The late Mrs. Anne Bell Thatcher,

who accompanied her husband to the . Isthmus as a bride, was more concerned

with the social amenities of life in the Canal Zone. In an interview during the Roosevelt Centennial in 1958, she re- membered a reception being nearly

ruined by spoiled chicken salad and a dinner party during which the ladies got , thoroughly drenched by a heavy rain. The only thing that she said she did not quite like about Panama was the diffi- culty they had on account of dampness.

She had a house in the construction town

of Culebra which she decorated in the

style of the day and displayed her famous orchid collection on the porch. Mrs. Thatcher died in Washington on October 10, 1960. Thatcher was the youngest member

of the Isthmian Canal Commission and

has long outlived all the others. He

looked back over his 100 years and ad- «

4 August 1970
mitted that he had an interesting life. He was bom in Chicago, 111., on August 15, 1870, the son of John C. and

Mary T. Thatcher, but was reared in Butler County, Ky., and educated in public and private schools. Most people in the Canal Zone have

heard of Thatcher but few are wholly aware that his career in the Canal

Zone was only a small part of a career which included law practices in Kentucky, 10 years as a member of Congress, followed by another law practice

in Washington.

Licensed In 1898

He took up the study of law while

he was clerk of the Circuit Court of Buder County and was licensed to practice in 1898. He began his law practice

in Louisville, and was named assistant U.S. district attorney for western Kentucky in 1901. He served in that capacity until 1906 when he returned to

Louisville. From 1908 to 1910, when

he was appointed to the Canal Commission, he was state inspector and

examiner for Kentucky.

During the time that he was serving

in Congress, he returned to the Isthmus

three times as a guest of the Canal Zone

Government. He took the welfare of Panama Canal employees much to heart,

and during the time he was in Congress,

prepared a number of measures that benefited Canal workers. Since World War II he has made

several more visits to the Canal Zone,

each time as a guest of the Canal organization. One of these was in 1962 when

he came for the dedication of the bridge

that bears his name. He cut the ribbon

that opened the bridge.

His last visit was in 1964 at the 50th

anniversary celebration of the opening

of the Panama Canal.

Children's Park

Thatcher's name still is very big in Panama. He is a household word in the town of Arraijan where he was given

a parcel of land as a token of gratitude

for creating the Thatcher Highway. He

later gave the land back to the town

for a children's park. Every year a school child in Arraijan gets a Thatcher

medal for proficiency in English.

He introduced legislation that created

the Thatcher Ferry which operated toll free for more than 30 years and was

followed by the Thatcher Ferry Bridge

which spans the Canal at Balboa. The

highway from the bridge to Arraijan is named Thatcher Highway. He also was

the author of legislation for the estab- lishment, maintenance, and operation

of Gorgas Memorial Laboratory in Pan- ama for research in tropical diseases

which has grown to be the outstanding

institution of its type in the world. He has long served as vice president

and general counsel of the Gorgas Memorial Institute of Tropical and Preventive Medicine which supervises the work

of the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory.

Recently he was made an honorary

president of the institute. In fairly recent years, Thatcher en- couraged action by Congress which pro- vided retirement pay for non-U.S. -citizen employees of the Canal organization. For his work he was given a certificate making him an honorary president of the Canal Zone Retired Workers Association, an Isthmian organization of non-U. S. -citizen employees.

Honored

He has been honored by the Government of Panama which gave him the medal and plaque of the Order of Vasco Nunez de Balboa. Venezuela and Ecuador also have honored him for his services to tropical America.

President Kennedy gave him, as a personal memento, the pen with which

he signed the bill naming the bridge over the Canal in his honor. Last year, on his 99th birthday, Thatcher told newsmen that he was thinking

of quitting his law practice and going

into poetry. At the time he was not too

active in law, but busy collecting his

files, press clippings, and writing poetry.

He said he had written about 1,000

quatrains in FitzGerald-Omar Khayyam

stvle and a large number of sonnets in the Italian and Shakespearean styles. None of his friends doubts he has been

a prolific writer of poetry since few

letters—and he wrote many—ever arrived from him that did not contain a poem.

Thatcher as the youngest member of the Isthmian Canal Commission.

During one of their visits to the Canal Zone, Thatcher and the late Mrs. Thatcher pose

at Miraflores Locks.

The Panama Canal Review
it

/YmONG the scenes which

are deeply impressed on my mind, none exceed in

sublimity the primeval

forests undefaced by the

hand of man. No one can

stand in these solitudes

unmoved, and not feel that

there is more in man than

the mere breath of his body."

Chahles Robert Darwin—

Journal during the Voyage

of H.M.S. Beagle (1831-1836)

Forest Preserve

Jewel Of A Jungle

By Willie K. Friar "WHERE CAN we see the real jungle?"

Canal Zone visitors often ask as they

speed along the Transisthmian Highway.

Then suddenly they round a curve and there it is—a dense tropical forest stretching out on both sides of the high- way, looking just like the jungle in which

Tarzan had his great adventures.

It is the Madden Forest Preserve, one

of the few areas of tropical mainland

forest under the protection of the United

States. It covers nearly 6 square miles

of the Canal Zone, about 10 miles north

of Balboa, and is under the jurisdiction of the Panama Canal organization.

Here giant cuipo and espave trees tower up tens of feet where their branches stretch out and interlace with

those of other trees to form a canopy. Many of the trees have branches cov- ered with gardens of ferns, orchids and

bromeliads.

Seeing these giant trees in the forest

provides an illusion of exploration. Walking along the historic Las Cruces Trail,

which passes through the preserve, one

can easily visualize the Spaniards laden

with their treasures of gold crossing from

the Pacific to the Atlantic side of the Isthmus. This trail was used also by the Forty-niners to avoid the long overland

trek to California during the Gold Rush.

Hiking Trail Part of the trail no longer exists having

been inundated at the time of the cre- ation of Gatun Lake. But the remaining

section is a favorite hiking trail for Isth- mian Boy Scouts and other groups of nature and adventure lovers, including

the Canal Zone bottle collectors who

search along the trail for bottles dis- carded by travelers of times long past. The access roads, leading to the World War II gun emplacements located

in the forest, provide other interesting

trails for exploring.

Much of Panama's irreplaceable

jungles have disappeared. But thanks

to the foresight of the late Dr. Thomas

Barbour, well known naturalist, who

proposed the establishment of the Madden Forest Preserve, and to the late Canal Zone Gov. Harry Burgess, this valuable piece of tropical forest has been

saved almost intact. The preserve was created by order of Governor Burgess on May 27, 1930. The original order designated the area

as "natural timber preserve," but on

April 29, 1931, Governor Burgess issued a new order designating it as a "forest preserve" and stipulated that "the cutting of timber, the trimming, injuring, or carrying out of any of the trees, palms,

or other plants in this area is prohibited."

Naturalists Dr. Barbour, who also had a great deal to do with having Barro Colorado

Island declared a wildlife and forest pre6 Ai'GusT 1970
sei-ve with laboratory facilities so that

naturalists from all over the world could

study there, discussed his part in the establishment of Madden Forest in the December 1936 edition of the Bulletin of the Pan American Union.

He wrote; "A few years ago it was

decided to build a dam at Alajuela, up

on the Chagres River. This is to pro- vide more power and more water for Gatun Lake during years of exceptional

drought. The first step in the project was to build a road from the main Canal Zone highway near Summit to the dam site, and when this came to be

' built, lo and behold!, it passed through

several miles of real first-rate wild forest. Not, to be sure, in an absolutely

primeval state, for there are a few clear- ings and a little timber had been re- moved, but still here were several thou- sand acres of good typical woods in a

'' zone with enough annual rainfall to keep

a good many streams running and plent)' of moisture in the ground so that a beautiful luxuriant vegetation was to be seen; a typical picturesque forest, easily ac- cessible to the amateur naturalist. Wood Cutting

"I was in Panama in the spring of 1930 and took the liberty of suggesting

to Col. Harry Burgess, Governor of the Panama Canal, and a warmly appreciative lover of nature, that it would be

splendid if this area was set aside as a

forest reserve. This was no sooner said than done, and in June 19.30, Governor

. Burgess wrote me that the order had

been issued setting the reserve aside. Police were instructed to protect the area and signs were put up forbidding

woodcutting and trespassing.

"This forest reserve abuts on country

with a considerable rural population as

, you cross the boundary of the Canal

Zone, to which the reserve extends, and

passes into the territory of the Republic

of Panama. The area is not sufficiently extensive to support many of the large native animals, but many of the small

species are abundant and will increase

^ with protection, and the birds are very

satisfying indeed and are to be seen in numbers and great variety. There are

several fine colonies of the hang-nests,

or oropendulas, and some most note- worthy colonies of leaf-cutting ants. One

hill of these near the picnic site where

the "Old Gold Road" crosses the modem highway is the largest I have ever

seen." Ant Armies

The leaf-cutting ant armies, which

Dr. Barbour mentioned, continue to fascinate visitors to the forest who like

^ to watch them carrying bits of leaves appearing like green sails, and the giant

blue Morpho butterflies, some with a wingspread of 6 inches, flitting unmolested through the green jungle foliage, are an unforgetable sight. These butterflies are so numerous when the forest

is viewed from the air they appear as large bright splotches of blue on a green

carpet.

The Canal Zone police keep a reg- ular patrol and watchful eye on the

forest preserve but poachers still slip

in occasionally as they did in Dr. Barbour's dav. in those times, poachers

felled trees for charcoal as well as for lumber. Governor Burgess always kept

a paternal interest in the forest and

took action immediately when reports came in that anything was being taken

from the forest without permission.

T\pical was a memorandum sent to the chief of police by Governor Burgess

in which he said, "Dr. Barbour says that mules and other animals are picketed

along the right-of-way of the road and

are eating the small shrubbery which

makes a nice foreground for the main

forest. Can you have this practice stop- ped bv vour police patrol?"

Grubbed Out

No detail was too small for Dr. Bar- bour and Governor Burgess to notice

if it had to do with making sure the

forest was kept intact. When passers-by

began to damage shrubbery as they took bananas from trees along the road, the word went out to have the banana trees "grubbed out by prisoners." At another time mango trees were

planted along the roadway and these were ordered removed "trunk, branch,

and root" as "the artificial creation of rows of trees through such an area is

as contrary to the underlying principle

of the preserve as would be the cutting

and removal of what naturally grows

there." (Plra.se see p. 8}

ABOVE: A forest visitor strolls along Las

Cruces Trail near where it meets the Transisthmian Highway. BELOW: The

dense tropical forest seems ready to swallow

passing motorists.

The Panama Canal Review
Flowering plants bloom along the trails in the preserve. Dr. Edwin Tyson, biologist

at Florida State University, Canal Zone

Branch, admires a Costus uniflorus, known

in Spanish as the Caiia de Mico.

(Continued from p. 7)

One man, who protested the restric- tion on cutting trees for charcoal, wrote

a letter asking that an exception be

made in his case. He said, "I buv cows'

feet from the slaughterhouse in Panama

City and prepare them for sale by first boiJing them in hot water, and wood

is used to heat the boiler. Mangier wood

is used for this purpose because it makes

a ver\' hot fire." He added a promise

that he would not otherwise damage the

forest. His request, like many others, was turned down.

The forest is always available to

scientists and men from all over the world have conducted a variety of studies there. Madden Forest Preserve is often listed in scientific journals as the

location where studies of tropical flora and fauna took place for specific reports. Members of the Smithsonian Institute use it often and consider it a "must"

stop for visiting scientists. Untouched Jungle

Dr. Horace Loftin and Dr. Edwin

Tyson, biologists at the Canal Zone

Branch of Florida State University, take

their classes into the forest where thev

band birds in order to study their migratory habits; collect insect and plant

specimens; and give the students a chance to see what an untouched jungle

is like. Both have a very strong interest

in conservation and often refer to Barro

Colorajdo, an island in Gatun Lake;

Ancon Hill, adjacent to Balboa Heights;

and the national Park and Biological Preserve, Camparia Heights, the land

set aside in 1966 by the Republic of Panama for a national park, as examples

of doing things right. Panama's park, located in an extinct volcano about 35 miles west of Pan- ama City, has vegetation typical of the higher areas in Panama. It covers about

5,000 acres.

Dr. David A. Harcharik of Duke

University in Durham, N.C., writing of Madden Forest in the Association for Tropical Biologv, Inc. Newsletter, said, "The area should be an objective of study by biologists of many kinds. The

old antiaircraft sites, now obsolete in terms of Canal defense, provide fine vantage spots for veiewing the Canal

and are, in many respects, feature

attractions of the area. Unexplored

"Its ready access from Panama Citv

and the Canal Zone, the potential co- operation of local scientists, its unique

location, and the challenge of the unexplored should make the preserve a target

for intensive exploration by biologists." Dr. Harcharik also pointed out that Panama is the biological crossroads of North and South America containing

plants and animals from both continents.

It may be the most biologically diverse country in the world for its size and he

considers the forest preserve an ideal spot to study the flora and fauna of

this area. After Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean and claimed the land for Spain,

a part of his ritual was to cut down a

tree. Today, it is still almost a ritual to attack the trees as soon as people move

into an area. This continuous destruction of the forests in Panama continues

today just as it did in the United States

as the land was settled. Constant burnings during the dry

season have decimated many of the forests. Fires actually have little effect on

the untouched tropical forest where

there has been no cutting. However,

the edges are vulnerable to repeated

burnings which degrade them a little every time and ipake them slowly re- treat until only sawgrass and other undesirable grasses continue to grow. This

process can be observed as one leaves the limits of Madden Preserve. The destruction of the forest causes

erosion, stream silting, and floods. The

tropical soils which support such giant

trees quickly dry out from exposure to the intense sun and become barren

deserts.

Primitive Vegetation

In our present state of overpopulation, the forest and the various natural vegetation types, which give the tropi- cal landscape its originality, have a chance to survive only in carefully

guarded reserves like Madden where,

fortunately, remnants of primitive vegetation have been preserved and some

rare species protected.

Some ask, "Why save the forest?" "What real use is it?" Scientists have

said that it is true that perhaps manv

of the plants and trees have no known

uses today, but it is impossible to say what value thev mav have in 100 years

time. The tropical forest is a great res- ervoir of species and should not be

allowed to be destroyed in one single

generation.

One might well be reminded of Columbus, who in 1502, loaded aboard his ship baskets of strange red bean-like seeds because he had noticed that the Indians valued them very highly. He

wondered of what possible use thev could be. He never discovered that thev were cocoa beans which one day would

be the basis for a great industry, probably of much more value than the gold

he sought.

Medical researchers now know that many of the medicinal roots, plants, oils, and saps or resins first used by the natives of America hundreds of years ago, have great value in the treating and pre- venting of diseases. Who can sav what

lifesaving drugs may be there in the

plants of the jungle waiting to be dis- covered as was quinine in the Peruvian

forests? Famous Letter But the true value of a forest cannot be measured for it goes far beyond material resources. In 1961, while Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall was speaking before a group, he read

a now famous letter from the novelist,

Wallace Stegner.

The letter said in part: "Wilderness

is useful for spiritual renewal, the rec- ognition of identity, the- birth of awe. These are some of the things wilderness can do for us. This is the reason we need

to put into effect, for its preservation, some other principle than the principles

of exploitation or usefulness or even

recreation. "We simply need that wild country

available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look

in. For it can be a means of reassuring

ourselves of our sanity, as creatures, a

part of the geography of hope."

This leaf-cutting ant is ready to bite into a leaf. They can be seen carrying bits of leaves to their nests.

8 August 1970
Cecropia

Three Interesting Trees

THERE ARE 10 times as many kinds of trees giowing in the tropics as grow in temperate zones. And due to the extreme conditions of heat, drought, and moisture which prevail at different times during the year in Panama, they are

strikingh- different from those found outside the tropics.

One of the most common trees in Madden Forest as well

as throughout Panama is the Cecropia; it is also one of the most unusual. Its leaves are being shipped all over the world

for use in dried flower arrangements. But one would have to shake the tree to discover that it is a vast apartment house

for fierce Azteca ants which rush out of the tree and attack anything that might disturb it. The ants live inside the hollow

stems of the branches and guard the tree from the leaf-cutter

ants which would quickly denude the tree of its shapely leaves.

Indian Blowguns

The branches of the Cecropia are also hollow and are fashioned by certain South American Indians into blowguns.

Another tree common in Madden Forest Preserve is the Baha, the weight of which is only 7 pounds per cubic foot, about half the weight of cork, making it one of the lightest

woods in the world. Nearly everyone at one time or another

has put together a model plane made of balsa or remembers

it as the wood used bv Thor Heyerdahl in the construction

of the Kon-Tiki.

Balsa is the Spanish word for raft which has been one of the main uses of the wood since ancient times. The green wood is very heavy and spongy and will decay in a day or two if left on the ground after being cut. When the wood is dried, either by standing on end or placing in a kiln, it is very

light but tough and is of great value where strength is needed

without much extra weight.

Ship Construction

It is often used in steamship construction as it provides

excellent insulation due to its cellular nature, and saves hundreds of tons in a ship's gross weight.

Another tree in the forest is the Panama, unofficially the

national tree of the Republic of Panama. Some persons believe

that the country derived its name from this tree. Sometimes

growing to a height of 120 feet, the Panama has large leaves. The flowers appear in clusters but have no petals. Instead, there is a wooly outside and dark red and greenish color within. The fruit is a cluster of five pods 4 inches long containing

large brown chestnut-like seeds. The beginning root system at the base of the Panama tree makes it one of the most unusual looking trees in the tropics.

Flat, wall-like extensions snake out from the trunk forming

cubicles between the roots.

Balsa

Panama

The Panama Canal Review
MORGAN'S GARDEN

Thhe Isthmian community has accepted the garden

as its own and many church and communitx'

functions are held there.

Framed by palm fronds, Mrs. Morgan wafers her lawn next to her Spanish style home.

By Jose T. Tuiion

ONE OF the most beautiful and best known flower gardens on the Isthmus was started in 1930—with a bang.

It was a whole series of bangs in fact. When U.S. Army engineers at the near- by post of Corozal rushed to investigate the noise, the\ found that Charles P. Morgan and his wife Pat were preparing the land to plant flowers for the .\ncon Greenhouse.

In order to do the job properly, they

had to get rid of the hardy leaf-cutting or army ants. This was done by filling the ant holes with carbon bisulphide

which was then ignited. The resulting

explosions went off in series through the

ants' nests. It is an old fashioned, but

effective method of killing ants. The site which is now Morgan's

Garden is located .5 miles north of Bal- boa in the vicinitv of Corozal. It was

leased to Mr. and Mrs. Morgan to re- place their Santa Cruz flower farm, near where the Ancon Freighthouse is now

located. The property was needed by

the Canal 2k)ne Government. On this farm, Mr. Morgan's mother, Marv, had

grown flowers for the greenhouse retail store in Ancon. Morgan and his mother had come to the Canal Zone during construction days

and while she got interested in flower growing, he was emplosed b\ the Pan- ama Railroad and later bv Grounds

Maintenance on the Pacific side. Mrs.

Pat Morgan was an operating room

nurse at Gorgas, then Ancon Hospital.

She too became devoted to flower growing after marrying Morgan in the 1920's.

Pigeon Hill The hill on which the Morgan family

built their home and garden in 1930 was

called Pigeon Hill in the pre-Canal

times. And during the earlv vrars, the Morgan famiK' often had to dodge shots from pigeon hunters. Mrs. Morgan now operates the gar- den alone since the death of her

husband and mother-in-law. The first thing thev did after killing the ants was to build a road into the propertv.

It took 2 \ears since the rock had to be

blasted from the side of the hill. At the

10 August 1970
same time they planted the stately royal

palms on one side and coconut palms

on the other. Mrs. Morgan went against her husband's wishes and put ni ban-

\an trees which now completely sur- round the 4-hectare plot of land.

For most of the success of the garden,

Mrs. Morgan gives credit to William

White, a native of Barbados, who started working with the elder Mrs. Morgan

in 1919.

Shrubs, Plants She says that White taught her nearly

evervthing she now knows about gar- dening, which was plenty. He planted

nearly all the various shrubs and plants

at the garden and retired only 2 years ago because of his age—then 84.

Like nearly everyone else on the Isth- mus, Pat had trouble with her first batch

of rose bushes which were brought here from Florida. The\- grew very well but

insects ate the leaves and ruined the

plants. She devised a method of putting

lighted candles placed in dishes filled with water nearby. Believe it or not, the bugs were attracted by the light, and

burned in the candle flame or were

drowned. She says she later learned that

a similar method has been used in the Philippines for hundreds of years. The Secrets She also had good luck with gladiolas. She planted a great varijty of them

and had orders from as far away as Holland. One of the best is a variety

imported from Africa called "glorkis rotschildiana." She didn't have much

luck with anturium, an exotic plant

difficult to cultivate, until an official from the Trinidad Government came by

one day and explained the secrets of its cultivation.

Pat Morgan, however, takes most

pride in making her garden beautiful and then sharing it with members of the community. In addition to the flora, the compound contains a main house,

designed by a prominent Panamanian

architect; a chapel; a swimming pool;

and a guest house. Everyone is welcome

to visit any day and Pat Morgan is delighted when she sees men with their

families, mothers with children, and

teachers with pupils visiting the garden

and examining the variety of plants.

Community Functions

The Isthmian community has ac- cepted Morgan's Garden as its awn

and many of the church and communty

festivals and affairs are held there.

During her many years spent with

plants, she has had a number of experiences but none so hair raising as the time recently when she put her hand

under a plant and was bitten by a jwisonous snake. She promptly fainted,

fell on a water pipe, fractured her wrist and broke the pipe. The resulting spray

of water called her plight to the attention of White who called an ambulance.

Shares Knowledge

In addition to gardening, Pat took up

flower arranging and received her first

lessons from an expert-a Japanese who

came to Panama on a goodwill tour. She

became so interested that she decided

to share her knowledge with her friends and neighbors on the Isthmus and held her own classes. At one session she had

about 300 students. Pat says with pride that most of the garden clubs in Panama were started bv

students in her classes. A colonel in the U.S. Army told her that her classes helped him know Panama, its flowers,

and the people more than any otlier activity during the time he was stationed

here.

Distinguished Members

Her Cardenas River Garden Club,

founded nearly 30 years ago, has had

such distinguished members as the wives

of presidents of Panama, former Panama

President Tomas Gabriel Duque, and

Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway (USA Ret.)

and his wife. The University of Panama, through

Dean Dr. Octavio Mendez Pereira, gave

her a gold medal in appreciation of her

cooperation in designing the gardens

around the university and her gift of 250 ornamental plants. Pat has traveled extensively through

the Republic of Panama and has helped

hundreds of Panamanian farmers to obtain better results with their flowers and plants. In 1962, the Republic of Panama recognized her work by pre- senting her with the Order of Vasco

Nuiiez de Balboa in the grade of Commander.

At the entrance to the garden, Mrs. Morgan

and two companions, Alice and Jimmy,

stroll among royal and coconut palms

planted in 1930.

Banyan trees form a leafy cover over a walkway at the garden.

The Panama Canal Review 11
TOaJMEN SETS COURSE

FOR SUPERJET ERA

An artist's drawing of how Tocumen Airport will look in 1980 is displayed by Miss Tatiana Men^ndez, secretary to the legal advisor

for the Panama Civil Aeronautics Agency. Approximately 2.3 million passengers are expected to use Tocumen in 19S0.

By Luis C. Noli

TOCUMEN AIRPORT, which first put

Panama on the map of international aviation nearly a quarter century ago

and then turned it into a crossroads

for air routes between the Americas,

is looking ahead for its place in the

superjet era.

Its present facilities are already overtaxed. Tocumen handles close to 600,000

arriving and departing passengers a year. By 1980, when the jumbo jets will have

been operating 8 years in Panama, ac- cording to present estimates, the figure

is expected to be threefold- 1.8 million passengers. And in-transit passengers, estimated at 485,000 by 1980, vdll bring

the total to 2.3 million annual travellers. The projections for growth of cargo

operations through Tocumen are even more impressive. From a current 35 million kilos (38,500 tons), the volume of aircargo is expected to reach 100 million

Idlos (110,000 tons) 10 years from now.

All the bustle estimated for Tocumen

in a decade will mean nearly double the commercial aircraft operations at the airport-from 25,500 in 1970 to 49,200

in 1980. Ranks Eighth

What present fiigures mean is that in terms of international passenger traffic, Tocumen ranks eighth among the air- ports of Latin America after San Juan,

Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Montevideo,

Montego Bay, Kingston, and Rio de

Janeiro—and third in terms of total aircargo tonnage. Argentina is first followed

by Chile. Since Panama ranks I9th in population among the Latin American nations,

its place in international aviation is remarkable indeed. Master Plan

To enhance that position during the next decade, the Panama Civil Aeronautics Agency had a $27.5 million master plan drawn up by Parsons Corporation of Los Angeles and New York in association with George L. Dahl Inc. of Dallas. The plan is based on Panama's aviation growth potential, which the consultants have summarized as follows: "Panama's geographic position places

(Please see p. 14)

12 August 1970
These sketches show

much of the passenger

terminal complex.

At top, the modem

terminal rises in the

backgroimd. The main

lobby is shown in

the center with

airline ticket counters,

restaurant, bar, and

waiting lobby.

This section will also

contain a casino,

television lounge, bank

offices, and passenger

gates. Below is a

sectional sketch of

the terminal.

The 36-month, $27.5

million project will

be completed in

three phases.

i^it^

U,

-i:!^'m'''"!|nill""l ^ V. J|i,

jtfH itt;l Vmt^IMif^^AA^m^^X^^\^

s^a

=nv

V -

The Panama Canal Review 13
(Continued from p. 12)

it in a very advantageous spot for travel and commerce. It has long been a bridge

for world commerce and travel—in Spanish days as a land-bridge and more re- cently as a marine crossroad with the Panama Canal. "The location of Panama is ideal for transboarding international air travellers from the northern and southern conti- nents of the Western Hemisphere. The

same advantage of location applies to aircargo movement. The existence of the Canal and good port facilities makes

Panama an excellent place from which

to distribute goods by air to other countries, with the added advantage of the economies of marine transport for large

volumes and the convenience of air transport for prompt delivery to the (sometimes remote) demand point.

Focal Point

"Commercial and passenger traffic has grown at a faster rate at Tocumen

than at other Latin American airports. Reasons for this are varied. Panama's

physical position acting as a focal point, Panama's stable currency, the success at the Colon Free Zone, have all contri- buted to the increase in both passenger and cargo traffic at Tocumen. Tourism is a big business and has begun to flourish

in Panama. Public relations campaigns

to advertise Panama's even climate,

sunshine, and other varied attractions have already had a good effect on the economv.

"Continuing these trends and fore- casting Tocumen's growth in the next 10-year period, activity will increase more than three times. It is also evident

that, economically, the existing terminal

and runway facilities will be unable to stand this expansion."

Main Features On the basis of detailed technical

studies, the consultants have recom- mended construction of an entirely new

terminal facility adjacent to the present

airport. These are the main features of the proposal:

—A new runway and parallel taxiway.

—A new passenger building.

-Parking areas for 971 passenger vehicles and taxis. —Improvement of Tocumen Highway,

including partial relocation arid construction of an access road

from the main road to the terminal

building.

—Improved aids to navigation and

in the airfield lighting.

—Improved power, water, drainage,

and air conditioning systems.

—Conversion of the present passenger

terminal into a cargo terminal.

A suggested design provides for a

two-level passenger terminal building.

On the ground floor are baggage claim

areas, holding rooms, passenger arrival and departure lobbies, ofiBces, kitchens

and storage, snack bar, cocktail lounges,

first aid. quarantine, immigration and

customs; on the mezzanine are diplomatic salons and airline hospitality rooms,

the viewing gallery, and an international duty-free zone; on the second floor: ticket lobby, terminal waiting lobbies,

main restaurant, coffee shop, kitchens,

bars, restrooms, telephone and cable

offices, a television lounge, specialty

shops, casino, news stand, barbershop,

insurance counters, bank offices, and

passenger gates.

Direct Access The ramp layout provides for "in- ternational satellites" using all-weather bridges connecting to the aircraft, so

that passengers arriving or departing

will have direct access to or from the terminal building.

The master plan also makes provision

for new functional areas including dutyfree commercial activities, further devel- opment of the hotel and motel industry

close to the airport, a convention hall or

exposition building suitable for industrial displays, and recreational areas. The consultants have proposed a phased 36-month schedule to carry out

the recommended alterations, improveMaj. Patricio Janson, Director of Civil Aeronautics of Panama, explains aviation trends and growth in Latin America. In the next decade commercial flights at Tocumen will nearly double. International travelers are expected to triple by 1980.

ments, and new construction. Phase I, covering about 10 months, involves the

rehabilitation of the existing terminal area—improvements needed urgently to meet demands of present passenger and

aircraft traffic such as extension of air- craft parking ramps and installation of

a baggage conveyor that would be

moved later into the new building.

Phase II, a 3;2-year project, involves the design and construction of the entire new terminal including runway, taxi- ways, and passenger building. Completion of the new building will require

additional freight buildings. The paving

of truck parking lots will be the last phase.

World Bank

Maj. Patricio Janson, Director of

Civil Aeronautics of Panama, says fi- nancing arrangements with the World

Bank are well underway. Construction

of the main projects-lengthening and

improving the runway and construction

of the new terminal-is scheduled to

start in early 1971. Expansion of Panama's international aviation facilities comes at a critical time, according to Major Janson. "Our economy," he explains, "is based

on service to trade. For centuries, Pan- ama has been a center of maritime navigation. Now we are also becoming a center of air navigation."

What about the future?

"I believe our aviation future lies not

so much between North and South

America as between east and west. By

that I mean the major volume of traflSc won't be so much between the Americas

as between Europe and the Orient. Mass Tourism

"And that future is promising. The jet > airplane made possible mass tourism—it placed exotic places within the reach

of the average man or woman in terms

of both time and money. Thus the tourist boom in the Mediterranean. But the Mediterranean is fast reaching the sat- uration point and now the seventies loom

as the decade of the Caribbean. Panama,

as the anchor point for the area, stands

to benefit the most because we offer all the things tourists want, plus year-round

sunshine."

What about the supersonic transport

age?

Major Janson's reply is laconic, but

meaningful.

"The only limiting factor for us has

been the length of the runway. And

we're already taking care of that."

14 August 1970
CANAL COMMERCIAL TRAFFIC BY NATIONALITY OF VESSELS
(Continued from p. 15) water which is needed for shipping or

for manufacturing electricity.

The Panama Canal uses 52 million

gallons of fresh water for each vessel that transits. The water is fed by a

gravity flow system through the locks and spilled into the ocean.

Bulk Cargoes in

Slurry Form

IN APRIL of this year the world's

first ore-slurry-oil ship, the 51,046-deadweight-ton SS Marconaflo Merchant,

completed its maiden voyage successfully discharging in slurry form the first entire shipload of bulk mineral concentrates from the Tasu, British Columbia,

iron mine to the Portland, Oreg. plant

of Oregon Steel Mills. The unique ship, the former San Juan

Merchant, was converted at a cost of $2.5 million from a conventional ore/oil

carrier to a ore-slurry-oil ship. She can

also carry crude oil or dry ore cargoes. Although this ship has not used the Canal since her conversion, she may do

so in the future, since she is still well within Panama Canal maximum measurements. Recently she took a cargo of 22,000 tons of slurry from Peru to Japan.

This ship is making use of a revolu- tionary new method of transporting bulk

cargoes in slurry form called Marconaflo, a method developed by Marcona

Corp., one of the world's largest ocean

transportation firms owned primarily by

Cyprus Mines Corp. and Utah Construction and Mining Co. Marcona is repre- sented in Panama by Cia. San Juan. Marconaflo is considered one of the major advancements in the history of bulk commodity shipping. It makes possible the transportation of these materials in large high economv tankers

rather than in conventional bulk carriers. The key element of the system is a de- vice which efficiently reslurrifies granular materials that have been compacted

into a relatively dry, non-shifting mass

for ocean transport. Charles W. Robinson, president of Marcona, says the system can provide

shipping savings of such magnitude

that many of the world's once marginal raw material deposits are now economically attractive. It will open to basic

steel all the advantages of transporting

petroleum.

Iron comes from Marcona's mine near San Nicolas Bay, Peru. Before shipping,

the ore is ground down to a fine powder

and put into a 70 percent iron content concentrated form. An ore slurry with

7.5 percent solids is pumped aboard the

.ship. The natural settling action is has- tened by the ship's vibration. The solids

PRINCIPAL COMMODITIES SHIPPED THROUGH THE CANAL

( AU cargo figures in long tons

)

Pacific to Atlantic

Commodity

Ores, various Boards and planks

Iron and steel plates, sheets and coils Sugar

Petroleum and products

Fishmeal

Metals, various Food in refrigeration

( excluding bananas)

Pulpwood

Bananas

Petroleum coke

Iron and steel manufactures,

miscellaneous Plywood and veneers

Iron and steel wire, bars and rods Canned food products

All others

Total

Fiscal Year 1970

1970

5,573,085

3,516,050

3,390,818

2,625,819

2,109,215

1,574,375

1,421,659

1,371,543

1,230,977

1,157,123

1,062,104

1,060,191

913,862

642,762

590,558

12,355,454

40,595,595

1969

4,349,108

3,630,798

2,930,096

2,567,471

1,088,430

1,975,409

1,265,586

1,400,249

1,241,042

1,160,903

530,844

1,056,857

940,225

540,680

607,750

11,354,877

36,640,325

5-Yr. Avg.

1961-65

1,009,694 N.A.

N.A.

2,296,584

1,805,862 N.A.

1,187,362

898,880

517,629

1,161,381 N.A.

N.A.

N.A.

N.A. 957,472

20,859,716

30,694,580

Atlantic to Pacific

Commodity

Coal and coke Petroleum and products Corn

Metal, scrap Phosphates

Soybeans

Ores, various Sorghum

Sugar

Metal, iron Chemicals, unclassified Rice Paper and paper products

Fertilizers, unclassified Autos, trucks, and accessories

All others

Total

Fiscal Year 1970

1970

21,306,153

14,302,937

5,034,785

3,912,009

3,732,353

3,291,540

2,278,618

1,777,524

1,581,340

1,303,635

968,629

850,092

846,231

781,167

659,911

11,034,741

73,661,665

1969

16,260,931

15,796,516

3,057,082

2,640,903

4,661,919

2,500,502

1,845,458

1,345,244

1,073,774

1,228,363

816,738

552,232

813,810

626,176

594,647

10,936,512

64,750,807

5-Yr. Avg.

1961-65

6,061,195

11,384,781

1,501,869

2,663,773

2,137,487

1,449,114

309,593 N.A.

1,011,013

198,647

657,500

1^4,248

428,?42

388,00," 333,328

8,738,831

37,418,328

CANAL TRANSITS - COMMERCIAL AND U.S. GOVERNMENT
are compacted into a cake with less than 8 percent moisture. Surplus water if drained off. The ore then is taken as a sohd to its destination. There Marcona

reconstitutes the slurry by means of high-pressure water jets and the liquid ore is pumped into a pond. From there

a conventional dredge feeds materials

into a plant which converts it to iron ore pellets.

PANAMA CANAL TRAFFIC

STATISTICS FOR FISCAL YEAR

1970

TRANSITS (Oceangoing Vessels) 1970 i969 Commercial 13,658 13,146

U.S. Government 1,068 1,376 Free 103 80

Total 14,829 14,602

TOLLS

Commercial .$94,688,543 $87,458,100

U.S.Government _ 6,221,313 8,422,043

Total $100,909,856 $95,880,143

CARGO '•°

Commercial 114,257,260 101,372,744

U.S. Government. 4,410,451 7,210.068 Free 234,689 204,065

Total 118,902,400 108,786,877

•Includes tolls on all vessels, oceangoing and

small. ** Cargo figures are in long tons.

Coffee from Hawaii

THE LYKES LINE cargo ship Sheldoi}

Ltjkes came through the Canal recently

and delivered to New Orleans a shipment of 806,000 pounds of Kona coffee from Hawaii, the first such shipment

ever made to a U.S. gulf port in what

may be a continuing movement.

1,300

1,200

1,100

1,000

900

800

700

600

500
MEDALS TELL THE STORY

MAN'S UNIQUE conquest of nature on the Isthmus of Panama has found

expression in medals just as his other proud feats have been sxmbohzed in metallic emblems, coveted as marks

of honor, since the davs of athletic contests among the earlv Greeks. Four times in the 66 years that have

elapsed since Americans undertook the

colossal task of uniting the oceans have

medals been struck with the Panama

Canal as the motif. One was an award

of recognition; the three others com- memorated milestones of progress in the

historic entei-prise. One of the four honored only a chosen few thousand men

and women; one has faded with an aura

of mvstei-v; the other two. because of

Roosevelt Medal

their recent dates, are comparativelv

well known.

In chronological order, they are the Roosevelt Medal, the Panama Canal

Completion Medal, the Thatcher Ferry

Bridge Dedication Medal, and the Pan- ama Golden Anniversary Medal.

Extensive Research

Capt. Julius Grigore, Jr. (USNR).

supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion,

and Repair, 1.5th Naval District, and a devoted numismatist, has recently completed extensive research into the his- tory of the medals issued by the Pan- ama Canal from 1904 to 1970. It is the

first time this information has been

consolidated and, as Captain Grigore

himself says, it's fascinating.

The story begins with President

Theodore Roosevelt's visit to the Isth- mus in 1906. One result of that visit was a presidential executive order of June 23, 1907, authorizing the issuance

of a medal to recognize service bv

American citizens on the Canal project.

The medal was awarded to all U.S.

citizens who completed at least 2 years

of satisfactory continuous sei"vice with

the Canal construction force, including

the Panama Railroad Company, be- tween May 4, 1904. and December .31. 1914. For each additional 2 years of service the holder was awarded a bar.

SS Titanic

Designed by artist F. D. Millet, who

perished in the sinking of the SS Titanic, the Roos°veIt Medal was struck in

Completion Medal

bronze at the United States Mint, Phila- delphia, Pa., from dies prepared by

Victor D. Brenner of New York City.

An inch and a half in diameter, the medal has on the obverse a reproduction of a three-quarter bust of President

Roosevelt, sculptured by Millet, with

the inscription around the border: "FOR

TWO YEARS CONTINUOUS SERVICE ON THE PANAMA CANAL."

On the reverse there is a bird's-eye

view of Gaillard Cut, steamers passing

between Gold Hill and Contractor's

Hill; the now familiar Canal Zone

motto "THE LAND DIVIDED. THE

WORLD UNITED" inscribed on the horizon; the legend "PRESENTED BY

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED

STATES" around the border, and on

the bottom, the coat of arms of the Republic of Panama and under it the name of the recipient.

The U.S. Congress approved a special

appropriation to mint the Roosevelt Medal.

Of the 7,423 emblems struck, 7,391 were issued. The others were kept in reserve as replacements of originals lost by the holders. "These medals became the highly

cherished possession of a dwindling

army of old timers or their descendants."

the Panama Star and Herald reported on

July 22, 1941. "Possession of the Roosevelt Medal was an outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual fortitude

requisite to remaining the necessary time in the work of building the Canal."

It was only natural that the actual completion of the waterway should

have been commemorated by a medal.

This chapter in the story of the Panama

Canal medals opens with the transit on August 3. 1914. of the SS Cristobal which 12 davs later was to make the

Completion Medal—Reverse

first official passage of the waterway.

And although on that August 3 the Cristobal's transit was entirely unofficial, aboard was the entire issue of .50,000

medals which had been struck to mark

the completion of the Canal. They were

to be distributed on the official transi!: to heads of state and other dignitaries of church, science, industry, and labor throughout the world and to members of the press covering the historic crossing.

Heraldic Symbol

This bronze medal, measuring 24 mil- limeters in diameter, featured a design

suggested bv Miss Elizabeth Rodman, a relative of Capt. Hugh Rodman ( USN )

.

the then superintendent of marine trans- portation for the Panama Canal. The

design depicted a ship passing tlirough the waterway, with the heraldic s\ mbol

of Columbia standing at the bow, long

18 August 1970
rays emanating from her head and

shoulders, and her outstretched arms

resting on globes of the Eastern and

Western Hemispheres. On a horizontal ribbon connecting the globes was in- scribed the legend "OCEANI INTER

SE COLOMBIAD CONIUNGUNTER"

( Columbia Unites the Oceans) . Another

ribbon was inscribed "PROSPERITY

TO ALL NATIONS." On the reverse, the medal carried the seal of the Canal

Zone with the legend "COMMEMORATING THE OPENING OF THE

PANAMA CAN.\L TO THE COMMERCE OF THE WORLD."

In addition, there was a certification

in the middle body of the medal: "This

medal copyrighted and bearing a serial number is one of 50,000 carried on the

vessel making the first passage through

the Panama Canal as authenticated

in a certificate signed by George W.

Goethals, Chief Engineer and Chair- man, Isthmian Canal Commission."

According to Captain Grigore:

"Today, this bronze medal is quite

scarce and it seldom appears in museum

idents of the two countries—received the

silver and bronze medals. The alumi- num emblems were distributed among

first-day users and local residents as souvenirs. Sculptured by John R. Terken and

struck by the Medallic Art Co. of New

York, the silver and bronze medals measure 2% inches in diameter and feature the bridge in the obverse with the legend "PANAMA CANAL 1962-

THATCHER FERRY BRIDGE/LINKING THE AMERICAS. UNIENDO

LAS AMERICAS." The reverse is plain.

The aluminum medals are an inch

smaller and bear the same design, but on the reverse have a map of the Isth- mus and portions of Central and South

.\merica with the legends "DEDICATED OCTOBER 12, 1962" and "DEDICADO OCTUBRE 12, 1962." The supply of 500 silver, 1,020

bronze, and 10,000 aluminum medals

for the bridge dedication was rapidly

depleted. The dies, now in the Canal Zone Library/Museum in Bal- boa, were defaced by a small engraved

between Contractor's Hill and Gold Hill. "The ship is heading north because

Contractor's Hill is on its left," Captain

Grigore notes. "Actually, in relating the

ship's heading with the proper point of the compass on the medal, it should be

heading south." Across the top of the medal is the

inscription "THE PANAMA CANAL"

and below it "CROSSROADS OF

WORLD COMMERCE." The south

point of the compass separates the dates 1914 1916 beneath the shield, and

lower along the rim is the legend

"GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY." On the

reverse is the seal of the Canal

Zone with the motto "THE LAND

DIVIDED-THE WORLD UNITED"

inscribed in a ribbon below the shield; inside the shield is a galleon sailing

between two points of land. No additional anniversary medals were struck and the dies were defaced

and stored in the vault of the Canal

Zone Library/Museum.

Captain Grigore's research has dis- closed that the Golden Anniversary

Bridge Dedication Golden Anniversary Anniversary Medal—Reverse

or numismatic circles. It is much sought

after by many types of collectors. The

whereabouts of the dies for this medal

remain unknov^m. Not all of the 50,000

medals struck were distributed, for on March 24, 1920, J. F. Newman Co. of New York wTote the Panama Canal

requesting disposition of residual medals which were carried on the first ship

through the Canal. What disposition was made is still a subject of great mysteiy."

Almost 50 years elapsed before the next Panama Canal medal came into being. The occasion was the dedication

of the majestic 5,42.5-foot bridge that spans the Pacific entrance to the Canal. The bridge replaced the Thatcher

Ferry which had operated on the site since 1904.

Silver, bronze, and aluminum medals were struck. Officials of the United

States and Panama—including the presline to prevent unauthorized use. The most recent of the Panama Canal

medals marked the 50th anniversary of the waterway. It also was struck in

silver and bronze by the Medallic Art

Co. of New York. The 300 silver medals,

1% inches in diameter, were presented

to dignitaries of the United States and

Panama, including Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Roberto F. Chiari, to Maurice H. Thatcher, last surviving member of the Isthmian Canal Commission,

and to each Panama Canal Society in the United States, among others. The

2,000 bronze medals, 2y2 inches in di- ameter, were put on sale in the Canal

Zone and were quickly bought out. The design on the obverse of the Golden Anniversary medal incorporates

the four points of the compass and

a shield inside of which a ship is shown sailing through Gaillard Cut

medal almost became a United States coin—a commemorative half dollar. The

suggestion that the U.S. Treasury mint

a commemorative coin for the Canal's

.50th anniversary was made by Juan H. Ehrman, a lifetime member of the Isth- mian Numismatic Society. But official policy of the U.S. Treasury already was

against the minting of commemorative

coins. When an alternative plan to strike a national medal had been discussed,

time had run out to include it in the

U.S. Mint production schedule. The Panama Canal medals have pre- served for posterity, in the creative beauty of metal, some highlights of the

history of one of man's greatest engineering accomplishments. But the last- ing monument to those who made that

feat possible is the Canal itself, still passing ships from one ocean to the other 56 years after its completion.

The Panama Canal Review 19
rmiiCH mm[[ mm

Mr. Fastlich knew little of baseball, including the proper

way to hold a bat, but he went on to sponsor the

Fastlich Baseball Teenage League in the Canal Zone.

During an opening ceremonies (above) he was honor batter.

20 August 1970
By Totnas A. Cupas

HIS GAME was soccer. He didn't know

a thing about baseball. But he became

the sponsor of the first teenage baseball league in the Canal Zone, and is remembered as such every year when the

baseball league bearing his name begins

its season. He was Adalbert Fastlich, a Panama

businessman who founded and re- mained sponsor of the Fasdich Baseball Teenage League from its organization

in 1954 until his death in 1961. Sponsorship of the league is being

continued by his widow, Mrs. Dora K. de Fastlich, who says she will continue

the sponsorship as long as she lives. Mr. Fastlich was born in Austria

where he learned to play soccer. He

served in the Austrian army in World

War I and later came to Panama where

he established a jewelry and watch

business which still exists and bears

his name.

In his spare time he tried to help the

children in Panama by sponsoring sports

and organizing games in the poor areas

of the Republic.

Since soccer was his sport, he wanted

to sponsor a soccer league in the Canal

Zone. He soon found out, however, that baseball was the U.S. national sport and was followed closely in the Canal Zone.

In 1954 he organized the first Fastlich Teenage Baseball League. He paid for the uniforms, equipment, and provided

prizes for the winners. The teams have

such names as Conejos (Rabbits), Palo- mas (Pigeons), Pericos (Parakeets), Pumas, Ocelots, and Macaws.

The league is for boys from the ages

of 13 to 15. Since it was organized, more

than 1,000 baseball-minded youngsters

have participated in the games. The

league serves mainly as a bridge be- tween the Little League and the high

school age teams. The first president of the Fastlich league was John Winklosky and the present one is George I. Stanley, general foreman, mechanic, in the U.S. Army Maintenance Management. Team

directors are volunteers who devote most of their afternoons after work to the young baseball players. Mrs. Fastlich, who sponsors other leagues and various sports in Panama

especially in the poorer areas, was present when the parents in the Canal Zone

and former players on the league teams

erected a plaque in memory of the late Mr. Fastlich. The plaque carries the inscription

"Dedicated to the Memory of Adalbert

Fastlich Benefactor of Canal Zone

Teenage Baseball." There was an honor guard from the

»

'I % ll I ?

^i^. \j6:^{,^'^\\-^o^

The Conejos team was last season's winner of the Fastlich league. Standing from left are; Richard Figueroa, Doug Nesbitt, coach Jimmy Givens, John Givens, Richie Alexander,

Armando Navarro, Chuck Ruth, Kevin O'Connor, Archie McDaniels, Frank Lee, Beady

Hendricks, and manager Sam Catlett. Kneeling from left: Mac Arroyo, Roger Rios, Leon

Catlett, and John Alexander.

Mrs. Dora K. de Fastlich imveils the monument dedicated to her late husband Adalbert

Fastlich, during the opening of the 1962 baseball season. Former Governor W. A. Carter

is at right. From left are: Mickey Kieman, then league president; and Mrs. Rosalinda F. de Nunez, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fastlich.

Balboa High School ROTC and among

the ofiRcials attending the ceremony was

then Governor W. A. Carter. In December, the teams will meet for the 16th season of the baseball league.

The Fastlich league has produced

many fine teams and many boys have

continued playing baseball in colleges

and professional leagues. Fastlich teams have had outstanding success in winning post-season games with champions

of other teenage leagues in the Canal

Zone. In fact, they have never lost a

post-season series. Probably the highest honor ever achieved by a local Canal Zone team was in 1958, when a team composed

of Fastlich players won the Veterans of

Foreign Wars teenage baseball championship in Hershey, Pa. This team was managed by Moises de la Peiia, now

retired from the Postal Division. While competition is always keen

among the teams, the league ofiBcials have always endeavored to run the league in accordance with the ideals

set down by Mr. and Mrs. Fastlich. Boys are encounraged to play hard and

to the best of their ability, but good

sportsmanship and fairplay are always

uppermost. Louis Scigliani, a civihan

employee for the Army, has been official umpire for the past 10 years. 'Trophies are presented at the end of each season at a dinner given by league

officials and parents.

The Panama Canal Review 21
ALL ABOUT

TH€ mOLfl

By Georgia Conn

FOR THE CUNA Indians of the San

Bias, 1970 may be the "Year of the Mola."

The diminutive Cuna women, shy

when it comes to displaying themselves

in their colorful costumes, become aggressive hawkers of their cloth molas,

which are the most sought after tourist item in Panama.

The rectangular, intricately designed

panels are worn bv the Indian women,

young and old alike, but the North

Americans who sometimes seem to over- flow the small Cuna communities on buying sprees have other ideas. They

have taken to framing them for wall hangings, for dressmaking, pillow covers, curtains, hats, head scarfs, bikinis, place mats, clothing patches, and in the Canal Zone the newest fad among teen- agers is to put them on T-shirts and

jackets.

The market for molas has reached

fantastic proportions and the commercial demand for them in the United

States cannot be met. Orders for thou- sands are received bv local wholesalers,

but only hundreds at a time can be supplied. On the islands most visited b\

tourists the Indian women spend all of

their spare time hand sewing the molas

although sewing machines have come

into use on a few islands. ii^»a!^

:in

The design and workmanship of the unique needlework panels have

changed from generation to generation

during their approximate lOO-vear histor\'. Among the molas currentK being

made, however, there is a tendency to reproduce many of the styles and

techniques of the past. Much Conjecture

Although there is no documented

evidence concerning the details of the

origin of the mola there is much conjecture. The literature on the Cuna Indian

abounds with all phases of their culture and frequently describes in general terms what the Indians were wearing

throughout various stages in history.

It is known that the Cuna Indians

practiced the art of body painting during the 16th and 17th centuries. The women were in charge of the painting

so it follows that they were to become

the "artists" of the society. Using a wooden stick gnawed at the end to the

softness of a brush and working with

pigments of brilliant colors made from

berries and clavs, they covered their entire bodies with designs. It is eas\' to imagine that their abstractions of plant and animal forms had much of the same linear quality that we find in the mola designs of today.

While the men of this period enjoyed

comparative nakedness, the women had

a tradition of modesty. Cotton was cul- tivated and a homespun-tvpe of cloth was woven for clothing. The women of the 17th century were described as wearing skirt-like garments that were

tied behind, but no upper garments. The

skirts were made of handwoven cotton

or occasionally of old clothes obtained

through trading.

One explorer in the 1680's reported

the women as wearing cotton clothing

"curiously embroidered," but since this period preceded the arrival of commercial needles and thread, and the Cuna

Indians did not weave or inlay designs

in their cloth, one could theorize that the garments were handpainted in a technique somewhat related to body

painting.

Nakedness

There is little information available on the Cuna dress for the years between

1700 and 18.50. But a trend away from

nakedness had definitely begun by 1700,

and bv 1850 the women were reported

as wearing handpainted, wraparound

skirts which were worn under kneelength blouses, usually dark blue and

decorated with a band of red at the bottom.

The women still engaged in weaving

at this time but they took much more

22 August 1970
delight in being able to secure pieces

of fabric or old clothes, usually of gaudy

colors, from passing traders and prefer- red to use these since they represented

such prized articles. Trading Ships

A generation or so prior to the close of the 19th century the ingredients of the mola which we know today were

the geometric designs and the different colors of cloth. What remained was the

integration of these elements. In this case, opportunity was the mother of in- vention. With the coming of the highpowered looms and the development of color-fast chemical dyes in Europe, fac- tory-wo\en cloth in a variety of bright

colors and prints soon found its way via trading ships to the San Bias Islands. As the traders brought in more colorful cloth the women began to decorate

the hems of their basic blue and red

tunics with simple applique. Needles,

thread, and scissors also were easily

procured items from the trading ships

of the late 1800's. The particularly in- tricate Cuna "applique" technicjue itself appears to have been an indigenous

development. Actually, the term "applique" is not technically accurate in

this case. The term "cut work stitchery"

would be more descriptive, for the Cuna

method began bv cutting slots and outlines of figures in the top layer of cloth, turning under the edges and allowing

the color of the cloth underneath to show through. It is onlv applique in the sense that la\ers of cloth with designs

cut into them are "applied' to a bottom

la>er. New Art Form

The women, apparently carried away

with their new art form, gradual])' widened the decorated hem until by the

early 1900's it included the whole area below the armpits. The yoke and sleeves were usualK' white, although one finds

in early photographs that a completely

incongruous printed fabric was often used to "top" the artistic needlework,

a practice which continues to this day.

It was during this time that a blue,

factor\ woven cloth suitable for wrap- around skirts became available and fash- ionable, and so the blouse was shortened

to hip length in order that the skirt could

i rr

show. Skirt st)les have not changed

basically since. The cutwork panels which formed

the back and front of the early blouses were usualh of two or three layers of

cloth. Red, orange, and black became

the favorite basic color choices. The

designs were most frequently' geometric, continuous-line compositions with

about an equal distribution of background and foreground colors. When

figures did appear they were highly

stylized and abstract. This same style of the early 1900's

is still being produced today.

As the mola grew in size, it also grew

in complexity. The brilliantly colored

cloth of good quality that was available had the same effect on the women of San Bias as a large bo.x of crayons has on a small child. By the 1920's the Cuna women were known to have one of the most striking costumes among the indigenous people

of the Americas. No visitor failed to re- port the colorful apparel and he usually

tried, with success, to obtain an example

of this remarkable folk art. Hardy Visitors

Visitors were few and hardy in those

da\s, usualK- limited to scientists, Pan- ama Canal emplox ees, and adventurous

tourists. But the mola of this period was

relativelx crude compared to what it would become in the next generation.

The parallel spaces in the cutwork was

often V2 to 1 inch wide and in some of the photographs taken prior to 19.30 one

can even see e\idence of the stitches. The unique geographical location oc- cupied b\- the San Bias Archipelago,

located off the Caribbean shore of east- ern Panama, is no doubt responsible for the Cuna ha\ing a longer history of contact with Europeans than any other Indian group of the Americas.

Beginning with Columbus, who in 1501 gave the San Bias Islands their name, there has been an unending

stream of explorers, exploiters, buccaneers, would-be settlers, surveyors for the railroad, builders of the Canal, missionaries, U.S. military forces, scientists, and tourists. And vet, from earliest re- corded times, the Cunas have resisted integration with other groups and have

The author holds a "bird" mola blouse with a background of appliqued triangles.

managed to retain their own integrity.

The increased exposure to other cultures, however, did have the effect of creating new inspiration for mola designs. Any subject was fair game for translation into their unique visual vernacular. In 1938, the islands were opened for day tourists and it was not long afterward that the mola became

an elaborate masterpiece of four or five laxers of cloth and as many colors. Wide Repertoire

From the 1950's to the present, the wide repertoire of subject matter in- cluded such nonindigenous items as pro- duct labels, magazine pictures, calendar

art, pictures from children's storybooks.

Christian iconography (following the

arrival of missionaries), and illustrations of current events, as well as interpretations of their own folklores and scenes from ever\ day life. These professionalprimitives had reached the epitome of fusing originality with borrowed ideas. Add to this an ever increasing supply

of materials and a growing enthusiastic market of tourists, private collectors, interior decorators, fashion designers, gift shop owners, and museums and the results could be termed the heyday of the molas. (Please see p. 24)

t" 'i ^p^^

The Panama Canal Review 23
Two Cuna women with molas to sell pose with Canal Zone Governor W. P. Leber while he was visiting the San Bias Islands.

(Continued from p. 23)

With so manv hands busy sewing

molas to meet these demands the question of quality arises. Are all molas

works of art? Probably not. In a primitive societv, native crafts are originallv

made for utilitarian purposes, whether

ceremonial or practical. Art is not a profession as it is in Western civilization but a social dutv. When eversone not

onlv can but must produce, it follows

that the clumsier hands are going to produce inferior work.

Anybody's Guess

Recenth , the mola has experienced

a further lessening of qualitv due to a speeding up of the length of time spent on sewing each panel. It is estimated

that the average panel takes from 4 to 6 weeks to complete. How much of this time is spent in actual sewing hours,

however, is an\bod\''s guess. The women

spend everv' free moment sewing and

thev usualK' have several pieces of needlework going at one time. But despite the fact that for a while

it looked as though there would be

enough of these brilliant panels to cover

the earth, at the rate that molas are leaving the islands the supplv will eventually diminish. And although a few of the verv complex and good quality molas are still being made, it is at an ever

decreasing rate. There are still some old but good ones to be found but this supplv is also on the wane, and once they

are gone—like the Old Masters, they

will never be replaced.

The time spent, the care taken, and

the qualit\- of materials used all combine to make the mola an outstanding

achievement among folk art today.

There is such a tremendous variety on

the market that the prospective buyer

could easily become confused. Here are

a few guidelines.

First, styles mav vary from very

simple, two-layer designs to the ulti- mate in complexity with four or five layers of cloth and intricately embroidered detail. So, examine the mola for number of layers of cloth. A Clue

Second, notice the qualit\' of fabric used. If you can, try to determine if it has been worn and washed. This would

give you a clue to its durability. There

are some very old molas which were made with quality cotton and have sur- vived countless washings and wear with

little or no fading. But thin and even

synthetic material is often found in the molas currently being produced.

Third, examine the width and evenness of the lines and spaces The more

carefully sewn molas may have spaces

no wider than 's inch. And there was a time when a good mola was one that had no space greater than one Y* inch without some work on it. In addition,

good stitching does not show on the top

la\er, only on the bottom.

Fourth, besides the more frequenth' seen "slot" technique u.sed for filling in background areas, there are other more

time-consuming techniques. These in- clude filling large areas with tin\- dots. a modified Greek-ke\' motif, and sur- rounding the edges of figures with a saw-tooth pattern or one that resembles

tin\' gears, to mention a few.

Fifth, color and subject are largely a matter of personal taste. There are those collectors who find the subtle tones of the old, closeb' keved panels

highly desirable. On the other hand, some prefer the ones made with vibrat- ing and bright colors. Also, clashing

colors are often used to achieve striking

effects. As far as subject matter goes, the variety is infinite and whether vou

prefer an Adam and Eve wearing top

hats, a portrait of a famous person such

as General MacArthur, or perhaps an amazing reproduction of a sardine can

label, is entirely up to vou.

Prices Prices on the San Bias Islands begin

at $2.50 for a verv ordinary mola panel.

A whole blouse, right out of a Cuna

woman's wardrobe, can usually be pur- chased for from S5 to less than $10.

In Panama City and Colon, prices begin

at around $5 a panel and increase according to quality.

Collectors' items begin at approximately $25 and sometimes reach $100.

In the United States it is difficult to find

an\' of the San Bias needlework for less than $10. The panels are frequently sold framed which increases the price consi- derably. In a May issue of the New

YoBKER magazine, an article describing

a new gift shop stated that mola wall hangings sold at $40 to $45 each, and

mounted on a 20 x 24-inch piece of Formica, $75.

There are manv theories regarding

what the future of the San Bias Cuna

Indians of Panama might be. Their re- luctance to join the 20th century may

preserve them and their art. And, per- haps, these Indians, with their fantastic imaginations, marvelous innate sense of design and color, and their skill, will continue sewing in spite of creeping

civilization.

Mrs. Corin has taught art in the Canal Zone and recently completed

her master of arts thesis in art education on the mola.

24 August 1970
Molds Sought By Museums

THE MOLA achieved art status when Dr. Louis Hoover,

head of IlHnois State University Art Department, decided

to devote the remainder of his hfe to helping the Cuna

artists. Dr. Hoover first collected more than a thousand

qualitv molas from all the areas of the San Bias. These

molas formed a background or research group for study,

classification, and development of nomenclature. After manv trips into the Cuna country and long talks with

the tribal leaders it was possible to begin to understand

the stories being told by the molas.

In December 1968. the Hoover Collection was unveiled for the art world. The Center for Inter-American

Relations in New York held an exhibit and turned all its

facilities over to the collection and printed an extensive

catalog. The exhibit next opened at the Pan American

Union in Washington, D.C. where the Ambassador of Pan- ama held a formal reception attended by President Nixon.

Following these beginnings the collection has been

sought bv museums and galleries all over the United

States and Canada. Molas as art are now accepted and

as a result higher quality molas are being avidly sought.

This should lead to the ultimate realization that a mola

as a tourist souvenir and as an art object are two separate

entities. The Hoover collection has made it possible for anthropologists and sociologists to study the "writings" of the Cuna in great detail. One mola in the Hoover collection

is identical to a third millineum Mesopotamian drawing. Recent indications are that designs such as this were

transmitted down through the ages by grass weavings

until the molas offered a better medium.

W. D. Barton, Islandia.

This is an example of a continuous-line composition frequently seen in early molas.

The yoke and sleeves of printed fabric contrast sharply with the

intricate needlework panel.

The Panama Canal Review 25
ANNIVERSARIES

(On the basis of total Federal Service)

7r^

TRANSPORTATION AND TERMINALS

BUREAU

Joseph £. Ramsay

Supervison,' Cargo Checking Assistant Granville Haynes

Clerk SUPPLY AND COMMUPOTY SERVICES BUREAU

Albert A. Roach

Superv'isoo' Sales Store i Juan A. Espinosa

Utilit\- Worker

Toribio E. Martin

Supervisory Stora^ Management Assistant ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

BUREAU

William G. Millett Oiler (Floatine Plant) Jeremiah A. Grant

Oiler (Floating Plant-Boom) Theodore C. Henter

Supervisory Hydrologist

Christopher Sealey Lead Foreman (Hyacinth and Debris Control) CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU

Spencer S. Josephs High School Teacher—L. A. Schools

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR-PRESIDENT

R. Trendon Vestal Management Analyst Louis J. Poletti Visa Examiner OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER

Efhel K. Askew

Accounting Assistant Elsie N. Smith

Supervisory Operating Accountant

Mathias Regist Clerk Adolphus Bushell Bookkeeping Machine Operator

Louis Emanuel

Bookkeeping Machine Operator

Louis C. Caldwell Accounting Assistant (Steamship Clearances) Robert F. Roche

Supervisory General Claims Examiner

Clarence E. Notyce

Accounting Technician

Oliver L. Riesch Budget Officer Thomas E. Spencer

Supervisory General Claims Examiner PERSONNEL BUREAU

George V. Daniels Personnel StalEng and Employee Relations

Specialist Edmund L. Toppin

Information Receptionist ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES

DIVISION

Beatrice E. Lee

Supervisorv- Transportation Assistant Thelma E. Watson

Bindery Worker MARINE BUREAU

Lionel Ashby Launch Dispatcher Marcos F. Rurda

Leader Painter Andres Cardenas

Helper Pipefitter Eustace G. Mathews

Carpenter (Marine) Marcos Bracamaya M.

Helper Lock Operator

Wilfred West

Motor Launch Operator Maximo L6pez Boatman (Locks)

Nicolds Lanas Boatman (Locks) Juan Rodriguez B. Boatman (Locks) Joaquin Montoto

Linehandler (Deckhand)

Eleuterio Sanchez

Linehandler William N. Arthur Signalman

Prince A. Bowen

Motor Launch Operator

Robert A. Lord

Clerk

Grenvill G. Cooper Time and Leave Clerk John T. O'Donnell, Jr, Machinist (Marine) Owen E. Christopher Leader Painter (Maintenance) Howard N. Golden

Lock Operator (Operating Engineer—Hoisting Equipment)

Felipe Mendoza

Helper Lock Operator

Cirilo Timana

Helper Lock Operator Juan C. Sing Helper Lock Operator Gerald Anderson

Helper Lock Operator Harry Van Loon

Towine Locomotive Operator (Locks)

Sinico Hall Bridge Crane Operator Andrew F. Codrington

Bridge Crane Operator Lloyd G. Thomhill Seaman (Launch)

Gregorio Barria Seaman

Anatolio Anderson

Oiler (Floating Plant) Carlos F. Cuthbert

Oiler (Floating Plant) Edwin Lawrence

Leader Linehandler (Deckhand Boatswain)

Alfred A. Stewart Linehandler (Deckhand)

Jacinto Castro Linehandler

Daniel Blake Stockman

Leopold O. Marshall

Preservation Mechanic

Reginald D. Barton

Linehandler (Deckhand)

Moists Ortiz Linehandler (Deckhand) Georee W. Porter Leader Seaman

Vertick Guerrero Leader Seaman

Basil C. Edwards Seaman

Joseph Rogers Boatman (Locks)

Justo Valencia Boatman (Locks) Romin Mendieta Motor Launch Operator

Coldridge T. St. Hill Lead Foreman Operations Lock Wall

Joseph H. Young

General Foreman, Locks Operations

(Mechanical) Sidney Brandford Marine Traffic Clerk Fermin A. Reid Time and Leave Clerk Haten C. Springer Time and Leave Clerk Raybum L. Brians Admeasurer Henry J. WaUace

Helper Machinist (Marine) Antonio Roberts Fumaceman

Kenneth L. Bailey General Foreman Boatbuilder TRANSPORTATION AND TERMINALS

Rafael A. Vaughn

Boiler Tender (High Pressure) B. A. Caballero Leader, High Lift Truck Operator James Moore

Helper (General) Whinston D. Jones Truck Driver Tomas Guardia E. Truck Driver (Heavy)

Hipolito Sanjur D.

Truck Driver (Heavy) Brandford Doyle

Truck Driver (Heav>' Trailer) Martin L. Crenald Guard

Clifford E. Bovell

Glazier Noel J. Morgan

Stevedore

Charles G. Warren

Stexedore

Albert A. Johnson Maintenanceman (Rope and Wire Cable)

Chafles G. Brown

Carpenter John F. Lawrence

Liquid Fuels Dispatcher Manuel S. Aparicio Liquids Fuels Valve Manifold Operator George L. Campbell

School Bus Driver Ralph H. Austin Leader Linehandler

L, teroy Barfield Train Dispatcher

^Reynold A. Licorish ff Truck Driver m Basil L Nelson I Accounting Cl^k I Valdan Bernard

Stevedore

Francisco Cedent

y Stevedore ^Leopold T. DoDglas Maintenanceman (Docks) SUPPLY AND COMMUNITY SERVICE BUREAU

Ivan R. Evering Merchandise Management Specialist /Housewares)

Jackson J. Pearce Housing Project Manager

Mary H. Foster

Supervisorv' General Supply Specialist Doris M. Brown

Tailor (Alterations) Apolonio Camarena

High Lift Truck Operator

Ivy A. Sisnett Stockman

Herbert E. E. St. Rose

Leader Stockman

William A. Whittaker Leader Marker and Sorter Hilda F. Harriman

Presser (Garment) James Scott

Assistant Baker

Ethlin J. Alston Food Service Worker

Marie A. Brownie

Sales Store Clerk Cynthia K. de Mullins

Sales Store Clerk MiUicent E. Adams

Sales Store Checker

Isodora O. Green

Sales Store Checker

Hyacinth C. Gayle

Tailor (Alterations) Charles E. Small Laborer (Cleaner)

1

26 August 1970
Juan Valdes Garbage Collector Seward P. Cargill Crane Hookman

Leon H. Taitt Truck Driver Joseph C. Hill Meat Cutter

C. E. Scantlebury

Clerk (Checker) Leon V. Delerville Accounting Clerk

Charles A. Russell Budget Analyst

Idalin Cooper

Sales Store Clerk Muriel Pennycook

Sales Store Clerk May C. Ennis

Sales Store Checker

Cecil A. Payne

Laborer (Heavy)

Clarence V. Markland

Melter (Scrap) Henry W. R. Headley

Milk Plant Worker

Harry M. Savage

Leader, Warehousing and Shipping Carmen A. Bayne Warehouseman (Cold Storage)

Ulric S. Moore

Stockman

Inez M. Armstrong

Leader, Marker and Sorter Darnley Yearwood

Assistant Baker

Ignatius C. Inglis Waiter Mavis A. Roper Meat Wrapper

Pedro A. Castillo

Utility Worker

Suanne Coq

Pantr\ woman

Herm S. Nolan

Waiter Manuel A. Contreras Stockman

Vicente R. Soley Warehouseman

Napoleon Forbes Warehouseman

Cleveland Williams Warehouseman

Ewart V. Howell

Service Station Operator Fernando A. Yip

Scrap Materials Sorter Alfonso Rodriguez U. Grounds Maintenance Equipment Operator

Alejo Rodriguz M.

Grounds Maintenance Equipment Operator

Daniel Sanchez F. Grounds Maintenance Equipment Operator

Frederick F. Szymanski

Supervison.' Distribution Facilities Specialist Lucy A. Constable

Sales Store Clerk Eleonora C. Carrington

Sales Store Checker

Arnold J. Buchanan

Leader Laborer (Heavy)

Errol Kirton Laborer (Cleaner) Denis DelH"anche Laborer (Cleaner) ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

BUREAU

Marciano Egues

Surveying Aid

Joseph A. Har\-ey Helper Electrician Stanley G. Nicholson Helper Electrician Joaquin L6#ez A. Helper Electrician (Lineman)

Policarpo Hemdndez

Electrician (Lineman)

Julio Alveo

Electrician (Lineman) Rudolph Davey

Maintenanceman (Distribution Systems) Henry G. Danzic

Helper Electrician (Power Plant)

Robert James Winchman

Arturo G. Lopez

Carpenter Frank Stewart Maintenanceman

James B. Ingram

Leader Seaman Adan Veliz Leader Seaman

Noel A. Dunn

Learner Oiler (Floating Plant) Miguel A. Reyes

Oiler (Floating Plant) Arden N. Greaves Helper (General) Leomard W. McBean

Maintenanceman (Distribution Systems) Manuel H. Vence

Pipefitter (Maintenance)

Eulalio Romero

Helper (Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Mechanic)

Eduviges Ardines Helper Machinist (Maintenance) Ulpiano Rios Helper Machinist (Maintenance) Lorenzo Deer

Boiler Tender

Conrad R. Wade

Chauffeur

Patricio Perea Seaman

Sydney A. Smith Seaman

Samuel Alfred

Oiler (Floating Plant) Auswal H. Edward

Surve>ing Aid John H. Foster Lead Foreman Electronics Mechanic George Lewis Maintenanceman (Distribution Systems) Henry N. Murrell Laborer i Highway Maintenance)

Norberto Herrera L. Leader Laborer (Heavy-) Damaso Jimenez

Pipela\ er Phra A. Ashby Lead Foreman (General Hospital Maintenance) Maurice £. Grandison Truck Dri\er Joseph B. Stennett Seaman

Henry Morris Seaman

Victor M. Hamblin Seaman

Jos^ S. de la Cruz Seaman

B. M. Parmentier Foreman (Marine Equipment and Facilities Repair) Ernesto Rodriguez

Oiler (Floating Plant) Thomas B. Rainey

Operator. Craneboat Norman C. Anderson

Supervisor, Mechanical Power Station Robert T. Geddes Water Svstem Operator

Arthur C. Hubert

Oiler John C. Thompson

Lead Foreman. Barge Maintenance

Rupert Hamilton

Surveying Aid

Alfred Griffith Surveving Aid

Harold J. MiUion

Supervisory Hydrologist Hubert M. Evans

Helper, Armatvu-e Winder

Clyde U. Chaplin

Laborer (Highway Maintenance)

Charles R. Corbin Cement Finisher John Williams Hot Water Tank Repairman Humberto Torrei A.

PipelayerCIVTL AFFAIRS BUREAU

Maurice E. MuUer

Police Private

Dale R. Meriwether Customs Inspector Carmen A. Butcher

Teacher. Junior High, L. A. Schools Ashton A. Brown

Dressing Room Attendant

Albert E, Greene

Supervisory Customs Inspector Ronald M. Brome

Police Technician II Emel P. A, Regist Guard (Correctional)

Julia J. Adams

Counselor, L. A. Schools HEALTH BUREAU

Fred L. Workman

Hospital Housekeeping Officer Clyde D. Bailey Hospital Attendant James S. Yard

Medical Aid (Ambulances)

C. D. Cumberbatch

Clerk Edward Sealey F.

Clinic Clerk

Eulalio Sosa Animal Caretaker Catherine J. Mitchusson

Clinical Nurse

Mildred A. Byrd

Medical Record Librarian

(Continued from p. 17)

Chinese Cruise Ships

PEOPLE WITH LOTS of time and a

taste for the exotic can take a world

cruise aboard any one of four oriental luxury passenger liners. They take 4^

months to travel around the world by

way of Brazil, South Africa, ports in the Far East, the U.S. west coast, and

the Panama Canal. The ships were pur- chased by the Orient Overseas Line and

rebuilt into one-class passenger vessels catering to retired senior citizens. The Oriental Carnaval, that came

through the Canal in April on her maiden voyage, is the former New Zea- land Shipping Company's Rangitoto.

She has accommodations for 350 pas- sengers and, typical of her unusual itin- erary, spends 3 or more days at most

of 20 ports around the world. The ship

combines the best of the East and West

in cuisine, service, and art. Her appoint- ments include tiled swimming pool,

theater, sauna baths, and gymnasium.

Each of the 176 staterooms has a private

tub and ""or shower and the liner is fully air-conditioned. Other ships placed on this run re- cently are the Oriental Esmeralda which

is the former New Zealand liner Ran^itane; the Oriental Rio, the former Ruahine; and the Oriental Amiga, the former

Holland American Liner Dynteldyke.

Wilford and McKay are agents at the Canal for the Orient Overseas Ij'ne

which started a new independent ex- press service from the United States

east coast ports direct to Japan and Korea at the end of June. The first ship on this service was the MV Hong Kong

Merchant.

The Panama Canal Review 27
Culinary

Capers

By Fannie P. Hernandez

GLEAMING CLEAVERS, a heavy one

for chopping bones, and a hghter one

for chopping meat and vegetables, hold

a prominent place in every Chinese

kitchen. The cook using these menacing

looking tools for cutting up ingredients

into cubes, slices, shreds, or into the

finest bits with skill and a high sense

of dignity, is not only preparing a meal,

he is happily performing an art. He is also dispensing with the need

for the dinner knife which never ap- pears at a Chinese dinner table. The

food is cut up into bite-size morsels during preparation. The multi-purpose

cleaver, usually made of steel and sharp

as a razor, also is used to pound, scoop,

crush, scale fish, and to carry the raw

food from the chopping block to the cooking pot. Chinese cooking, the cuisine of the world's oldest continuing civilization, and the jov of dining have been given

great significance through the centuries. The subject of food was treated with

respect as long ago as 2000 B.C. when

a Chinese philosopher is said to have

written an account on cooking.

Confucius

A number of Confucius's ideas have

to do with food and eating and earlv Chinese literature included cookbooks

as far back as the 11th century. Food

has alwavs been a topic of conversation

and a matter of discussion in the Chinese

home and still is today.

According to the Chinese, food is not only necessary to give nourishment to the body and as a means of satisfying the palate, but also a source of enjoyment to the one cooking it as well as the diner. To understand this attitude of respect

for food, one must realize that hardships

and hunger have always been a part of Chinese life. The mere thought of its

Flashing smiles, quick hands, and a wide variety of Oriental foods make shopping at Chinese

groceries in Panama City a unique pleasure. At the carryout section of the Yet Ley Kee

Oriental Restaurant, on Salsipuedes, Mrs. Irene (Chan) Gerdes chats with Juan Siu who is dipping into a glass jar of dried squid. Mrs. Gerdes supplied the recipes on pages 29 and 30.

lack has created a profound feeling

for food. Fascinating, highly diverse, and seemingly complex, Chinese cooking is the product of centuries of culinary experi- ence of a people who have lived their own way of life, often facing famine

and the ever-present shortage of fuel.

It was customary to heat rooms in cold weather by burning a little charcoal in a small pot. To double the usefulness

of the heat, it was common to set a pot

of soup or broth over it and cook small

pieces of food. Compelled to use their imagination,

ingenuity, and economy in preparing

meals, the Chinese have fussed over

food so long that their plainest cooking

has evolved into a cuisine with a unique

flavor rivaling French cooking in its subtlety.

Each Province Because of the vast expanse of China

and inadequate transportation facilities, each province developed its own cuisine using local products as well as foods common to all sectors. Expertise in blending ingredients native to each locality has resulted in four major schools of Chinese cooking:

Mandarin or Peking, Canton, Shanghai,

and Szechwan. The different schools have in common the use of sova sauce, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, water chestnuts, and other vegetables. They use

the same principle of cooking such as the stir-fry method and cook with the same fat: peanut oil and chicken or pork fat. Butter, cheese, cream, milk

and other dairy products are not used

in Chinese cooking. Pork suet is used

for pastry making.

Centuries Ago

Very little water or none at all is used

and the majority of dishes require a maximum of preliminary preparation

and a minimum of fuel and cooking time. In contrast to western cooking, vegetables predominate over meat in most

dishes. Pork, duck, and chicken are the

28 August 1970
preferred meats of the Chinese but they

also eat beef, lamb, and mutton.

In addition to the versatile cleaver and chopping block, cooking vessels and utensils are much as they were

centuries ago. Several sizes of woks, the convex-bottomed pan, and a steamer

are aKva\s found in Chinese kitchens. The wok may be compared to the Pan- amanian paila, which permits food to be

cooked on the sides of the pan as well

as the bottom. Lighter utensils include

slotted spoons and wooden chopsticks

for stirring. Best Chefs

Since the Imperial Palace was for centuries in Peking, the capital of China,

the best chefs and highest quality food were found in this area. Although Chinese cooking is characterized b\' a generous use of rice, wheat

is the staple food of northern China.

The majority of recipes from the Peking

area call for wheat and not rice. The

world famous Peking duck and the

best sweet-and-sour dishes come from

this sector known for its subtle and

delicatelv flavored dishes. Garlic and

scallions are common condiments in

this area. Rice replaces wheat in the coastal areas around Shanghai. The use of soya sauce and sugar is more prevalent and

gravx- and saltv dishes are more popular.

The abundance of fish and seafood from

the manv rivers and the sea make for excellent fish dishes. The well-known

bird's nest soup is from here. Cantonese cooking in the southern

part of China has a varied cuisine. This

is the Chinese cooking that most westerners know. Most of the Chinese chooking found in Panama had its origins in the Canton area. Cooks use very highly

concentrated chicken bouillon, nuts, mushrooms and less soya sauce. The

popular egg-roll, shark fin soup, egg

foo voung, and steamed dumplings are

, from here. Southwest China

The Szechwan school of cooking in the southwestern part of China is noted

for its use of hot pepper, making it comparable to Mexican style cooking.

Ham from this region is the best in the country. (The world's best natural

bristle is plucked from the backs of Szechwan hogs.) The use of the hot- pepper flavoring is now popular in the Taiwan cuisine. Here are a few recipes for Chinese

dishes. Ingredients are readily available

in Chinese markets and shops in Panama

Cit\ for these simple recipes.

Sweet-and-Sour Pork

l-lb. lean pork

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 tsp. salt

I4 cup cornstarch

'm cup flour a cup chicken broth 2 cups peanut oil 2 cloves garlic, maslied

1 green pepper cut in strips

1 carrot cjit diagonally into thin

slices

'A cup chicken broth 4 tbsp. sugar 4 tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in 3 tbsp. water Cut pork into 1-inch cubes. Mix

together the egg, Vi cup cornstarch, V4 cup flour, Vi cup chicken broth and salt. Add pork pieces to egg and flour mixture and stir until each cube is well

coated. Heat oil in a wok or paila until hot but not smoking. Put pieces of pork, one bv one, into the oil and cook for about 5 minutes until crisp. Remove

pork with a slotted spoon and place in a baking dish. Keep warm in oven set

at 250 degrees.

The Chinese way to slice a carrot.

For the sauce, pour 1 tbs. oil in a

skillet and heat until it barely begins

to smoke. Add the green pepper, garlic

and carrot and stir for about 3 minutes

being careful not to bum. Pour in chicken broth, sugar, vinegar, and soya

sauce. Boil 1 minute. Lower to a sim- mer and add cornstarch mixture. Cook a few minutes longer, stirring constantly.

When sauce is thick and clear, pour over pork and serve. Serves two to three.

Dessert is not served as part of a Chinese meal. China does not have a wide-spread dair\ industry and dairy

products required for desserts are sometimes rare. Pastries and sweets are, however, ser\ed at holiday festivities and

at social affairs. A light delicate dessert particularly

suitable for the tropics is Almond Float.

The Panama Canal Review 29
Almond Float

2 phgs. unflavored gelatin a Clip cold water

1 tbsp. almond extract 3 tbsp. or more of sugar

(according to taste) 1% cups milk

1 1-lb. can lichee fruit, chilled

1 6'a-oz. can mandarin oranges,

chilled

(or other canned fruit such as

fruit cocktail, pears, peaches)

Sprinkle the gelatin in Vz cup cold water to soften for 5 minutes. Add 1 cup boiling water and mix thoroughly.

Combine the milk, sugar, and almond

extract with the diluted gelatin and

blend. Pour the mLxture into a 7V2 bv

10-inch flat pan. It should be enough

liquid to gel into about a P/i-inch thick

gelatin. Chill for about /4-hours and then

cut into small shapped pieces. Pour the canned fruits and their svrup over the almond float and serve. Serves three

to four.

Braised Fish

1 corbina (I'A-lbs.) cleaned, whole

2 slices fresh ginger root, cut in strings

'A tsp. sugar

1 tbsp. soya sauce

1 tbsp. dry sherry 2 or 3 scallions, chopped fine

salt, pepper, salad oil, cornstarch

Combine ginger root, sugar, soya

sauce, and wine and add enough water

or stock to make V'z cup liquid. Salt and

pepper fish inside and out. Dust lightly

with cornstarch. Put enough oil in a heavy skillet or paila to cover the bot- tom. Heat oil to a medium temperature.

Brown fish turning over only once to avoid breaking fish by too much handling. Pour off any excess oil. Pour gin- ger-sauce liquid over the fish. Cover and

cook over medium-low heat for approximately 15 minutes or until fish is tender and flakes easily. Garnish with chopped

scallions. Serves two generously.

Onion Chicken Canton Style

1 3-lb. chicken fryer, cut up into uniform pieces

1 lb. onions, quartered and

sliced la level tsps. sugar thumb si;c piece of cru.^hed fresh ginger root, oil or fat from chicken

A wide variety of canned goods mostly from Hong Kong and Taiwan are stocked by

Chinese merchants.

2 cloves garlic, crushed

soya sauce Hi cups hot water dash of moiwsodium

glutamate (optional)

(The Chinese remove the fat from

the chicken and render it by adding a

little water and cooking it until the water

evaporates and only fat remains )

.

Heat a little oil or chicken fat in a heavy iron pot, wok, or paila. Brown

chicken pieces along with the ginger

and garlic. Add onions and cook with

the chicken a few minutes. Add soya sauce (enough to give a rich brown

color), monosodium glutamate, sugar and stir. Add the hot water and bring

to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat approximately 45 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Add no salt as the soya is salty. Add more water if necessary. Serve with fluffy white rice. Garnish with sprigs of Chinese parsley

(coriander). Sers'es six to seven.

Delicacies to suit refined Oriental tastes are kept in glass jars which surround Juan Siu.

30 August 1970
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Ambassador and Mrs. J. L. Huang pose amid antique Chinese furniture.

RESIDENTS OF The Cunal Zone and

Panama interested in seeing a bit of the Orient should drive to the Chinese Embass\- in La Cresta. There, on a hill overlooking much of the city, is the first

classic-style Chinese pavilion in Panama.

In inaugurating the colorful structure,

Lt. Gen. J. L. Huang, Chinese Ambassador to Panama, said he named the

pavilion Ta-Tung Ko—"the world is one

familv"—in honor of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China.

"The Republic of China and the Republic of Panama have alwaxs enjoxed

a most cordial friendship," the Ambassador said. "This is further evidenced

by the arrival of an agricultural technical team (from Taiwan) which is working side-by-side with the Panamanian

farmers in the fields of Montijo (Vera- guas Province south of Santiago). Therefore, I have taken the liberty of naming

this pavilion Ta-Tung Ko honoring the

political philosophv of Dr. Sun." The pavilion, with its arched roof, glazed tiles, painted ceiling, and the blending of bright colors, is in the

classic Chinese architectural style.

It features antique hand-carved fur- niture, bright red columns, and golden

dragons bordering a ceiling of inlaid wood from Taiwan.

A portrait of Dr. Sun takes a prominent place over an altar-type table which

THE WORLD IS ONE FAMILY

raviiion

By Louis R. Granger

is decorated with a 600-year-old seal of the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty,

a replica of a bronze Shang Dynasty

(500 B.C.) tripod vessel, and an antique

teapot. Since he arrived in Panama 5 years ago it has been Ambassador Huang's

desire to introduce to the country some

form of Chinese architecture. "This pavilion, to my mind, is only an experiment. There are many imperfections, make-shifts, plus my own innovations. But it represents a beginning,"

he said. One innovation was to place lighted

color transparencies of scenes of Taiwan

on three sides of the pavilion.

The Ambassador noted that the Chinese colony in Colon is planning

a Chinese stvle park, and the Chinese

in Panama City are considering the construction of a Chinese Association

building in the classic st\le.

Not onlv were manv of the decorative

pieces in the pavilion imported from

Taiwan, but master craftsman ChangAh-mao came to Panama to supervise

the construction. Taiwan architect Yao- Ven-\in and his son designed the structure. Panamanian engineers of Chinese

ancestry, Idelfonso Lee, Alberto Him,

and Winston Cham, also worked on

the building.

Yao is regarded as Taiwan's top

^^ Dr. Sun Yat-sen

The pavilion is colorful and airy in the

classic Chinese architectural style.

designer of Chinese palatial-style struc- tures and last \ear was a prize winner

in architecture in Nationalist China.

Ambassador Huang formall\' opened

the pavilion to officials from the Canal

Zone organization, the U.S. military.

Republic of Panama, and the diplomatic

communitv during this \ear's celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival (Tuan

Wu Chie)—one of China's three most

important festivals. During the reception, Ambassador

Huang explained that Dr. Sun aimed not

oiil\- to better the living conditions of the Chinese people, "but also improve the economic welfare of all the peoples, to reach a state of worldly brotherhood or the great commonwealth."

The Dragon Boat Festival had its beginnings more than 2.260 years ago

during the Chou Dynasty. Cli'u Yuan,

a poet-statesman-reformer, deplored existing conditions and urged reforms. He

was finalK' banished from court and as a gesture of protest, on the .5th day of the •5th moon which corresponds to the 8th of June this year, he jumped into the Meelo River and drowned himself. Manv of the people favored Yuan's reform efforts and attempted to save him from drowning. Since then it has become a traditional custom to organize

dragon boat races as a symbolic attempt

to save Ch'u Yuan.

The Panama Canal Review .31
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