The Davenport daily gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1869, 1856-01-07
TIE rsTHNUs. ;

sEPULCHRr FORTY EIGHT MILES LONG.
The bones Of six thousand Irshmen line
+ the Railroad from Aspinwall u Panama
Set this down to the credit Of mans in
humanity to man. to 'the Almighty Dollar
to Yankee enterprise or what you will:
call il mercantile, diabocal or osteo-
logical fact; it is undoubtedly true. But the
road is built. the continent is spanned, and
our onward march, our manifest, destiny
has made another demonstrate N. We muy
as we'll look at the entire pile of grim,
/ ghastly facts all at once, as to pick out the
I glorifca,on alone, and sink the CORY real
I ity The road is fact; and the guls that
/ swallowed up the human life is another; the
.news that toiled to build the structure
! seemed to have been destined to as igno-
! bic an end as Falstafi''s ragged regiment, or
/ the British army before 3ehastopol-'iood
for powder As great undertaking, there
! is no internal or internal improvement OF
! modern time that is TO be compared 10 it..
+, 1t is very easy 10 think or TO speak OF. or
even TO build forty eight miles of railroad in
most countries. The first 45 miles o. rail-
road from Boston TO the Azores, in straight
! line, could be blu Il nearly as readily and
] chesply as this was. One unmitigated
swamp, almost completely impossible, ex-
cep, to creatures that have wings or witch
/ craft to assist them, has been the ground
! they mad to build the superstrucsurs on. A
| part Of it was adamantins rock, hills OF
| granite. did but little in the way of All
| examination, except to ride over the road,
| and look at its various stopping places As
the train passed, the ground shook on al!
sides like sea OF laly, covered with great
blanket of gutta percha with large elephant
walking over il. After cutting away the
timber and underground, earth and gravel
were ear,ed on until the foundation seemed
to be solid enough to lay the sleePers. The
streams, cutters and rsvines were so numer-
oas that there are six hundred bridges on the
road between here and Aspinwall, Some
OF those are several hundred feet long. But
a mere description and plling up statistics
DO not give an idea OF this gigantic under
taking.
VEGETATION THERE.
| fancied had seen some forests in my
time, but faith, had no idea Of forest in
,hi. country. | positively believe for very
much of the way alongside Of this road,
strong men with no weapon but a jackknife
would find the greatest difficulty in travelling
three miles in day. Trees, large and small,
cover the earth, and SO perfectly loaded with
vines, creepers, and parasitic plants, that
the sun scarce ever reaches the ground with
its RAYS. Our train got stuck for want OF
water, and the engine left us for an hour to
get a supply, and then the passengers got
out and explored the beauties o! Panama
forest. | attempted to 60 about one rod H.
to the thicket to get gigantic palm leaf
but had to desis,, and put up with small
er one that grew on the border. Really,
the forest scene on the line OF this railroad
is the most magnificent sight OF the Kind
have ever witnessed What quantities Of
splendid fiowers' Birds of gay plumage and
lively song FIJI the trees, all is one scene OF
animated nature. To one who has never
been in a tropical forest this is one OF the
most gorgeous sights in the world. oor
party of travellers to-day have been IN the
hirhrs, glee.' Hold me- says !, want to
scream Scream away, them, says pref
,y girl in the crowd. And didn't j. You
NAV as well believe yelled ike csta-
mount. till the woods fairly echoed. In
menss lunches Of scarlet flowers hung IN
eInstsrs from the trees. and these, Is beaut!-
ful =, they are have no odor Whatever. In
numerous instances we can see vines that
hang directly down from tree top to the
earth, height OF sixty or eighty feet, and
there take root. Whether the vines grew
nm or down do not know. The road, OF
course. 10 built several feet higher than the
surface of the swamp, and each side OF the
iron rails for some sixty feet, every tree,
shrub, vine and plant has been cut away
And vet this precaution, so marvellous Is
the growth Of vegetation, that were ths
railroad unused for twelve months, al the
end of tina, time the owners would be COM
oletely out Of sight in less than halt that
|, Time. | noticed some places where the way
wns cut ,hro' hill, and COR distance OF
.;y,v or eighty feet from the track there was
,o,6inp but solid rock. You may suppose
that here the vegetation kept its distance.
Not at ALL As if the very vince owed 'he
road a spite. have seen convoivnlus-a
common Morning Glory i's ion'y
arm, out and run, like the New Hampshire
uumukin vine, directly down on OF Inc hili
side and across the rocks, till II got upon
the track: and, Of course, the next train.c
ped lis vaulting ambition by cutting .'s
head off, Were the vegetable growth ior
ons miIs O each side of this road, available
for firewood, within FIVE miles OF New LOT.
or London, il would afford fuel for Tour NIL
lions OF people, go rapidly does the warm
damn climate and fertile soil reproduce sV'
erything as fast as it is cut"
- -
TIE Two HElRs.-"I remember, says
tho late Postmaster General OF the unitea
S,sres, athe first time | visited burlington
VI, as the Judge of the Supreme Court !
/ had left j, many years before, poor ooy.
A, the time left, there were TWO iahlii,es
ofspecial note for their standing and wealth
Each of them had a son about my own age.
| was very poor, and these boys were very
rich. During the long years Of hard .ol.
which passed before my return, had almost
forgotten them. They had long ago Tor
gotten me. a. ,hss,s,
Approaching the Court House Tor . ,hsnrs.
time, in company with several gentlemeen
Of the bench and bar, noticed, IN the
cour, house yard, large pile OF -, oia iurn..
/ tnre about to be sold at auction Ihe scene
of early boyhood with which Twas surr3un-
ed prompted me TO ask whose It was ! Us
tsld it belonged 10 Mr.. J. Mr. ~ re-
membered family Of that name, very
weaI,hv. there was son, too, can II De So