West-Jersey pioneer., 1875-04-15
For the w. j. PIONEER.
THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA.
MAuR1cErowN Anrj

HAhohASEAOWN, ApiA IL, 1917.
Messrs. Bditors:-In compliance with the
request Of friends, I send you short sketch
of the 1sthmus, which may contain some
thing of interest to your many readers.
Aspinwall or s'Colon'' as it is called by
the natives and Europeans, is situated on
the Eastern shore of Navy Bay, about twelve
miles East of Chagres, and is the Eastern
terminus of the Panama Railroad, forty
seven miles distant from Panama, the Pa
cific terminus. The projectors of the road,
John L. Stevens, Henry Chauncey and VIM.
B. Aspinwall, gave it the American name
in honor of one of their number.
The trade proper of the port, consists of
fruit and ivory nuts, large quantities of
which, are shipped to the States; the New
York Steamers averaging about 500 tons of
bananas per trip. The transit trade is
enormous. There are five great Steamship
lines centering there, viz our Pacific Mail
Steamship Co; the English Royal Mail,
Liverpool, Hamburg and French Lines; the
Ships of the Foreign Company's touching
at st. Thomas, Jamaica, Port Lima, all
the principal ports on the Spanish Main,
and Windward Islands. These steamers
are some of the finest af1oat, but few of
them being less than 5000 tons.
Aspinwall is what is termed free port:
no Custom House, Entering, Clearing or
Duties Of any description. AS matter of
course, all kinds of spirituous liquors are
cheap, being imported direct from Europe.
AS there are no restrictions against their
sale, nearly every house has bar. The
church, believe, is an exception.
The morals of this place beggars descrip-
ton. The institution of matrimony is but
seldom cultivated in this part of the world;
it being practically the paradise of 'Free
Love-" The population (about 10OO) con-
sists of Creoles, Negroes, Spanish Ameri-
cans, Indians, and a few whites; the latter
being the Railroad Officers, Steamship
Agents, Foreign Consuls, &c.
There are but two seasons, viz, dry and
rainy. Being situated between the parallels
of 80 and 100 North, it is within the North
ern limit of the Equatorial rain belt. JAN,
Feb. and March constitutes the dry season,
at which season, the air is dry, pure and
healthy, the heat being tempered by the
strong trade winds. The rest of the year
is rainy the air cooler than in Winter, but
very unhealthy; the Chagres fever having
full sway. The ''Vomito," the ''scourge of
the Antilles" is never known on the 18th
mus. AS an illustration of what the rainy
season means in the Tropics, last October
the rain fall on the Isthmus was fourteen
inches, nearly double the annual rain fall
Of the Middle States.
The Panama Railroad cost 81, 900;
(and, it is said, "a human life for every rail
and tie laid). The Company has the right
Of way, 100 miles each side of the track,
for ninety-nine years, for which they pay
the United States of Columbia, $3.50, 200
per year. The business done by the road
is the largest of any in the world. The
fare for passengers is $50 gold.
The Company is obliged to wage an in
cessant war with nature, to keep down veg
citation. Should they suspend operations
one month the road would become impassi-
BILE. Such are the tremendous vital forces
of nature in the Central Zone of highest
vegetable development. Humboldt truly
says: "zo the Tropics belong diversity and
grandeur in the forms Of plants" The
growth of one day on the Isthmus, of plants
will equal the growth of month in New
Jersey.
Prior to the construction of the road, the
travellers were landed at Chagres, then up
the Chagres river in boats to the head of
| navigation; thence on mules over the noun
tains to Panama. Thousands have left
their bones on the Isthmus, in making that
fearful journey; the poisonous miasma
from the river and swamp, doing its deadly
| work.
The magical change the Railroad has
made, is perhaps more wonderful than any
other of like dimensions; the greatest, is in
| disarming the Isthmus of its terrors. There
is no more danger of sickness going to Cal
| ifornia now, than in making a voyage to
| Europe. Passengers are not allowed a
night ashore arriving at Aspinwall in the
morning; are shipped across the road, trans
ferred to the steamer at Panama, and are
at sea before night.
| Armed with free pass across the road,
five of US ''web footed'' shippers, started at
a. M, for a trip across to Panama. The
first four miles, the Railroad runs through
low, swampy land, and during the rainy
season, is frequently flooded, SO as to ex-
tinguish the fires of the engines. Then it
strikes the right bank of the Chagres river,
which it follows in it's serpentine course
| through the broken chain of the Cardilleras
for thirty miles, when it crosses the river
on an iron bridge of $50 feet span. Five
miles beyond which, it reaches its highest
elevation 1862 feet above the sea level; from
which point to Panama, the country is more
level, with occasional patches under culti-
vation. There are about dozen Indian
villages along the road, which with their
steepest thatched roofs, mud floors, slouchy
women, and naked children, form a good
picture of aboriginal life in the Tropics.
The grand old forests, hoary with the
weight of centuries, clothed in the verdure
of perpetual Spring; the gorgeous Flora,
rivalling in fragrance the famous "ottar of
roses;" the vegetation of the Tropics in all
it's glory, enlivened by birds of the most va
ried and brilliant plumage; monkeys in
myriads, and the huge cayman basking in
the sun, evincing no sign of fear as the
train thunders past, forms scene of fairy
enchantment, once seen never to be forgotten
| We arrived at Panama at II a. m, "a
hours making AZ miles.) Our time being
! limited. we made the most of it. The city
is situated on the Bay Shore; about half a
| Ia 1opo bo1f tIo&x