Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-10-28
ACROSS THE ISTHMUS.
From Aspinwal to Panama..-Queer
Towns and People---The
Panama Canal.
[Cor. Washington Republican. !

wall and Panama, one leaving at z in the
morning and the other at in tie afternoon,
and each train occupies four hoursin making
the trip
We were to leave by the early train, so
Few minutes before we entered the cars +
They were clean, and looked like those at
home, except that the seatsAwere covered with
mating and there were no windows only
blinds to exclude the rain and dust. We
started punctually, and in a few moments
were slowly passing the French buildings at
the mouth of Fox river, which is at the
western end of Aspinwall.
They have filed in quite large tract of
ground here and are enIarging it all the while,
and on this ground they have built quite
number OF neat houses for their employees. =:
The sides are generally of wood painted gray,
and the roofs of corrugated iron painted rec.
Near the car track they were putting up a
fine bronze statue Of Columbus with IN In
dian maiden, which statue was presented by
the ex-Empress Eugene to the town. and
which has stood in various places in the
vicinity at different times. Then there were
several workshops, and in one Of them they
were very busy putting together machinery
that had been sent out in pieces. We could
see three dredges hard at work deepening
and widening the river, which they intend to
use for some distance. Crossing the river,
we soon lost sight of it behind Monkey hill
Monkey hill is the cemetery of Aspinwall; it
Is quite high, steep, and there are some trees
upon it. few graves are fenced about and
seemingly cared for, but most of them were
marked by dilapidated wooden cross, and
appeared as if the unfortunates had died of
some malignant disease, and their friends
burying them out Of the way had forgotten
them. 1t was desolate, and even seemed to
lack the luxuriant tropical growth that now
began to greet us on both sides of the way. !:
Everything that met my eyes was strange,
from the tall, Towering trees to the low lilies
in the bitches, except, perhaps, the white
spider lily, of which I had seen few in
Florida. There were wild bananas and
cocoanuts, tall palms with long punches OF
bright red palms, oil nuts, tamarind trees,
with many scarlet blossoms that showed
clearly against the small pointed CLASSY
leaves strange ferns, and numerous other
beautiful growths that l could not find out
the names of. The whole made a dense
jungle, and about and around fitted hundreds
of butterflies the most striking of which
were as large as my hand and of bright
metallic blue.
] was astonished to find the train stopping
tlb l1llCISlL StdLICllS, dS lever IGdu OF
heard of there being any before, so l took
down the names of some, and give them for
the edification of those who are ignorant as 1
was. They are Chagres Puolo, Buena Vista, .
Mamei, Gorgona, Haut Obispo, Bas Obispo and :
Rio Grande Superieure. They were all COM
posed of few we'll built buildings belonging
to the French, uice house for the station
master, and lot of native hutS scattered =
oJ, Tbnca b,1tc 10
of poles stuck in the ground and cross poles .
tied to them at the top with strips of
rawhide, and these top poles supported
heavy matched roof made of cane and banana
leaves The sides were covered with split
cane; sometimes woven like basket work, and
this was tied on with strings.of any kind .
Very few of them boasted OF more than one
room. but there We're generally number of
small children playing around the fire, and
numbers of their elders outside watching the .
train. In these gatherings the men wore ;
breeehes, the women voluminous trailing cal
leo skirts and cheInise made Of coarse curtain
lace. The children generally wore nothing.
The resident French superintendent Of the :
canal was on the train and l enjoyed very
much talking with him, well as the noise
of the train would allow, about his work. In
stead of being, as some might suppose a pom ,
derous, elderly gentleman, he was tall, slight,
and may perhaps have seen 40 years, but he
did not look it. His light brown hair was
still unstreaked with gray and he had lost
none Of his inherent French politeness during
a two years residence in a comparative wild
erness Their route is not only well planned .
and surveyed, but cleared of underground.
no small task-and they have been leveling
the highest places that they must cross on the
divide. They are dredging ir Fox river, al
ready having a depth Of thirty feet on the
bar, which is all they wish. They have 5000
men at work, mostly negroes. They pay $50
il head for them landed at Colon las he and
all Frenchmen call AspinwalD, in addition to :
which they receive 81 a day wages.
All necessary buildings, such as quarters
and hospitals, are finished, and whenever it .
is possible they arc placed on an eninence or ;
slope. Phey have been very fortunate 50 far,
only losing on an average one man a day.
Five died the day before at Colon Of fever,
and when the wind blew down the Chagres
river he said it was very deadly. If no cpl
demic should occur he hoped next year to
have something to show for the immense
sums expended but he would not venture an
opinion as to when the gigantic task would
be accomplished. He was very warmly
dressed, although the day was Sutry, ana
said that he found it necessary to dress
warmly and lead very regular life, abstain q
ing from all alcoholic drink. He said the
overseers at the interior posts were too apt to
forget and make the time pass, but that
meant death.
The deepest cutting is to be 397 feet and
near this they are constructing large reser-
voir to receive the overflow Of the Chagres
and prevent a freshet in the rainy season.
We arc told that in 1878 the railway had
thirty miles of track under water and
heavy iron bridge was lifted and turned
around by this same river. 1t was appar-
emily much dreaded stream, but now was
quietly rolling along well within its banks,
the water very muddy, ard its surface was
frequently dotted with dugouts and other
native boats.
The canal follows the line Of the railway
closely until it nears Panama, when it turns
slightly to the eastward and comes out at
place called Ancon.
We looked under the ties of the railway
for the Irishmen that are said TO lie one IN
der each tie, but they were not visible. We
saw frequent wrecks of cars, however, and
were informed that we were fortunate to get
over without running off the track, as it was