Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1889-03-06
letter from Aspinwall.


letter from Sspinwail.
Correspondence OF the Alexandria GAZETTE
L. s. s. OssIPEE, AsPINwALL, U. 4 OF
Col, Feb. oath, 1SS9.-We arrived here
some two weeks since, coming from Port aus
Prince Hayti, via Kingston, Jamaica, with
the Haytian Republic in tow, where we
left her. One OF the first things we Gid on
our arrival bere was to make trip over the
celebrated railway, which since 1866, has
been running between Panama City, on the
Pacific side, and Aspinwall, on the Atlantic,
and on account cf which the United States
came near having the war rot long ago.
Notwithstanding oil the fuss that was made
at its building, it would seem that the con-
struction of this road could not nave been
very serious undertaking, ajnce its highest
point is scarcely 250 feet above sea level
not circumstance, compared to that high
est railway in Mexico between Vera Cruz
and the Capital, which rises more than s .000
feet within few miles.
Aspinwell (or Colon, es il is sometimes
called, is Colombiaa most llouri=hing sea
port and is virtually colony Of the Uni!ed
States Of the North, having been Ceded in
perpetuity by tho government of New Gran
ada, in 1852, to the American company, who
founded it for the Atlantic terminus Of the
Panama railway Architectual3 the pert
little city looks as if it had accidental
ly strayed away from New England
and got lost down here in the
tropics. Indeed, Aspinwail pretty nearly
monopolizes The benefits OF traffic iu both
directions over the route between the tHo
no
dubbed "The Highway Of ;he World" TO
the almost utter exclusion CT fast-decayipg
Panama For romance and picturesqueness
the latter will always bear the palm, but
Aspinwall, with its more commonplace fea.
lures and sir of smart Yankee newness, is
bound to run as far ahead of the sleepy old
Spanish town in .ubstantial prosperity, as
Alexandria's thrift and enterprise distances
Dumfres's sloth and Incidence. The Amer
lean town was named in honor Of Colonel
Aspinwall, one of the original promoters of
the railway, and the shrewdest Of mer-
chants. Its population has been variously
estimated, and probably changes with times
and seasons but about seven thousand will
approximate q fair average. The town con-
tains number of good hotels, one OF which
boasts of being able to contain six hundred
Episcopal Church in Central America, be-
sides several missions" Methodist, Baptist,
and Presbyterian, and q number Of Catholic
sanctuaries. No less than seven lnes of
mail steamers make Aspin wall their port OF
destination, via Panama, rendering ii the
chief enterport, not ouIy between California
and the Atlantic States, but between Eng-
land and the countries beyond the Pacific.
Formerly the climate here was very un-
healthy, but Yankee methods, assisted By
thorough and enlightened system of drain
age. has made the little island about the
most salubrous show town in all Spanish
America.
Only eight miles away is the old Spanish
town OF Chagre5, port at the mouth of the
river of the same name. It was once the
principal city Oft the section, but has suffer
ed almost total eclipse since Aspinwall was
built. 1t s divided into two towns, one
on each side of the river, that on the
left bank being styled the American Chag
res; because settled principally by peo-
ple from the United States. Tie other is
the old Spanish village, and has mongre
population of Mexicans, Indians, negroes,
creoles, Caribs, Spaniards and Englishmen.
Both towns are little better than collec-
tions of rude huts, miserable, poor, dirty and
unhealthy, their only importance being as
mail station between Great Britain and the
western coast of the two Americas. Chag.
res harbor will accommodate only vessels
drawing not more than ten or twelve feet Of
water, and at all times is extremely difficult
of entrance, requiring fair wind When
once inside, however, ships are perfectly Sc
cure. 30 far es the elements are concerned,
no matter what storms may rege upon the
open gulf; end for that reason it is much
sought during the season of northers. The
great river upon which the two towns lie
runs some thirty miles north OF Panama and
traverses fertile country. But, though from
twenty to fifty feet deep, it Is not navigabie
because broken by numerous cascades anG
owing to the rapidity of its current. Its af-
fuents-the rivers Pegueni-Gratun and La
Trinidad-are all considerable streams, and
upon its banks, further in the interior, are
several towns, each infinitely better than
Chagres.
On this coast are also found many of those
places whose names we're familiar in our
school DAYS and map drawing experiences
the Gulf Of Darien, Port Escocesa, the har-
bor of San Bias and Caledonia Bay-in-
GLIDING the river, lagoon and archipelago, and
which belong mostly to the adjoining state
Of Costa Rica, department of Veragua. The
Chiriuui river, after taking a northward
course. enters the lagoon OF the same name,
which is separated from the Caribbean sea
by the Chiriqui Archipelago. The lagoon
Is a magnificent bay with three entrances,
CAPABLE OF anchoring vessels of the largest
size. It extends along the coast for ninety
miles and inland from forty to fifty miles.
Eycept 6 few scattered Carib huts its nu.
merous lovely islands are uninhabited if not
wholly unexplored. Some are beautifully
wooded. with bossoming vines swaying
from the tree tops, and strange sweet odors
waited upon every passing breeze. What
secrets these fowery recesses contain;
what treasures for the scientist, the natu-