The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-02-09
SOUTHERN SCENES.
The Isthmian Railway and the
Money 1t has Made.
A REPTILE-INFESTED COUNTRY.
Story of the Days When Piracy Was
Fashionable 1.-THE Good Old Times.
Of the Buccaneers

greater Institution than the world at laro
is aware of. Its managers have discreetl
CHOSEN to keep their affairs to themselye.
as other wise men of the east have bee
known to do in various kinds of remunera
tive business; and should you ask one n
them about it, you would, doubtless. some
how receive the impression that if had bee
losing investment.
The facts in the case are that ever sine
its completion, in 1856, this railroad ba
oeen one OF the most profitable in tn
worio. For nearly twenty years the loca
Iare between Aspinwan and Panama wa
so, each person, for ride of forty seve,
miles, or more than so cents per mile. Dur
ing those days the traffic was much heavie-
IMAM now, and each month thousands per.
carried over the line-every Thousand nae
sengers yielding to the company precisel,
szo,oOO. AT that time the Pacific Mail G G
company was carrying steerage peonle
tas 1hey now carry first-class passengers
au the way around from New Y orl, to San
Francisco, 0A-'
ANoE of FIFTf-FIYE HUNDRED MILES.
including passage across the Istbmns nv,
1nis same road, and the best of board and
e oosinSs uurlng thlrty-two days. for ONLY
Soo; while for four hours suffocation in >
crowded second-class car with no food or
oUner comfort one was required to nav sos
WIN Une completion of the Pacific rail
ROADS across the United States. if was
ueehied advisable to come down LITTLE
Suu sne Iare across the Isthmus was re-
duced to $40 per ticket. The differanoo
however, is largely Offset by CHARGE of Z
cents per pound for extra baggageS (onlr
nunured pounds being allowed rratisS
Wnlcn generally doubles the price of the
Ticket lady of my acquaintance LATELY
crossed with three trunks of ordinary size
ana small box of curios. and her hi, fn,
extra baggage was SIS. American pold for
Instance OF forty-Seven miles. Rnt tba
Ola price trebied would have seemed chew
IN the days OF ~ and 40 to the thonsondss
VINO hooked across this highway tn Cali
Ior1la. When men were crazed with the
guy IeVer linen the trip occupied a week
aU ene pest, tnere being no road whatever
first tedious journey up the Chseres
river In native bongors, and thence by
morse or mule through slimy swamns onS
tangled thickets, where the trail nv, rnu
bones. 'i0a0nihS
as Inere was no accommodation for
oldseiers along the route they were com
pened TO sleep in the open air. while tho
plice VI morse or mule and enough food
W Keep soul and body together during the
!eatIul passage almost equalled the snm
tnaG tne most sanguine lunati, might rea-
.; solapiy expect to reap in the gold regions
II ne lived to get there And so mani nor,
Isned by the wayside, from camping nigbts
eear Inc deadly river, that the eTsthmnS
LIVER became known to the world as .
us Ulhct malady, and one almost incurahla
L nose VINO managed to survive or escane
~ came out great deal poorer in nI,rse
foua IL Person; and years later many a
"a
lis directly back to the exposure and borJ
snIpS encountered in crossing the Tsthmns
remembering these things, nobody feels /
uIspose9 TO grumbLe at whatever price NAV
De asked for rapid transit across the Vaiiey
Vi Deatn- Inc road was built under dis, ,
o ulage1ents tnat would have ruined most
men, and, therefore, the undaunted few
VINO carried 1t to successful completion are s
Ialrly entitled to a rich reward {
SINGLE STREAK OF CIVILIZATIONS
IL runs through a wilderness that 10 vet S
i LUZ Ine most part, totally uaexplored: and n
a ,SS 1oo only saved unnumb ered lives, but O
Oh the world. At present il 'transno,t, 4
annual average of $40. 600 tons of merchan n
ocean i o0eau u -
Along It's course, there are twenty. five a
tslalages ana stations, each possessing some S,
% CLOSE upon 1t crowds the tropic wilder n
ness ness mat scarcely half mile from the
FHlage one may find untrodden L
% where no sound penetrates Init tt
oee snriI whistle of the engine, the chatter Il
~ eeonheys, the hiss of serpents and the b
49, oI gorgeous birds-a lovely al
y asIs, 0eemlng with animal life but where 81
leath TO man turks in some puise nnder "
every leaf o"i'o uluer g,
Unfortunately for the naturalist +ba
sportsman, and the lover of solitude. there m
5 not even foot path from ocean to ocean Is
t ~, wagon road, properly so called, any in
Nhere on the Isthmus. Nature is bara IN | Va
'uch generous mood that one could NOT P
,ossloly make his way home alone al
,hrough swamps choked with slimy ver- of
lure and swarming with venomons al
epllles; and lungles whose riotous growths
re SO closely entwined that old Sol cannot
'lerce them with an arrow or
A lew months ago Senior Ricardo Rom tn
no, an intrepid explorer of Panama. deter an
mined to seek out, amid the TANGLED ca
IoWIns OF centuries, one of the ancient tn
ran Atlantlc roads which the early Span tir
arcs are known to have made. Startino on
,o. point on the eastern coast called III;
David, he succeeded in crossing the fs.b cit
Jus ID nine days, cutting a path as he ga
fent Tor his cattle to pass He contem it
iaUes making another attempt soon. with pls
larger BODY OF men. mules, horses and we
attle, TO improve and widen the same trail HI
'eing assisted by several men of means ]
10 prominence. it is not improbable that q Ne
dgon ROAD across the ISthmus NAV one dis
az dispute the railways exclusive rioht an
transportation 10 of
SUCH PANDEMONIUM -
relgns supreme in the AsninusI1 aa,,o4 of
men the daily tram is ahout to et1r., we
dssengers OF all nationallties ara crowded nu
|, someumes three in a seat as closely nc OF
AZURE packs her seedlings-all iabherirg COZ
, once, IN every ldioma known to man pee
he greatest trouble is with the luegaga VIZ
me being generally astray. whose now ses
i1-frantlc owners neglected this or that tire
'ecautloa; while many astonished persons spr
ana Valnly disputing with the bowers bel
az pe over the sum demanded for extra opu
elght-some even in tears because of nc Am
respected inroad upon their little ali end
AT last we steam away and desnita tbo Ii
,cesslve heat every head that can find it v
ON for itself is thrust out of window beg
Voc1erous admiration of the beautiful for,
emery on every side. The abortiye shin The
Iai ioIlows US most of the way, showing and
ug INES OF cars, engines and mighty rlbt
edges, slowly sinking Into the mud amid pler
wilderness of wild bananas. flo trees Gus
ms, mangoes, all twisted together and mai
'lneo over and over by blossoming Green rap
5. orchids are everywhere. in infinite the
rely OF shape and color 1t is said that thir
iSasC GWenty.1our species of the palm thel
nlly may be found here-more than arc Wol
lected together anywhere else in tho viii
rid. There is the ivory palm, the naIm wild
I'm winch sugar is made, the palm that nan
oduces the sage, and another Tho oil Of veni
nmerce; the cabbage PALM whose
DE stalks resemble that vepatoblo -