Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-03-08
MORGAN, THE BgCGsEEER.
LIFE ON THE IsTHMUs IN THE OLD
DAYS AND AT PRESENT.
From Ocean to Ocean in Four Days
Graphic Description of Trop-
icaI Scenery.


Ward, was lost in the mail during the
great snow blockade. and was therefore
not printed in its proper order, but it is
too interesting to be lost:
PANAMA, [. s. Colombia, 1899.
This isthmian railway is far greater
institution than the world at large is
aware OF. Its managers have discreetly
chosen to keep their affairs to themselves,
as other Wise Men of the East have been
known to DO in various kinds of remunera:
tive business; and should you ask one of
them about it, you would doubtless some
how receive the impression that It had
been a losing investment.
The facts in the case are that ever since
its completion lin lSj5) this railroad has
been one of the most profitable in the
world. For nearly twenty years the local
fare between Aspinwall and Panama was
S25 each person, for a ride of forty-seven
miles, or more than 80 cents per mile
During those days the traffic was much
heavier than now, and each month thou
sands were carried over the line-eyery
thousand passengers yielding to the COM
pany precisely $4,000. At that time the
Pacific Mail Steamship Company was car
rying steerage people (as they new carry
frst-class passengers all the way around
from New York TO San Francisco, dis
tance of $500 miles, including passage,
ACROSS THE ETHAIUs
By the same road, and the best of board
and lodging during thirty-two days, for
only eighty dollars; while for four hours
sufocation in crowded second-class car,
with no food or other comfort, one was re-
quired 10 pay twenty-five dollarsl
With the completion of the Pacific rail-
roads across the United States, it was
deemed advisable to come down little
and the fare across the Isthmus was re-
duced to ten dollars per ticket. The diff
ference, however, is largely offset by a
charge of six cents per pound for extra
baggage" lonly 100 pounds being allowed
gratisl which generally doubles the price
of the ticket. A lady of my acquaintance
lately crossed with three trunks of ordi-
nary size and a small box of curios and
her bill for extra baggage was S45,
American gold, for distance Of AZ miles
But the old price trebled would have
seemed cheap in the days of 1913, to the
thousands who hocked across this highway
to California, when men were crazed with
the gold fever Then the trip occupied a
week at the best, there being no road
whatever; first tedious journey up the
Chagres river in native bongors, and
thence by horse or mule through Shiny
swamps and tangled thickets, where the
trail was soon well marked by graves and
bleaching bones.
As there was no accommodation for
travellers along the route, they were COM
PEELED to sleep in the open air; while the
price of horse or mule and enough food
to keep soul and body together during the
fearful passage almost equalled the sum
that the most sanguine lunatic might rea-
sonably expect to reap in the gold regions,
If he lived to get there. And so many
perished by the wayside, from camping
nights near the deadly river, that the
"Isthmus fever" became known to the
world as a distinct malady and one almost
incurable Those who managed to sur
vive or escape it came out a great deal
poorer in purse and in person; and years
later many fevered sufferer could trace
his long line of ills directly back to the
exposure and hardships encountered in
crossing the Isthmus.
Remembering these things, nobody feels
disposed to grumble at whatever price
may be asked for rapid transit across this
Valley of Death. The road was built un-
der discouFagements that would have
ruined most men, and therefore the un-
daunted few who carried it to successful
completion are fairly entitled to rich re-
ward.
A SINGLE STREAK OF CIVILIZATION,
1t runs through wilderness that is yet,
for the most part, totally unexplored and
has not only saved unnumbered lives, but
added greatly to the commercial facilities
of the world. At present it transports an
annual average of 100000 tons of mer-
chandise and 5000 passengers from ocean
to ocean.
Along its course there are twenty-five
villages and stations, each possessing some
feature of interest peculiar to itself. And
so close upon it crowds the tfopic wilder
ness that scarcely half mile from the
largest village one may find untrodden
solitudes. where no sound penetrates but
the shrill whistle of the engine, the chat
ter of monkeys, the hiss of serpents and
the half notes of gorgeous birds-a lovely
waste, teeming with animal life, but where
death to man turks in some guise under
every leaf.
Unfortunately for the naturalist, the
sportsman and the lover Of solitude, there
is not even foot-path from ocean to
ocean, nor a wagon road, properly So
called, anywhere on the lsthmus. Nature
Is here in such generous mood that one
could not possibly make his way alone
through swamps choked with Shiny YER
dure and swarming with venomous REP
tiles, and iungles whose riotous growths
are so closely entwined that old Sol can
not pierce them with an arrow.
A few months ago Senior Ricardo Re
Nero, an. intrepid explorer of Panama,
determined to seek out, amid the tangled
growth of centuries, one of the ancient
trans Atlantic roads which the early Span
iards are known TO have made Starting
from a point on the eastern coast called
David. he succeeded in crossing the 18th
mus in nine DAYS. cutting path as he went
for his cattle to pass. He contemplates
making another attempt soon, with a
larger body Of men, horses and cattle, tc
improve aud widen the same trail. Being
assisted bv several men of means and
prominence, it is not improbable that 3
wagon road across the Isthmus may one
day dispute the railways exclusive right OF
transportation.
SUCH a PANDEMoNIUM.
As reigns supreme in the Aspinwall DEPOT
when the daily train Is about to start
Passengers Of all nationaliies are crowded
in. sometimes three in q seat, closely as ma.
ture packs her seedlings-sll iabbering al
once in every idjona known TO man. The
greatest trouble Is with the luggage, some
being generally astray, whose now halt
frantic owners neglected this or that pre-
cantiop: while many astonished persons
stand vainly disputing with the powers
tbat be over the sum demanded for extra
weicht-some even in tears because OF
the unexpected inroad upon their little al
At last We steam away, and despite the