The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-04-03
RAILROAD MEN AT WORK.

without this eompanys permission, and SO
far no road of any KIND. has been attempt
ed. As We went over the railroad, Colonel
Shaler, the superintendent. told me that
tbs natives whom We found walking or
riding on the edge Of the track were abe
to do 50 only by the sufrerance IT the
company. The original grant gave the
company all the public lands on the line
OF the track and provided that the ports
of Panama and Colon were u be free
ports. This last LIS the case today. The
original concession was for only - years
but il has since been extended with some
notifications TO 70 years, during which
the company pays the government s250,CeO
a year for the privilege.
IL took five years to build the road.
When it begun the isthmus was 4 MAS
mate wilderness. and the line ran through
the swamps and along the valleys OF the
Chagres and Rio Grande rivers, crossing
the mountain range at an elevation OF
2ss feet. Forty-seven miles OF such road
could be easily and comparatively cheaply
built In the United States. Here 1t cost
by the time ii was completed $s.ooa. 600
II began 10 earn money as soon as the first
few miles of track were lad. and when
the road was ope- for traffic, in 1855. IL
had already rece d over &2oog.o00 for
transportation. ar within four years it's
earnings were moresthan It's original cost
and the owners were walking on velvet
During one year IL carried 1,ono. 100 pissen-
gers. receiving sso00o.000 from that source
alone. 1t has carried az much az 100000
tons Of freight in a year. and within
twelve years after II was finished $780,
100000 worth of specie passed over II on
its way from San Francisco to New York
1t got all the gold passengers OF the early
SOS who crossed the is.hmus, and made
them pay heavily Tor carrying their gold
mining outfits In addition TO he SIS fare.
A Dead Man for Every Tie.
Even at these rates the trip was : cheap
enc. for II shortened the danger OF the
fevers which often caught these gold hunt
ers who crossed on foot. The ride by rail-
Is less than fur hours. BY mule or on
foot I: took two or more days The health
of the isthmus was then worse than It is
now. During the building Of the road the
company ran funeral train. and IT IL said
that there were more deaths than there
are ties In the entire Hne J was talking
yesterday with an American who ran the
funeral train. He says they put the dead
In rows pil'ng one row crosswIse On TIE
top of that beneath II. unsH the big hole
made for the days burial was nearly filed,
when earth was thrown In to MI IL zap.
One thousand Cinnamon were imported for
the work Within ore month a number
remainder committed suicide, SO that the
station where they worked In now called
Aato-chlns. which means kfll-thiaaman.
We brought down a Brooklyn boy with us,
who has the jass,of sf-eon agent az this
place. I would not take the place for the
isthmus. / met yesterday a graduate of
the Boston School OF Technology. vino has
come here 10 work on the railroad He
told me he received $50 month, which
was better than be could DO In the States
but that he had just gotten up from an
attack OF maiariai fever / me. a BATH
more mana Mr. Hodges-wno Is eng
pIoyed ia the general Offices. wha told me
he lad had a siege Of yellow FEVER iast
year, and, in short, have found hut few
Americans who have not been fever
stricken at come time or other during their
stay here. Many OF them say. however,
that the isshmus Is no worse than sorne of
cur Southern ports, and that IL one takes
good care OF himself there IL not much
danger. / sG ted that Of all tie for
esgners. Americans stand the climate best.
English next, then French and thea Ital-
iAns
Across the Iathmus by Railroad.
The ride across the isthmus is delight
full one. The eruntry. after you pass the
few miles Of io,sissnd On the Atlantic side,
rises into many ~Es6sd tiis, and the dis