The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-27
Where They Are Located, How They
Are Worked, and the Enormous
Profit Whey Yield Their Owners.
THE PANAMA RAILWAY LINE
A SHORT ROAD WHICH HAS MADE
FORTUNES FOR AMERICANS.
How 1t Is Run and the Wages Paid
It's EmpIoyeS-The Chagres River
and Its Pretty Washer-GirIs.
Copyright, 1898, by Frank G. carpenter.>

Copyright, 1898, by Frank c. carpenter.)
PANAMA, March I0.--The biggest enter
prise on the Isthmus of Panama, outside
OF the canal and the Panama Railroad, is
the manganese mine which has been lately
opened up by Baltimore parties on the At
lantic coast about forty miles above Colon
This company is now shipping from two
thousand tons to three thousand tons Of
manganese a month, and they have am
told over 100000 tons in sight, and are
discovering new deposits right along At
the present cost of working their mine a
hundred thousand tons will net them more
than million dollars, and this is, it is
said, just the beginning of their work.
Manganese is one of the rarest of metals
1t is used in making fine steel and is needed
in the manufacture of armor plate and gun
forgings, as it makes the metal tougher
and more flexible. There is little manga
nese found in Virginia, Georgia and Arkan-
sas, but Mr.. J. M. Hyatt, the assistant SUI
perintendent Of the mines here, tells me
that we annually produce only about fifteen
thousand tons, while our consumption is
10000 tons. The remainder we buy from
Russia and elsewhere. Manganese costs, ac-
cording to quality, from $14 to SIS per ton.
1t lies here in a great lump or deposit on
the top of mountain, and is mined much
like iron. Mr.. Hyatt says it costs the COM
pany only about 81 per ton to get out the
ore and land it in Baltimore, so that there
is clear profit of 50 or $40 ton, or, at
the present shipments, of from $4,000 to
$4,000 a month. Within the past year and
a half this company has shipped $4,000 tons,
and it is now only two years since it got
possession of the property. The company
is capitalized at $200,0OO and the chief
stockholders are John K. Cowen, of the
Baltimore e. Ohio Railroad; Mr.. Woods, the
president Of the Maryland Steel Company,
and Henry Parr. of Baltimore
HOW THE MINE WAS FOUND.
The story Of the mine as told me to-day is
as follows:
'It was discovered" said Mr.. Hyatt, 'by
a Spaniard, who showed specimens of the
ore to a man named Popham, who was a
United States inspector of customs at Colon
Popham went to see 1t. He did not then
know manganese from stove 5lacking, and
had no idea whether the stuff was worth
anything or not He took specimens, how
ever, to New York, and everyone told him
that if there was much of the stuff it was
better than gold mine. He interested the
Baltimore parties and they sent experts
OOWA " SAdlllL0 tIl0 property Inelr re-
port was that there were several thousand
tons in sight and a company was at once
formed to buy the mine and develop it.
This was two years ago. We now have nine
miles of railroad running from the port
Nombre de Dios, where our wharves are,
to the mines. We have put up works and
are now employing about three hundred
men. The superintendent of the mine is E.
B. Williams, of Connecticut. He has charge
of the works and I attend to the railroad
and shipping"
How did 1t come that the mine was not
discovered sooner?" I asked.
ST don't know" was the reply. There
were great powders of manganese lying on
the top of the ground, but suppose such
prospectors as saw them were looking for
gold and had no idea that the stuff was of
value"
els the mining very difficult?''
NO., was the reply. 1--WE blast down the
ore with dynamite and load 1t into buckets
which run by gravity on an overhead cable
line down to the cars at the foot of the
mountain, the loaded buckets carrying back
the empties as they go down. The ore sells
in the shape that we take it out without
smelling or any other treatment.
care there other deposits in the same re-
gion?'
81 think there are" said Mr. Hyatt
I'VE have bought all the land in sight and
have prospectors out all the time. We have
discovered some new deposits, but nothing
like the first one. In this deposit we have
already gone down 40 feet and are not
yet at the bottom. At the top of the
mountain the body of ore is about $50 feet
thick, but it widens as it goes down and
Wa l<ro thick fc
THE HIGHEST RAILROAD FARES.
took a ride with the superintendent
over the Panama Railroad yesterday This
road is one of the best paying pieces of
property in the world. 1t has made big
fortunes for it's owners in the past and
to-day it's receipts are far in excess of its
expenditures. What. would you think of
paying 500 to ride from New York to
Boston, or $3.50 for first-class railroad
ticket from New York to Chicago, $1,000
to go from the Atlantic to Salt Lake City,
or 1900 to be carried over the iron tracks
across the continent to San Francisco?
Such rate would be about so cents per
mile, and this is just what the Panama
Railroad Company received for every pas
senger it carried for more than thirty years
Of it's existence. The length of the road
is forty-seven miles, and the fare up until
1889 was SIS in gold. All through passengers
on the New York steamers who have tickets
for Panama are now charged $40 in gold for
this railroad trip, and the local fare from
Colon to Panama is 81 in gold, but the bag
gage rates of cents a pound makes this
much higher, as only fifteen pounds are al
lowed free.
The Panama Railroad is emphaticaIly an
American institution, though the majority
of the stock is now in the hands OF the
Panama Canal Company. being, in fact.
about the only valuable asset the company
has. The road was built by Americans, and
to-day all of its officials, including the tick
ct agents. conductors and engineers. come
from the United States. 1t is golden mon
ument to American pluck and energy. The
concession for it was granted to an Ameri-
can syndicate in 1850. and this included all
the rights Of way across the Isthmus OF
Panama, which is. as told you, four hum
bred miles long. No one can make even
wagon road across the isthmus without this
company's permission, and so far no road of
any kind has been attempted. AS we went
over the railroad Colonel ShaIer, the super
intendent, told me that the natives whom
we round walking or riding on the edge Of