Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-19
STORY OF THE
PANAMA CANAL

miles in length from shore line to shore
line had been partly constructed, and was
paralleled by an existing railroad an
agency Indispensable to constructing any
canal The routes were all thoroughly dis
cusSed by the Walker commission, and 1t
finally recommended the Panama route.
The Panama Route.
The Panama canal begins near Colon on
the north side of the Isthmus of Panama
at a small suburb called Cristobal, and runs
in a southeasterly direction to Its other
terminus, which is called La Boca, the
Spanish word for mouth, a suburb of the
city of Panama. The odd sensation is
given the traveller when he rides on the
railroad from Colon to Panama of going
south and east instead of west, and when
he rises the next day in Panama he will
find that, because Panama is on a point
of land jutting out into the ocean, the sun
both rises and sets in the Pacific. In its
projected course the canal is made to
follow generally the valleys of the Mindi
and the Chagres rivers on the north or
Atlantic side and of the Rio Grande on the
south or Pacific slope. 1t crosses the height
of land at the famous cut in Culebra Hill
between the two oceans about thirty-two
miles from the Atlantic and fourteen miles
from the Pacific. Culebra, the lowest hill
on the divide, was about $40 feet above the
sea- The French made a cut in the hill
to point 40 feet above sea level, leaving
for excavation, should there be a sea-level
canal, ditch yet to be dug ten miles long
of $50 feet depth to the bed of the canal
and $50 feet wide at the bottom, with
sloping sides.
The decision of Congress in favor of this
route for a canal was undoubtedly wise
one.
Material and Equipment Secured.
In addition to the land and the ditch, the
transfer from the canal company included
an immense amount of material and equip
ment dumped on the ground along the line
of the canal-engines, cars, dredges, steam
launches, tools and machines of all char
acters and sizes for excavation. Then
there were also extensive machine shops
at two places and many storehouses con-
tanning great variety Of stock. The French
also erected upward of 2175 houses Of all
sorts, the most numerous being tenements
for laborers.
1t is very doubtful how much of the ma
chinery, material and equipment can be
used.
In addition to the canal prism the canal
company owned docks and a harbor at
Pacific side With the purchase of the
property of the French Panama Canal
Company there was included all but !, lie
shares of the 1900 shares constituting the
Panama Railroad Company's capital stock
and the remainder of these, LIP in num-
Der, have since been purchased for 1885,
O2O. This gives the government exclusive
ownership and control Of the Panama rail-
| road, an fundamentally Indispensable in
building the canal
Reference has already been made to the
fact that in Lne treaty of concession the
republic of Panama had granted govern
mental control to the United States over
zone from Colon to Panama ten miles
wide, five miles on each side of the canal.
Terminals Secured.
This zone did not include the towns of
Colon and Panama, but did include their
suburban villages of Cristobal and La
Boca, which are the immediate mouths or
ends of the canal. The treaty also gave to
the United States police control in Panama
and Colon to suppress insurrecton and to
enforce needed health regulations. The
Importance of this concession l shall point
out later on. General Davis served as
governor of the zone until May, 1893, when,
his health failing, he was relieved and
called home to become the chairman of the
board of consulting engineers. During Gov
ernor Davis incumbency the government
OF the zone was organized on a satisfac
tory basis, and the necessary laws to make