The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-12
GOOD ROADS IN
 THE CANAL ZONE Work Begun Centuries Ago Is
 Resumed SOME BEAUTIFUL DRIVES Will Connect Villages Along Line of Canal-Part of Plan to Develop
 Agriculture Upon the
 Isthmus. I.E
From ths washington Post.

States Is building an elaborate system of roads In connection with the canal? The construction of these macadam roads in land subject to sudden tropical floods is in itself big task. but this feature of Uncle Sams undertaking on the isthmus Is so unimportant compared with the 5o- mile canal that little has been heard of 1t
 Yet when the work in the canal zone is finished there will be open to the tourists one of the prettiest drives to be found in any tropical land. It will be possible to take carriage at Colon, drive along the canal to the great Gatun lake, ferry across 1t and resume the journey in an- other carriage on the south shore of the lake to Panama.
 The road will lie through a country shaded by broad palms and heavy with other tropical vegetation. 1t will be up hill and down, and to the charm of the jungle drive will be added now and then slimpses of the ships of many nations plying from one great ocean to the other. At one point on the road 1t will be pos sible to get a splendid view of Culebra
 
 be the most interesting feature of the canal.
 From the trunk roadway lateral branches will meander back Into the country on both sides of the canal and connect with a system of roads that the republic of Panama has projected into the undeveloped interior of the country.
 Mil Nonnae$ NfII,n.~
 The purpose of the road building by the United States, or, to be exact by the zone government, is first to connect the villages along the line of the canal and second to induce a permanent population in the zone by opening up the land to az riculture.
 The zone Is 50 miles long and 10 miles wide, and the lands to which the pro- jected highways will give access comprise about 290.000 acres, three-fourths of which are owned by the United States About one-half of this land will be inundated by Gatun lake when the Chagres river has been damned, or will be used for other canal purposes.
 Nearly all the remainder will have to be reclaimed from the jungle. The inten- ton of the government Is to lease the land for agricultural purposes only, and to limit the term of the leases to not more than 25 years.
 Work on the trunk railway has already made good progress. The cost of the roads is being defrayed from funds col lected by taxation In the zone. Up to March 31 1909. se4742 had been expended on this system of roads, but this of course, does not include the amounts ex- pended by the commission for highways that have been built to give access to commission quarters or buildings. From the Atlantic side the trunk road will run from CristobaI, the entrance to the canal, to Gatun, on the north shore of Gatun lake, distance of eight miles. The macadam highway from Gorgona. on the south shore of the lake, to this city will be IS miles long.
 Undertaken by the French.
 This opening up of roads through the isthmus was undertaken by the French only on a very limited scale. The Amer jeans upon their occupation in 1904 found only few ill-kept trails leading from the more important villages of the interior, and these were impossible in the rainy season.
 Then, as even now, about the only good avenue of travel was the line of the Pan- anna railroad. Today those living in the interior villages follow their uncertain trails down to the railroad. and then strike out with their pack animals over | the ties for either this city or Colon. The Canal Record, the commission S | official organ, pointed out in a recent is- sue that practically the only systematic | attempt at permanent road construction | on the isthmus until the Americans took 1 hold was that done by the Spaniards in | the 18th century. Traces of the old pack roads built by the epaniards from Nombre l de Dios, Porto Bello, and Cruces to Pan- anna, 300 or 400 years ago, are still to be found. In fact. they are fairly well pre- served in spots, considering their age. l These roads had a surface of cobble- stones. In some places they have been 1 washed out, and in others they have been l obliterated by the rank growth of trop- | ical vegetation, which has forced its way up even between the cobbles of the road l bed.
 l The French built road from Panama | to Corozol, distance of three miles, but l 1t was so badly washed out when the l Americans took hold that they will have | to rebuild 1t.
 The first roads built by the Americans were those running from the city of Pan anna westward to La Boca, a distance o | two and one-half miles. and eastward tt the boundary of the canal zone. a distance | of three and three-quarter miles They are of the best macadam type, ant incidentally, afford one of the pretties evening drives that can be found any where.
 The building of macadam roads in Pan anna Is, however. pretty expensiv' | proposition, and after the construction O. these first roads experiments were mad, with cheaper classes of highways. Trail were cleared and surfaced with earth, bu one rainy season showed the utter futil ity of attempting to construct roads O that type. Most of them were washed out of existence, and since then nothini but crushed stone roads has been con structed.
 Work Done by Convicts.
 The trunk road from Cristobal to Ga tun has been graded to a width of "A fee and will be macadamized to a width o 16 feet. It has necessitated the construc tion of 32 culverts The width of the roa, on the southern side of the lake will vary Most of the work on the zone roads ha been done by prisoners.
 Thus far only two of the lateral road have been projected One of these vii run west from the main highway at Elm pire to the canal zone boundary. wher 1t will connect with road planned b. the Panama government northeast iron Chorrera to the sone line. It will opel up desirable farming section.
 The other lateral road Is already ii course of construction. It will run eas from Empire to Las Cascadas plantation distance of about four miles, and 1t ma ultimately be extended to Cruces on tn Chagres river.
 When all of the lateral lines and tn | Panama government roads are opene up many tourist will probably think worth his while to tarry a few days O | the isthmus merely for the drives. Tn | indications are too that Panama ha