The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-01-25
NEWS FROM THE
OLD 10th INFANTRY
Men Who Used to be Here in the Pa
mama Zone--Other Army News
Local to Oahu

of invalid horseflesh belonging to the
First Field Artillery, Fifth Cavalry and
private animals of officers of the U.
S. Army is receiving it's finishing
touches at the Leilehua reservation.
The long shed with stalls and other
conveniences, is admirably situated on
an elevated section, beyond and away
back from the Second Infantry garri.
son at Schofied Barracks.
Personal Notes.
The brigade post quartermaster
Captain Benjamin II. Watkins, Second
Infantry, and Lieutenant Franklin O.
Jackson, of the same regiment, were
in Honolulu yesterday from their sta.
ton at Schofield barracks.
Captain Watkins is a typical army
quartermaster of the successful kind
Full of life, energy and with a superior
business talent, he is indispensable to
his regiment and the other regiments
congregated at the Leilehua reserva-
ton.
Another daughter of the regiment
was recorded in the line of the Second
Infantry garrison, SchoReld Barracks
on Friday, January 10, little girl ar
irving at the home of Lieutenant and
Mrs. Alfred J. Booth. This makes num-
Der four in the children's list of this
home, Lieutenant and Mrs. Booth be-
ing blessed with three daughters and
one son.
Panama Health
The recrudescence of the time-hon-
ored yarn of "a dead man for every
cross-tie on the Panama railroad" as
an evidence of the high mortality on
the isthmus during the construction
of that railway has stirred Colonel
George w. Goethals, chief engineer,
and in the issue of the Canal Record
of November 20 he has it disposed of
effectively by publishing part of let
ter from Gen. George w. Davis, u. S.
A, retired, first governor of the Canal
Zone. Taking the road as forty-seven
and a half miles long, General Davis
found that the number of ties amount
ed to about 100000. The road was be-
gun in 1850, and from that time till
the driving Of the last spike in 1855,
the largest number of laborers ever
employed at any one time was 1000
The population of Panama then was
only 10000 From 1855 to 1859 1885,
900 through passengers crossed the
isthmus, and not one contracted i'll
ness during or, in consequence OF the
transit. 1t was luridly stated by the
ancient and by some modern histor-
ians that Cinnamon were so oppressed
by disease on the isthmus that they
threw themselves under the trains,
drowned themselves, and committed
hari-kari even, to escape the depres-
sion. One station on the road is
named Matchin, meaning butcher, "
and this has been taken to reflect the
deadliness of the region, but General
Davis shows that the place had that
name in the seventeenth century. The
Record of December has a long and
interesting account of the lake vii
lagos that are to be blotted out of eX-
istence by the inundation of Gatun
Lake. Most of these places date from
the early days of navigation on the
Chagres River, when it was one of the
most useful routes for commerce
across the isthmus. The region where
these lake settlements are situated
will not be under water before Au-
gust, 1912, but the railroad track will
be torn up in the coming February,
and already some of the houses are
being torn down. In this elimination
from the map will pass one of the
worlds historic trade routes. The old
village of Gatun was abandoned in
1908. In 1881 Gatun was the site for
one of the canal residences, shops,
etc, and it was named La Cite de
Lesseps.' Bohio is another village 10
be swallowed up by the water. Under
the French plan this place was select
ed for the site of the first dam. This,
like all the lake villages, experienced
small Blooms" as the canal work
waxed or waned
Value of Military Drill.
Wherever military drill has been
applied to education it has brought
only beneficial results. The giving OF
such drill to the school children of
the country to be employed in the
event of fire frequently proves its
value. One of the most recent cases
was in New York city, when Public
School 1863, in East One Hundred and
Twentieth street, caught fire in the