Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-04
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throughout the main part of the way.
On the right We can see the great sheet
of water. with it's many islands, and in
the future one will be able to look at
the ships going through.
The vegetation on both sides of the
road is tropical. There are palm trees
and bamboos and fern trees as tall as a
one-stOry cottage. Some of the trees
have magnificent foliage. being covered
with blossoms Of the brightest of RED,
yellow and blue. some of them are
loaded with orchids, and others are
bearded with Spanish moss Part of the
way is through jungle like that of the
Himalaya foothills above the plains or
the Ganges. and in other places the
country is open. and again we see hills
and ridges not unlike those OF the Blue
Ridge.
Going on. we pass many little towns
composed Of mere shacks. and at Guile
bra and Empire find the great buildings
of the canal and the homes of the EN-
ployes. little farther on we see Gu
curacha and Paraiso and then stop at
Pedro Miguel, where there is a big en-
CINE yard and roundhouse Here are
the locks connecting the eighty-fve-foot
level with the Miraf1ores lake. and the
next stop beyond is at Mrafiores itself.
where the ships make their final descent
to the Pacific sea level. We then go on
through the one tunnel of the line. and
leaving the canal route, cross level
ground to Panama. the capital of the
republic. There is a branch road run
ming on to Balboa, but here the line
practically ends. the two towns of Pan
anna and Ancon being joined together al
most in front of the station.
AS we stop we look at our watches. We
have been just about two hours cross
ing the isthmus. and have come through
on time. the rate of travel being about
twenty-five miles per hour. There are
three or four passenger rains each way
daily, but more on Sunday. due to the
fact that that is a holiday, when the
canal employees ride back and forth
visiting their friends.
In a trip like this one sees something
Of the enormous traffic which is going on
in the isthmus. In addition to the Pana-
ma railway proper. are the construction
roads of the canal which are sending
rivers of earth and rock out to the dumps
on Lidgerwood cars. There are so many
trains that the tracks actually seem to
be moving. This is SO both on the COM
mercial road and on the excavation lines.
Altogether something like 5000 cars are
in use and the engines number more than
400. There are twenty-seven trains VIII en-
always at work carrying out coarse
rock from Culebra to Gatun and there is
great number which are moving out
toward Balboa.
Altogether the average is 1856 trains
every day. which is equal to one train
every four minutes, day and night, all
the year through. These trains go all
the time. with the exception of Sundays.
and it seems to me that the commercial
road is almost as busy at night as in
the day time. 1t has a cold storage train
at o'clock in the morning and another
train at 3. 1t has regular work train
at $50. starting out from Ancon and an
other an hour later, which is filled with
clerks. officials and tourists. Every one
gets up early here, and girls who have
never seen the sun rise are crawling out
of their beds these hot mornings even
before he comes up in order that they
may have a chance to see the canal
At present. in addition to the regular
traffic, we have what are called the rub