Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1913-10-17

! vestors in the states had become dis
couraged and the cost Of labor had ad
v8nced But a hurricane came to The
rescue. Two ships loaded with gold
seekers wore forced 70 anchor neal
Mauzanillo island and the passenger:
paid The company q handsome sum e
| carry them to Gatun in work cars Tho
news that the road had carried more
than q thousand passengers reached
| New YORK and funds again flowed into
| the Golfers Of the company.
AS the work progressed passengers
were hauled longer and longer dis
tances and before the line was com
pleted the receipts from passengers
and freight were considerably above
| S2,O00,000 The last rails were laid
the night of January 81, 1855. and the
next day the first train passed clear
across the isthmus from the Atlantic
TO the Pacific. The entire cost of the
road up to December 81, 1858, had
been something less than $4,000, 900
and it's gross earnings in the same
time were little more than that sum
The rate across the isthmus was put
at $25 gold, being intended to be to a
certain extent pTohibitive until they
could get things into good running or
der, but so great was the volume of
travel that the rate was not reduced
for more than twenty years. Soon aft
er its opening the road began to de
clare "a per cent. dividends, and at
one time its stock went up to $50
In the SOS the company fell on hard
times. It lost much of its freight traf-
fic, was held up by the politicians in
Bogota and then suffered by the COM
pletion OF the Union Pacific railroad
Next Russell Sage and others like him
got control OF the directorate and
wrecked the road. When de Lesseps
came over to dig a canal his company
bought up the stock and used the road
to help in its work.
Then in 1904 the United States
bought out the French company and
also acquired the railway and so it
became the first American road to be
owned by the government. So eco
nomically and efficiently has it been
conducted since then that it is cited
as an argument for the government
ownership of all our railways.
The building of the canal and espe-
cislly the creation of the artificial Ga
tun lake made necessary the reloca-
ton OF the Panama railroad along
most OF Its route The old roadbed
now is under water for much of the
way, the old line still in use being only
about seven miles In length, from Co.
lon to Mind and from Corozal to Pana-
ma. From Mindi to Gatun the grade
ascends to 95 feet above tide level.
From Gatun the road runs east until it
is four and a half miles from the
canal and then south again on great
across the Gatun valley.
Along this stretch passengers OBJ
tain an unusual view. Because of the
of the Gatun dam across
the channel OF the Chagres river the
valley and all its tributary
valleys have been converted into /
lake with an area of about 1874 square
miles. The Gatun valley is one OF
these drowned arms and as the train
crosses, wide stretches of water are to |
be seen on both sides of the track.
Down below the surface are still Wis /
ible the tops OF giant trees that have I
been killed by submergence, and along I
the edges OF the lake the tallest and /
hardest of the trees reach thir dead .
limbs above the waters. Here and /
there is a pretty little island that not /
long ago was the summit of hill, and /
the shore line is most pieturesquely .
broken up by eapes. peninsulas and
bays
From Monte Lirio the line skirts the
shore OF the lake TO the beginning OF
tho Culebra cut ct Bias Obispo. Orig
naily Il was intended to carry the rail-
road through the Culebra cut on 30
loot beam along the east side. ten feet
above water level. but this plan was
knocked out by the slides and breaks.
The line was carried around Gold FIN [.
o distance OF two miles from the
,anal until II reached the Pedro Mi \
yuel valley, down which it runs to
'araiso and the canal again. Theuce
{ runs almost parallel with the chan
lel 70 Panama There are two big
iteel bridges on the line. One, near
Monte Lirio, has a center lift span to
,ormit access TO the upper arm Of Ga.
un lake; the other, a quarter OF
nile long, across the Chagres river at
Lambda The total cost OF building
he new line Of the railway was $S,S66.
92. In addition, large sum has been
expended in Increasing the terminal
acililles
or course, even after the canal Is
pened. the railway viii have good
eal of business. Transporting people
nd goods between Colon and Panama,
nd serving the needs OF The operating
orces OF tlle canal. But its days Ct
Tory have departed, and J. A. Smith.
be American who has been It's Ell
b.. a....I....s