The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1913-09-12

COuIaS6u anu the cost Oh ldDOT udu du-
vanced. But hurricane came to the
rescue. Two ships loaded with gold
seekers were forced to anchor near
Manzanillo island and the passengers
paid the company a handsome sum to
carry them to Gatun in work cars. The
news that the road had carried more |
than 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
| 100000. 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 sS,000,00o
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
certain extent prohibitive 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 it's opening the road began to de.
clare "a per cent. dividends, and at
one time it's stock went up to $50.
In the COS the company fell on hard
times. 1t 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 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
I 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-
i cially the creation of the artificial Ga
> tun lake made necessary the reloca-
E ton of the Panama railroad along
r most of it's route. The old roadbed
: now is under water for much of the
) way, the old line still in use being only
i about seven miles in length, from Co
b lon to Mindi and from Corozal to Pana'
s ma From Mindi to Gatun the grade
n 1 ascends to So feet above tide level
From Gatun the road runs east until il
). is four and a half miles from the
:. canal, and. then south again on great
= | entertainments across the Gatun valley
Along this stretch passengers OBJ
:, tain an unusual view. Because of the
? construction of the Gatun dam across
the channel of the Chagres river, the
: Chagres valley and all it's tributary
: valleys have been converted into 6
: lake with an area of about 164 square
{. miles The Gatun valley is one O
n these drowned arms and as the traiI
!, crosses, wide stretches of water are tt
:, be seen on both sides of the track
+. Down below the surface are still Wis
!, ible the tops of giant trees that hav'
= been killed by submergence, and alonl
4, the edges of the lake the tallest ant
q hardest of the trees reach thir deat
limbs above the waters. Here ant
60 there is pretty little island that no
q long ago was the summit of hill, an
the shore line is most picturesquel
n. broken up by capes, peninsulas an
,s bays.
"a From Monte Lirio the line skirts tn
n shore of the lake to the beginning 0
q the Culebra cut at Bas Obispo. Oris
Il inaIly it was intended to carry the raj
,e road through the Culebra cut on a Al
"a foot beam along the east side, ten fee
n above water level, but this plan wa
m knocked out by the slides and breaks
al The line was carried around Gold Hi
al to a distance of two miles from tn
g. canal until it reached the Pedro M
adj guel valley, down which it runs t
V. Paraiso and the canal again. Theme
he it runs almost parallel with the char
70 mel to Panama There are two bi
RI steel bridges on the line. One, nea
lv Monte Lirio, has center lift span
X permit access to the upper arm of CT
he tun lake; the other, quarter of
X mile long, across the Chagres river
re Gamboa. The total cost of buildin
in the new line of the railway was 1885,
k. 1872. In addition, large sum has bee
lis expended in increasing the termins
or facilities.
of OF course, even after the canal
sv opened, the railway will have goo
deal Of business, transporting peopl
as and goods between Colon and Panami
in and serving the needs Of the operatin
ks forces of the canal. But it's days {
~. glory have departed, and ]. A. Smitl
en- the American who has been its eft
as cient general superintendent. recoI
w MIXING that fact, has resigned and r
In turned to the states