Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1913-09-04

ST. 900, 900. The last rails were laid
the night of January q, 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 we're a little more than that sum
The rate across the isthmus was put
at $25 gold, being intended to be to a
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 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 or hard
times. 1t lost much of its freight traf-
f1c, 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 it's 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-
cially the creation of the artificial Ga
tun lake made necessary the reloca-
ton of the Panama railroad along
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
about seven miles in length, from Co
lon to Mindi and from Corozal to Pana-
ma. From Mind to Gatun the grade
ascends to 95 feet above tide level.
From Gatun the road run east until 1t
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 its tributary
valleys have been converted into
lake with an area of about 1854 square
miles. The Gatun valley Is n O
these drowned arm 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
been killed by submergence, and along
the edges of the lake the tallest ant
hardest of the trees reach thir dead
limbs above the waters. Here anG
there Is a pretty little island that moi
long ago was the summit Of a hill, ant
the shore line Is most p~icturesquely
broken up by capes, peninsulas ant
bays.
From Monte Lirio the line skirts thu
shore of the lake to the beginning O
the Culebra cut at Bas Obispo. Orig
inally it was intended to carry the rail
road through the Culebra cut on a 40
foot beam along the east side, ten fee
above water level, but this plan wal
knocked out by the slides and breaks
The line was carried around Gold Hill
to a distance Of two miles from tn
canal until it reached the Pedro Mi
guel valley, down which 1t runs tt
Paraiso and the canal again. Thence
it RUM almost parallel with the chan
mel to Panama. There are two bill
steel bridges on the line. One, nea
Monte Lirio, has a center lift span t
permit access to the upper arm Of Ga
tun lake; the other, a quarter OF
mile long, across the Chagres river a
Gamboa. The total cost Of building
!, the new line of the railway was $S,866
1872. In addition, a large sum has beel
, expended in increasing the termina
facilities.
| OF course, even after the canal i
opened, the railway will have a goo,
! deal of business, transporting peopl
and goods between Colon and Panama
and serving the needs of the operatin
forces of the canal, But its days O
glory have departed, and J. A. Smith
, the American who has been its eff
: cient general superintendent. recot
nizing that fact, has resigned and re
: turned to the states.