Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1914-01-02
old PANAMA TRAILS
TaMcab Evidences Change TAX
ing Place on Isthmus.
Trips the Auto Can Make-Tourlsts
May See Many Interesting Sights,
but Cannot Motor From
Ocean to Ocean.

New York.-Along, the trail where
the pirate Morgan and his men made
their way more than 200 years ago,
and where the '49ers who chose the
isthmian route, struggled to reach the
Pacific. the tourist today may jump
into a taxicah and bowl along finely
kept roads for many miles.
h taxi has just made its appear
ance in Panama, writes the Panama
correspondent of the New York
Times. The business has started OF
with a rush and the vehicles o here
viii be added to in a few weeks by
several more which have been or.
dered by the local company.
Automobile trips cannot extend all
the way across the isthmus, for there
is no highway from ocean to ocean,
nor is 1t probable that any such road
Will be built in the neal future, be-
the construction of the Panama
canal has formed a lake in the middle
OF the isthmus 164 square miles in
area, with broad arms stretching out
In all directions into the hollows be.
tween he hills. Only one location for
such a road is practicable, and that
is along h right OF way of the Pana.
ma railroad, which skirts the eastern
side of the lake. This would be very
costly construction.
North Of his lake, however, toward
the Atlantic ocean, there is a good
macadam road leading from Gatun
locks to h city Of Colon. There are
half a dozen motor cars for hire in
Colon, and 1t is only a matter Of an
hour to take the ride from the city
to Gatun. And Il is worth while, too,
because every inch of the way is in.
teresting, the elimination coming at
Gatrn, where the locks and dam are
under construction, and from whose
hill n can see the Atlantic entrance
to the canal, with the dredges al
work there and the water lying be
yond the roofs of Colon.
In Colon itself there is a road
along the water front, past, the hos.
pital, that has a certain quiet charm
but on the whole that city is tawdry
looking and full of strange smeiis
although it is very clean.
South of Gatun lake, between the
village of Gorgona and the city OF
Panama, there is a number of good
highways, each Offering some special
inducement for the automobilist
Tourists seem to favor the trip from
the present city to the site of the old
city OF Panama, a distance of about
seven miles. This is over a good
macadam road, which runs along the
foo of a low ridge, with rolling saba.
mas stretching out toward the bay.
Here and there from the top of some
rise in the highway a glimpse of the
ocean may be obtained. The last
mile of the Journey is over the loca.
ton of the Gamma Real" or kings
highway, along which the rich trade
OF old Panama was carried long ago.
There is little to see, for Panama
was not a large city, as tourists know |
towns today, probably never number.
ing more than 10000 persons, and
within the walls was only a part Of
this population. After the pirate Nor.
gan captured the city, on Jan. 10,
1871, the governor burned It. and
three years later a new town was
started On the site of the present city
Of Panama. Only a few old masonry
walls, half a dozen beautiful arches
and an imposing looking tower mark
the site of one OF the three great cit
les of the new world three centuries
ago..
From the romance of other days to |
that Of the present is but an hours
ride in Panama, for by turning north.
ward from the road to old Panama
ones car can be sent along a good
highway that III along the Panams
canal for 20 miles. The glimpse at
forded of the canal construction as
the motor car glides along is moi
close enough to permit Of any real
knowledge Of the work, but It Is com.
prehensive, for It includes dredgins
in the Pacific entrance, lock construc.
ton at Miraflores and Pedro Miguel
and excavation in Culebra cut.
At the south end of Culebra cut
the highway leaves the edge OF the
canal to run behind Gold hill for two
miles or more. The hill shuts off the
busy life Of the canal and one may |
look across the valley Of the Pedro
Miguel river upon as tangled a bit OF
tropical jungle as will be found in
Central America. The hill once
passed, the canal again appears, with
.Culebra cut stretching away into the
distance. The roar Of Dynamite
blasts/ the whistling OF u score Of 10
co1notiyes, the crunching OF the heav.
lily laden dirt trains and the rnonot.
nous hammering Of drills beat unon
the ear, while the eye Is held by a
sweep of green hills on whose slopes
are the homes Of the canal builders.
Immediately, in the foreground is the
yu>tning chasm that has been dug.