The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1934-12-14
THE PANAMA CANAL

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year 1894 was epochal for the Pauama
Canal In that 1t marked q sharp up
turn In its business which placed The
enterprise within striking distance d
paying for itself. The year also de-
monstrated In the highest degree the
canals utility Is q keystone Of naval
strategy. There were murmurS Of
doubt when the great waterway cost
1876, 000. 900, but $500. 000. 900 and more
In tolls already have been collected
and tolls again are rising. Mean.
time, in the spring Of 1894 the great
American naval fleet Of ITO ships oi
war moved through the canal In the
record time Of approximately A
hours, showing with what rapidity
Americas sea shield may be swung
from one coast to the other.
On September 20, 1913. Vasoo Nunez
de Balboa, from the top Of hill on
the Isthmus Of Panama, ga1ed out
across the Pacific ocean, the first
white man to behold that sea from
American shores. Four hundred and
one years later the crane boat, Alex
ander La Valley, steamed through the
waterway which, in the years between
men had dreamed Of increasingly
Baked by disease and disaster, the
efforts to sever the mountainous 18th
mus OF Panama had proved unavail-
ing until, in one seven-year assault
upon swamp and rock, the men Of the
United States achieved the task Great
ing one Of the worlds greatest en-
cheering monuments and altering thu
tides Of the commerce Of nations.
No sooner had Christopher Colum.
bus established the fact that q con.
tinent barred the pathway to CathaJ
and the Indies than men began e
think OF . canal. In 1850 Antonio
0alvo, Portuguese mariner, pub.
lished Z book demonstrating thu
feasibility Of an isthmian canal, and
never since then had the ambitious
plan been out Of the minds Of men
Spaniards, Frenchmen, Englishmen
and Americans all laid schemes Il
breach the rugged neck Of the Con.
tinental Divide. Vast treasure and
many lives were laid out over the
years. So strongly did the dream al
parting q continent appeal to thu
world that one Of the French com.
panies to undertake the work had ne
less than 100000 stockholders. Thu
Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, Of Sue,
Canal fame, headed one Of the com.
panies.
Building Of the waterway
Private syndicates had made Al
the efforts up until about 1875 wher
the United States government begar
to realize that It could not afford x
have an isthmian canal under for.
eign or private control. Bound by TIN
Monroe Doctrine to maintain ct least
q passive hegemony over the West.
ern Hemisphere, the need for . cana
for military reasons became apparent
In 1884 the Frelinghuysen-Zarala
treaty was negotiated with Nicaragua
giving the United States the right x
construct q canal over the Nicaragua
route. The United States still ha.
that right, and as the pressure o.
traffic on the Panama Canal IN.
creases, the option may be lifted and
q second great waterway constructed
Congress had boards Of engineer
make surveys In 1895 and again II
1897, and, In 1899, the first 1sthmial
Canal commission was created. 1
French company had expended soml
500, 900 900 on q Panama route. ha<
removed 30.00o.000 cubic yards o
material, and had left hundreds o
workers dead Of fever. e stu ~
tanned proprietary rights and when
after . long debate over the respec
tive merits Of the Nicaragua and tn
Panama routes, ana the Sea level o
lock types Of canal the Panama rout
Was determined upon. congress ap
propriated @4o.0o0,O00 to buy tn
French companyS rights. That Va
In 1902.
When, in 1908, Colombia refused ;
ratify the Hay Herran treaty provid
Ing tor the ceesion Of the PanAn
Canal zone to the United States, th
republic Of Brasil came into bein
through revolt against Colombia, Q
which tho territory had been . par
The new state was instantly recog
nized by the United States. Within
month the Hay-Bunau-Varilla treat
had been sealed and the way NJ
open. The United states gainsd p6r
petual use and occupation Of . stli
10 miles wide-the territory toda
mapped as the Canal Zone.
There were three years q preliu,
mary work to b done before the dil
could ny. Then, In the nsxt 3iy