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Show Builder of Panama Railroad ? Commodore Aspinwall's Efficiency In Caring for Returning Gold Miners When One of His Steamers Was Stranded. In 1850, following the discovery of gold in California, Commodore Will-lam Will-lam It. Aspinwall, Commodore Van-derbilt's Van-derbilt's great rival in the waters about New York, retired from his great shipping firm and devoted all his time to building the Panama railroad, rail-road, across the Isthmus of that name, and establishing steamship lines to connect It at Aspinwall (now Colon) from New York and at Panama for San Francisco. At enormous expense and great loss of life, Aspinwall completed his railroad rail-road in 1855, and among the homeward-bound gold seekers who had the distinction of being the first passengers passen-gers carried eastward by the road was Mr. Dudley Jones, now a prominent promi-nent resident of Little Rock, Ark., and the head of a large manufacturing corporation. "In the spring of 1855," said Mr. Jones, recently, "I was a passenger from San Francisco to Panama on the big Aspinwall steamer Golden Gate or was it Golden Age? There were eight hundred of us returning forty-niners, forty-niners, and a crew of one hundred men. We had a fairly good run down the coast and were about to turn port some two hundred miles below PanAa when the ship, while passing between two islands, ran on the coral reef known ps Quibo Island, "When the sidewheeier struck I was sleeping on the upper deck only a few feet from where Commodore Aspinwall Aspin-wall and. two or three of his old captains cap-tains were standing admiring the scenery and the bright moonlight and speculating at what hour next morning morn-ing we would reach Panama. Instantly Instant-ly I was awake and saw everything that followed. "It was a critical moment. Had the order been given to head for the mainland, the vessel would not have gone her length before sinking Into deep water, with the loss of most of her passengers. Whether Commodore Aspinwall or one of his "Captains gave the right order I don't know, but while the big ship was seemingly rocking In her death throes, with clouds of steam pouring from her hatches, her nose was pushed by emergency means Into the sandy beach which we could dimly see lying a few rods ahead, and In a twinkling a cable was made fast to one of the big trees fringing It. "By the time this had been done as many of the passengers as could find e standing room had rushed to the deck. The big boat gradually settled down at the stern until she rested on the bottom with a slight list to port. The gold dust was rushed to deck and piled In the bow. It was In very strong boxes, each about six Inches wide and fifteen Inches long, and there was $4,000,000 worth of It. Later, two boats were sent out from the ship one to the head of the island to Intercept the outgoing steamer then about due, If she should happen to take the passage on the other side of the Island, and the other with orders to proceed to Panama for aid unless it fell in with the outward bound steamer. "During the three days that passed before the big steamer Brother Jonathan Jona-than hove In sight there were no regular regu-lar meals everyone was glad to eat what he could get. There was no cooking cook-ing no tables set. A place to spread a blanket was hard to find. The water, wa-ter, at high tide, Invaded the upper cabins, and the lower, or second, cabin was flooded all the time. Wild animals were heard during the night in the Jungle. Parrots and paro-quetts paro-quetts kept up a continual screaming. And all the while there was much anxiety as to what the commander of the Brother Jonathan would do if he were intercepted. Perhaps he would carry us off the way we had come to Acapulco, or even to San Francisco. And perhaps we would have to wait till a steamer could be sent out from Panama to our relief. "Here Is where the presence of Commodore Aspinwall stood us In good stead. As soon as the Brother Jonathan anchored at a safe distance from the reef we had struck, he ordered or-dered us to be taken aboard her. It was a rush order, and It took nearly twelve hours of steady work on the part of both crews to transfer passengers, passen-gers, baggage and gold. It was JuBt at dusk when the Brother Jonathan hoisted anchor and headed for Panama, Pan-ama, to our Intense relief and delight. "At Panama, the next morning, we were quickly disembarked. The tide being low, we were landed a quarter of a mile out on a coral reef and walked walk-ed Into the city. That night found us loaded In cars headed for Asplnwallj the first east-bound train to carry! passengers on the Panama Railroad.1 The road was far from being finished. The tracks were slippery, the locomotive locomo-tive light, and It had to be helped by a lot of negro laborers pulling at long ropes. "I never saw Commodore Aspinwall after we left the wreck. Whether he stayed at Panama or went on with us to New York I do not know. And I never saw in any paper an account of our wreck or of the first east-bound passenger train's trip across the Isthmus Isth-mus of Panama." (Copyright, 1910, by E. J. Edwards. All Rights Reserved.) |