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Show UaJ? E.W PICKAVLD . 1. Colon, C, 2. With tbe completion of tha Panama canal the Importance of the Panama railway will decline almost al-most to the vanishing point. For nearly sixty years this railway has been carrying people and freight from ocean to ocean. Though only 47 miles long, It has been, for certain periods, one of the most Important and most Interesting railroad lines In the world. During the building of the canal, under tbe ownership of the United States, It has become one of the best equipped and roost efficient of railways. It has given grec help In tbe construction of the canal that will prove Its virtual death. The finding of gold In California was the cause of the building of the Puna-ma Puna-ma railroad. For long years before the wild rush of argonauts In 1843 tbe Isthmus was almost forgotten by tho olrlllzed world, but when the yellow metal was discovered on tbe west coast It becume once more a great tradw rout. In order to avoid the long trip acroas tbe plains In "pralrlo schooners," thousands ot gold-seekers went by boat to Chagrea, up the Choir Cho-ir res river to Gorgona or Cruces and thence over the old Spanish road to Panama. Tbki, too, wat a. long route and In the rainy season a painful and dangerous one because of the prevalence preva-lence of disease. To the rescue of the gold hunter came three bold Americans, W. II. As-plnwall, As-plnwall, Henry Chauncey and John L Stevens. In 1848 these men had asked i the government of New Granada for a concession for the road, and in 1850 Stevens obtained It at Bogota. The Pacific termlua could not be otherwise than at lanama, but at first the harbor har-bor of Porto Dello was selected for tbe Atlantic terminus. However, a New Tork speculator spoiled this plan by buying up all the land about the bar bor and holding It sts yry high price, o Navy liar was fa .-n Instead., When work H tlX , was begun Is slay, 1850. there was no celebration, no turning of the first spadeful of earth with a golden shovel. Two Americans with a gang of Indiana In-diana landed on Manzanlllo island, now the aite of tbe city ot Colon, then a desolate, uninhabited spot, and began the tremndoua task of clearing the route through the dense Jungle. The surveying party suffered Intensely, for the land was so swampy and so Infested Infest-ed with malaria and yellow fever bear Ing mosquitoes that tbey were compelled com-pelled to aleep aboard a ship. Much of tbe time the carried their lunches tied on their beads and ate them standing waist-deep In the water. The efforts of the company to obtain ob-tain laborers were attended by a terrible ter-rible tragedy. Klght hundred Chinese were brought over from Hong Kong, but within a week of their landing scores ot them died. Opium was given tbe survivors and for a short time checked the ravages of disease. But the supply of the drug was shut off on account of Its cost, and again the deaths became numerous. Tbe poor Orientals In despair began to commit suicide, some by hanging, others by Impalement, while some deliberately sat down upon the eeashore and waited wait-ed for the rising tide to overwhelm them. In a few weeks scarce two hundred hun-dred were left, and these, broken In health and spirits, were sent to Jamaica. Ja-maica. Another shipload of laborers, this time from Ireland, met no better fate, for nearly every man died. The material difficulties that confronted con-fronted the railway builders are thus summarized by Tomes In bis "Panama in 1855:" "The Isthmus did not supply sup-ply a elngle resource necessary for the undertaking. Not only the capital, skill and enterprise, but the labor, the wood and Iron, the daily food, the clothing, the roof to cover and tbe Instruments In-struments to work with came from abroad. . . . Most of the material osed for tbe construction of the road was brought from vast distances. Although the country abounded In forests. It was found necessary, from the expense of labor and the want of routes of communication, to send the timber, for tbe most part, from the United Slates, and not only were the rails, to a considerable extent, ex-tent, laid on American pine, but the brldgea, and the houses and workshops work-shops of tbe various settlements were ot the same wood, all farhloned la Maine and Georgia. The metal work, the rails, the locomotives and tb tools wer brought either from England or th United States. Tb daily food of the laborers, even, cam from Kew Tork market" Th first section ot the road was tald through a mangrove swamp la which no bottom was found, tne tracks being floated on an Immens pontoon. Dy October, 1SS1. eight miles had been completed 'and aUd ground was reached at Oatnn. Lack of funds tow kegan to him per tfcs builders. In vestors In the states bad become discouraged dis-couraged and tbe cost of labor had ad- vanced. But a hurricane came to tho rescue. Two ships loaded with gold-seekers gold-seekers were forced to anchor near Manzanlllo lslaud and the passengers paid the company a bandaome sum to carry them to Gatun In work cars. Ths news that the road had carried more than a thousand passengers reached New York and funds again flowed Into the coffers of tbe company. As the work progressed passengers were hauled longer and longer distances dis-tances and before the line was completed com-pleted the receipts from passengers and freight were considerably above $2,000,000. The last rails were laid the night of January 27, 1855, and the next day tbe first train passed clear across the Isthmus from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The entire cost of the road up to December 31, 1858, had been something less than $8,000,000 and Its gross earnings In the same time were a little more than that sum. The rate across the isthmne was put at $25 gold, being Intended to be to a Artaln extent prohibitive until tbey couId get things Into good running or-der, or-der, but so great was the volume of ravel that tbe rate was not reduced for more than twenty years. Soon aft-fr aft-fr its opening the road began to d clare 24 per cent dividends, and at one time Its stock weut np to 350. " In the 'CO's tbe company fell on hard times. It lost much of its freight traffic, traf-fic, was held up by the politicians In Bogota and then suffered by the completion com-pletion of the Union Pacific railroad. Next Russell Sage and others like blm 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 Its work. Then In 1904 tbe Cnlted States bought out the French company and tfej acquired tbe railway and so It steams th first American road to be ewned by tbe government So economically 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 especially espe-cially the creation of tbe artificial Gatun Ga-tun lake made necessary the relocation reloca-tion of tbe Panama railroad along most of Its route. The old roadbed now Is under water for much of the way, tbe old line still In use being only sbout seven miles In length, from Colon Co-lon to MIndl and from Corozal to Panama. Pana-ma. From MIndl to Gatun the grade ascends to 95 feet above tide level. From Gatun the road runs east until It . Is four and a half miles from tbe canal, and then south again on great embankments across the Gatun valley. Along this stretch passengers obtain ob-tain an unusual view. Because of the construction of the Gatun dam across the channel ot the Cbagres river, the Chagrea valley and all Us tributary valleya havs been converted Into a lake with an area of about 164 square miles. The Gatun valley Is one of these drowned arms and as the train crosses, wide stretches ot water are to be seen on both sides of tbe track. Down below the surface are still visible vis-ible tbe tops of giant trees that havs been killed by submergence, and along the edges of the lake tb tallest and hardiest ot tbe trees reach thir dead limbs above the waters. Here and . there Is a pretty little Island that not ( long ago was the summit of a hill, and the shore line is most picturesquely broken np by capes, peninsulas and bays. From Mont Lirlo the line skirts the shore of the lake to tbe beginning of ths Culcbra cut at Baa Obispo. Originally Orig-inally It was Intended to carry tbe railroad rail-road through the Culebra cut on a 40- . foot beam along the east side, ten feet abov water level, but this plan was knocked out by the slides and breaks. Tb line was carried around Gold Hill to a distance of two miles from the canal until It reached tbs Pedro Mt-tvol Mt-tvol valley, down which it runs to Par also and th canal again. Thence It runs almost parallel with th channel chan-nel to Panama. There are two big steal bridges on ths line. One, near Monte lirlo, has a center lift span to permit access to the upper arm of Ca-ton Ca-ton lake; tbe other, a quarter of a mil long, across ths Chagrea river at . Gamboa. Th total cost of building th new line of th railway waa $1,866.-392. $1,866.-392. In addition, a largs sum baa been expended in increasing th terminal faculties. Of course, even after the canal Is opened, th railway will hav a good da of business, transporting people and goods between Colon and Panama, and serving th needs of th operating forces of tb canal. But Its days ol glory hav departed, and J. A. Smith, tb American who has bn Its effl cleat general superintendent recoaj nixing that faet, has resigned and r ta read to th stats. |