Panama, the isthmus and the canal

Front matter

ISHMUSMDi

Class__Fj5M: Book . Ft^

Cop3Tiglit N

Preface

In the following pages I have endeavored to relate the story of the Panama Canal from the earliest explorations to the present time with as much avoidance as possible of technics and in a manner that shall be comprehensible to the general reader. A certain degree of familiarity with the scene of the operations on the Isthmus and a somewhat close study of the subject may have enabled me to achieve my purpose.

The book has been withheld from the press for several months pending the decision as to the type of waterway to be adopted. The 8 5 -foot level plan, upon which the Canal will be constructed, is described in detail and illustrated by maps. For the purpose of comparison a description of the counter project has been included.

Since the manuscript was placed in the hands of the publishers a number of magazines have published articles treating of the Canal from the pens of other men who made special investigations on the spot. There is a close correspondence between my statements and those of the most reliable of the magazine writers. As I have depended chiefly upon official sources for my facts regarding the work and conditions on the Isthmus during the past two years it is evident that the information offered freely to the public by the Canal Commission since the inception of the imdertaking has been of an entirely trustworthy character, and there is every reason to believe that it will be so in the future.

Philadelphia^ July 15, 1906.

Contents

I PAGE

The American Isthmus Under Spain 11

II Canal Exploration 31

I. Panama

THE AMERICAN ISTHMUS UNDER SPAIN.

Early Settlements on the Spanish Main — Preparations for Exploring the Pacific Coast — The Search for a Strait Tlirough the Isthmus — The Establishment of Overland Communication — The First Survey of the Isthmus of Panama — The Ill-fated Darien Expedition — Cortes Establishes a Transcontinental Route — Investigation of the Nicaragua Route — Disintegration of Spain's American Colonies,

On the early morning of the twenty-fifth of Septemher, in 1513, a small party of men made their laborious way up the densely covered face of a steep ridge. One, keen of eye and with determined countenance, pressed forward eagerly ahead of his companions. When, at length, he reached the summit, a vast expanse of water stretched before him on either hand. Balboa had discovered the Pacific Ocean. Vasco E'unez de Balboa was a man of extraordinary intellect, and it is not improbable that something of the true significance of this new knowledge dawned upon his mind even in these first moments of discovery. Perhaps he, first of all contemporary explorers, realized that the Tierra Firma of Columbus was not the Ultima Thule of sixteenth century endeavor, and tliat the land of mystic legend lay away toward the setting sun, beyond the sparkling sea whose placid waters washed the shores of the bay below the height' upon which he stood. It was an age of splendid achievements in geographical science. Bold and ardent adventurers were fast dispersing the haze that had obscured more than half the earth, and disclosing new lands almost as rapidly as geographers could map them. In the last year of the fifteenth century, Vasco de Gama, returning home from his eventful voyage to India, re-rounded the cape which Bartholomew Diaz had discovered and which King John had named Good Hope. A Avaterway to the East was thus opened up, and this circuitous route remained the main means of direct ocean communication between Europe and Asia until the opening of the Suez Canal, nearly four hundred years later. Columbus, with the vaguest ideas of the extent of the globe, and with none but the most faulty charts for guide, thought to find Cipango, where he ran across Cuba and died without knowing that he had added an enormous continent to the map. First in the West Indies and later on the mainland of America he hoped to reach the capital of the Grand Khan, to whom he bore letters from Ferdinand of Spain. When, upon his last disastrous voyage, Columbus beat down the coast from Honduras to Darien seeking a strait through the massive barrier that stayed his farther progress to the west, he

EARLY SETTLEMENTS. l3

little dreamed that at a point which he passed in his disheartening search a caudal cut would one day separate two great continents and unite two vasit oceans.

EAEI.Y SETTLEMENTS OF THE SPANISH MAIN".

Amongst the horde of adventurers who followed in the wake of the Great Discoverer was Rodrigo Bastides. He was in command of an expedition that, in 1500, coasted the Spanish Main from some point on the Venezuelan littoral to almost as far south as Porto Bello. Balboa, a lad of twenty-five, received his first taste of adventure upon this occasion. On the return voyage the weather-worn and worm-eaten ships of Bastides were barely able to make Hispanola before they sank. Balboa, who possessed little or no means, turned his attention to agriculture on the island. He had, however, neither genius nor inclination for the tame pursuit of husbandry and was soon in difiiculties. The spirit of the rover was strong in him and, in order to indulge his desire as well as to escape his creditors, he concealed himself in a cask and caused it to be carried on board a ship bound for Tierra Firma. At this time Spain had two sparsely settled provinces on the Isthmus of Darien and an important stronghold at Cartagena.

Having landed in safety, Balboa wrote to a wealthy friend in Hispanola, one Bachelor Encisco, advising him to fit out an expedition and recommending the Indian village of Darien, on the Gulf of Uraba, as a favorable site for a settlement on account of the reported presence of gold in the vicinity. Encisco adopted the advice of Balboa. The expedition arrived in due course and a town was established on the Isthmus and named Sianta Maria de la Antigua del Darien. It had the distinction of being the first episcopal see upon the mainland and of containing the oldest church in the American continent. Balboa soon rose to a position of importance among the colonists of Tierra Finna. He learned from the Indians that a great sea lay beyond the range of mountains that traversed the Isthmus, and lost no time in investigating the statement. With a small force of Spaniards and Indian guides Balboa succeeded, not without gTcat difficulty, for the whole way was through dense jungle and over swamps, in reaching the ocean, of which he formally took possession in the name of the King of Spain. During this journey across the isthmus the Spaniards heard of a rich land to the south abounding in precious metals. Balboa planned the conquest of this country, and it is more than probable that Pizarro, who was his companion on this occasion, shared his designs. Had the former lived to pursue his energetic and ambitious career Pizarro might never have found the heroic place which he occupies in history.

THE AMERICAN ISTHMUSES.

In 1515, Balboa received the reward of his, enterprise in the form of the appointment of Adelantado of the Southern Sea, as the Pacific had been named.

PREPARATION'S FOR EXPLORING THE PACIFIC COAST.

In the following year he prepared to organize an expedition to the south bj -Way of the newly discovered ocean. The problem involved in the undertaking was one to daunt a less bold spirit. Trees suitable to the construction of ships were to be | found only upon the Atlantic side of the divide, which necessitated the tremendous task of transporting timbers over a route that presented great difficulties to the passage of an unencumbered man. The terribly onerous labor of collecting the material and carrying it on their backs to its destination was imposed upon the Indians, of whom thousands were gathered together for .the purpose and impelled to the uiiaccustomed work by the merciless severity of their taskmasters, llany months were consumed in this grim struggle for a passage of the Isthmus, which, in many respects, foreshadowed the endeavors of the modern successors of these hardy pioneers. Hundreds of the wretched aborigines. Las C'asas says their number fell little short of two thousand, lost their lives in the undertaking, but it succeeded, and four brigantines were carried piecemeal from sea to sea and put together on the Pacific coast. The work

A SEARCH FOR THE STRAIT. IT

of fitting out the ships proceeded rapidly and Balboa was upon the eve of departure when his arrest Was effected by order of the Governor.

Pedrarias had entertained a jealous hatred of Balboa for years and could not endure the thought of his achieving the further successes that promised to follow his expedition to the south. The Governor pretended to have received information that Balboa purposed the creation of an independent kingdom in the countries that he might discover. Balboa was tried, condemned on evidence of an ex parte character, and executed. Thus fell, in the prime of life, the first of that trio of Spanish explorers whose brave deeds excite our admiration whilst we deplore the cruelties with which they were accompanied.

THE SEARCH FOR A STRAIT THROUGH THE ISTHMUS.

Three years after the death of Balboa, Magellan passed through the Straits of Tier r a del Fuego and opened up a western waterway to the Orient. The attempts to find a strait through the continent were not abandoned, however. Charles the Fifth took a keen interest in the prosecution of these efforts. He instructed the governors of all his American provinces to have the coast lines of their respective territories thoroughly examined and every river and inlet explored. The orders addressed to Cortes were especially explicit and urgent, for at this time the hope began to prevail that a solution to the problem would be found in the territory of Mexico. It was in accordance with this idea that Gil Gonzales was despatched from Spain to the New World. Gonzales had authority to use the vessels which had been built by Balboa, but Pedrarias refused to deliver them to him. Gonzales was not to be balked by this denial, however. He immediately took to pieces the two caravels with which he had arrived and transported them to the Pacific coast by the route which Balboa had hewn out. The reconstmcted ships were soon lost and the party built others, in which they proceeded north in January, 1522, to Fonseca Bay. At this point the leader, with one hundred men, continued the exploration by land. Lake Nicaragua was discovered and a settlement was shortly afterwards made upon its shore, the Indians having been subjected. The new discovery awakened fresh ideas and projects relating to the much desired interocean route. It was at first reported that an opening existed from the lake to the South Sea, but an immediate examination failed to reveal any water connection. In 1529, Diego Machuca, in command of a considerable force, carefully explored Lake Nicaragua and its eastern outlet. He found the navigation of the San Juan Eiver, at that time called the Desaguadero, extremely difficult, but eventually emerged from its mouth with his ships and continued down the coast to Nombre de Dios. At a

OVEELAND COMMUNICATION. 19

later period an important commerce was conducted over this route by vessels making ports in Spain, the West Indies and South America. Thomas Gage, the English priest who visited Nicaragua in 1637, mentions this traffic as in existence at that time.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF OVEELAWD COMMUWICATION".

Pending the discovery of a maritime channel between the two oceans, the Spanish authorities had decided to establish permanent land communication across the Isthmus of Darien. Under Charles the Fifth a line of posts was maintained from coast to coast. E'ombre de Dios was made the Atlantic port and the Pacific terminus was located at old Panama, which was created a city in 1521. A road was at once constructed between these two points, which crossed tJie Chagres at Las Cruces. Great difficulties were surmounted in building this highway. Much of the route lay over swamps that had to be filled in. Several streams were spanned by bridges and vast masses of rock were removed to facilitate the passage over the mountains. The way was paved and, according to Peter Martyr, was wide enough to accommodate two carts abreast.

About ten years after the establishment of this route a modification of it came into use. Light draft vessels began to sail from ISTombre de Dios along the coast and up the Chagres as far as Cruses, where the road met the stream, and thence the journey was completed by land. In the closing years of the sixteenth century, ^N^ombre de Dios, which had been repeatedly condemned in memorials to the Crown, as '' the sepulcher of Spaniards," was abandoned in favor of Porto Bello, with a location and other natural advantages decidedly superior to those of the former terminus.

EAELY TRADE OF PxiNAMA.

This interoceanic communication was of the utmost value to the Spanish Crown after the conquest of Peru, and the isthmian territory grew in importance year by year. The vast treasure that was extracted from the mines of the south came to Panama in the first stage of transit to the Eoyal Treasury. From the Pacific port it was carried to Porto Bello on pack-horses, and thence was shipped to Spain. Upon the arrival of vessels from the mother country, fairs were held at Cartagena and Porto Bello. Thither came merchants from far and near and caravans from Panama. An extensive trade was conducted at these periodical marts and the goods brought from Spain found their way through Panama to South and Central America and even to the mainland and islands of Asia. Thus was demonstrated at an early date the logical trend of trade and the great advantages of a trans-isthmian route.

FIRST SURVEY OF ISTHMUS. 21

The idea of an artificial passage had already been mooted. It is said that Charles the Fifth, in 1520, ordered the Isthmus of Darien, or Panama, to be surveyed with a view to ascertaining the practicability of a canal. There is no record of this survey nor any evidence that it was ever made. Fourteen years later the matter Avas revived. The local authorities were instructed to employ able men to closely examine the country lying between the Chagres River and the Pacific with a view to determining the most feasible method of effecting a junction and creating a through waterway for ocean-going ships. The instructions were carried out but the report of Governor Andagoya was so extremely discouraging that the Emperor abandoned the project.

A CHECK TO CANAL PROJECTS.

The policy of Philip the Second with regard to the American possessions was very different from that of his father. The former was averse to the expansion of his empire in the I^^ew World and distinctly antagonistic to the plans for an isthmian canal. He reasoned with astuteness that the existence of a water route through the continent of America would give easy access to his new possessions on the part of other nations and in time of war might be of greater advantage to his enemies than to himself. The policy of Philip was maintained for two centuries after his death hj succeeding rulers, but maritime communication continued to be the subject of much thought and sj)eculation.

During this period of quiescent policy on the part of Spain the most notable event in the history of the Isthmus was furnished by the disastrous attempt of William Paterson to establish a colony in the province of Darien. In 1695 the Scotch Parliament, with the approval of William the Third, authorized the fonuation of a company to plant colonies in Asia, Africa and America and to carry on trade between those continents and Scotland.

THE ILL-FATED DAKIEJ^ EXPEDITION.

Paterson cherished a scheme of stupendous colonial commerce, the Darien Expedition being but the initial step in the enterprise. Toward the close of the year 1698, five vessels having on board twelve hundred Scottish settlers anchored in a bight which they called Caledonia Bay, a name it retains at this day. The colonists were received in friendliness by the Indians and purchased from them the land upon which the settlement of Xew Edinburgh was made. It was Paterson's design, based upon sound enough reasoning and knowledge previously acquired from the buccaneers of the West Indies, to extend his posts to the Pacific Ocean and open up a trade with

ILL-FATED 3>ARIEN EXPEDITION. 23

the countries of the South Sea and Asia, in the manner which had been so profitable to Spain. He had not, however, anticipated the effect of the climate upon his northern-bred emigrants. Before any steps could be taken towards the contemplated extension of the operations, the colony was decimated by disease. The misery of the settlers was increased by the loss of the supply-ship on which they had depended for fresh provisions, and eight months after the landing a pitiful remnant of the original expedition abandoned the settlement and returned to Scotland. But before this disaster had become known at home other vessels with additional emigrants were despatched to the new colony. These made an effort to revive and maintain the settlement, but with no better results than those which had befallen their predecessors. The' numbers of the later comers had become sadly reduced when they were attacked by the Spaniards. After a feeble resistance they capitulated. So weak were the survivors that they could not reach their ships without the aid of their enemies.

Thus ended the D'arien Expedition with the loss of more than two thousand lives and the expenditure of vast sums of money.

In this section of the country the Spaniards completely failed to secure the friendship of the Indians or to effect their subjection. Their amicable reception of the Scotch immigrants and their invariable readiness to assist the buccaneers in their incursions against the Spanish settlements indicated the persistent hatred with which they regarded the first invaders of their land. The Darien region was wild in the extreme and abounded in secret passes and safe retreats. From their fastnesses the Indians made frequent raids upon the Spanish posts and retired by trails which were known only to themselves.

In the latter half of the eighteenth century, during the governorship of Andres de Ariza, a determined effort was made to establish permanent communication between the coasts at this part of the Isthmus. Plans were laid for a line of military posts to be connected by a road which should run from a point on Caledonia Bay to a terminus on the Pacific Ocean. The project was put into operation, but met with such formidable resistance on the part of the inhabitants that the Spanish authorities became convinced of the futility of their endeavors. In 1Y90 they entered into a treaty with the Indians, agreeing to disband the garrisons and withdraw from the country.

CORTES ESTABLISHES A TEANS CONTINENTAL ROUTE.

It will be remembered that in the first quarter of the sixteenth century Cortes received implicit instructions from the Crown to use every resource at

AMADOR GUERRERO President of the Panama Republic.

TRANSCONTINENTAL ROUTE. 25

his command in a search for the longed-for strait. In pursuit of this object the coast of Mexico was carefully examined and the Coatzacoalcos E-iver explored. Montezuma afforded valuable assistance in this investigation by furnishing descriptions and maps of certain portions of the country. Whilst these efforts failed of their principal object, they had important results. Cortes established a transcontinental route along the course of the Coatzacoalcos, over the divide, and down the Pacific slope to Tehuantepec. This line of communication soon gave birth to an extensive trade between Spain and her provinces on both coasts of America as well as some parts of Asia. The Ead's ship-railway of modern days was planned to follow practically the same line as this early route of Cortes.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century there were discovered at Vera Cruz some cannon of ancient date which bore the mark of the old Manila foundry. This discovery aroused speculation as to how the pieces of artillery had been brought to the Atlantic coast of Mexico. It seemed improbable that they had been transported around the continent, especially when it was remembered that the only commercial intercourse with the Philippines had been through the Pacific port of Tehuantepec and over the route established by Cortes. This trade-way had long since been abandoned, but interest in it was at once revived by the incident which has been recited, and a remembrance of its former importance prompted the viceroy of Mexico to institute an investigation.

By this time it had become an accepted idea that maritime communication between the oceans could only be secured by the creation of artificial waterways. Two engineers were directed to explore the country from the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos to Tehuantepec with a view to ascertaining the practicability of a waterway from ocean to ocean. This was the first canal project entertained for this region.

INVESTIGATION OF THE NICAKAGUA EOUTE.

The report on this exploration, which included a cursory survey, was not such as to encourage the institution of operations. It had the effect, however, of stimulating the interest in the subject and in 1Y79 the feasibility of connecting the Nicaragua lakes with the sea was investigated by royal command. Manuel Galisteo, to whom the task had been intrusted, passed an opinion unfavorable to the project. Nevertheless, a company was formed in Spain, with the patronage of the Crown, to carry out the undertaking, but nothing effective ever came of it.

Galisteo's expedition had been accompanied by the British agents at Belize in a private capacity. Upon their return they made highly favorable representations to their Government, stating that the project

INVESTIGATION OF THE NICARAGUA ROUTE. 27

was entirely feasible and not accompanied by any difficulties that tlie engineering capabilities of the day need fear to encounter. This report made a de^p impression in England and when, in the following year, war broke out between that country and Spain an effort was made to gain possession of the E^icaragua country. In 1780, an invading force was organized at Jamaica. Captain Horatio xTelson was in command of the naval contingent, and in his despatches stated the general purpose of the expedition as follows : ^^ In order to give facility to the great object of the government I intend to possess the Lake of JSTicaragua, which for the present may be looked upon as the inland Gibraltar of Spanish America. As it commands the only water pass between the oceans, its situation must ever render it a principal post to insure passage to the Southern Ocean, and by our possession of it Spanish America is divided in two." The English were successful in their encounters with the Spaniards, but in the climate they found an irresistible enemy that forced them to abandon the enterprise. Of the crew of ^^Telson's ship, the HincJiinbrook, numbering two hundred, more than eighty fell sick in one night, and only ten survived the return of the expedition to Jamaica. The hero of Trafalgar barely escaped with his life after a long illness.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century Spain retained possession of the entire territory embraced in the question of interocean communication, but she had made no practical progress towards its settlement. E'either had she added materially to the available knowledge of the world on the subject, for the results of Spanish exploration and survey in this direction have never been made public. With the exception of the re-opened communication by way of Tehuantepec the old Spanish overland routes had all fallen into disuse, and traffic between the mother country and the possessions on the west coast of America and in the Pacific Ocean was maintained by vessels sailing round Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. Humboldt visited Mexico at about this time and recorded the ignorance that prevailed amongst the local authorities regarding the interior of the country. He stated that there was not a single mountain, plain, or city from Granada to Mexico of which the elevation above the sea was known.

Ere this the entire civilized world had become keenly interested in the question of an interoceanic canal, and the investigations of Humboldt commanded wide attention. Amongst other effects, they aroused the Spanish Government to action in the matter. In 1814 the Cortes passed an act authorizing the construction of a canal through the Isthmus

SPAIN'S LOST OPPORTUNITY. 29

and providing for tlie organization of a company to carry ont the enterprise. Before anything of importance had been accomplished under this legislation the revolutions occurred which wrested from Spain her provinces in South and Central America. With the^ioss of territory went the opportunity for profit and glory by connecting the oceans.

In 1819, the states of ^ew Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela united in forming the Republic of Columbia, under Simon Bolivar; in 1831 they separated into three independent republics. In 1823 the Federal Republic of the United Provinces of Central America was formed by the union of Guatemala, San Salvador, Honduras, ^N^icaragua, and Costa Rica. These political changes, in what may be termed the canal region, opened up new possibilities in connection with the much-mooted question of a waterway and claimed the attention of capitalists and statesmen of all the commercial nations. From this time the matter is taken up with definiteness of purpose and never allowed to rest. Plans and negotiations of various kinds involving all the possible routes follow fast upon each other until we arrive at the inception of the work by the United States Government and the assurance of its accomplishment.

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SHORTEE COURSES OF TRANSPORTATION.

Some of the immense advantages to be conferred on the world by the Panama Canal can be seen by a glance at the map.