The Panama Railroad
About the same time a railway company was formed in the United States which secured a concession from the Republic of Colombia for the purpose of constructing the railway system across the Isthmus, which is now known as the Panama Railroad. This railroad was completed in 1856, and this addition to the means of transportation to the Pacific Coast again indefinitely postponed the necessity for canal construction.
In 1861 the United States drifted into the Civil War, and once more the subject of canal construction was forgotten. After the close of the Civil War the transcontinental railroads, headed by the Union and Central Pacific Companies, pushed their lines westward until they reached the Pacific Coast, and as soon as the first railroad had crossed the continent active opposition to canal construction began to show itself in the American Congress.
The transcontinental railroads, fearing opposition in transportation, from that day until the Spooner bill was passed, June 28, 1902, maintained an active lobby at Washington, and whenever canal legislation was suggested, having for its object the construction of an Isthmian Canal at any point, this railroad opposition manifested itself in every form, and no doubt canal construction by the United States was postponed for many years by that agency.
However, in 1889, Congress authorized the incorporation of a company known as the Maritime Canal Company of the United States, and under that authority Hiram Hitchcock, of New York, as president, together with Warner Miller and several other capitalists, proceeded to raise about six million dollars, which was actually used in obtaining franchises and concessions from Costa Rica and Nicaragua for a canal route through these countries. Some money was also spent in doing necessary preliminary work.
The Maritime Canal Company was a favorite in the United States for a great many years, principally because it was championed by Senator J. T. Morgan, of Alabama. Senator Morgan made this the dearest project of his later life, and no doubt his last years of public service were embittered by his failure to secure Government co-operation for the building of the canal through Nicaraguan territory.
PRESIDENT AMADOR’S RESIDENCE, PANAMA.