In effect, the opening of the canal in 1915 to the commerce and trade of the world will be the realization of the dream of Columbus, who sailed across the Atlantic in 1492 to discover a shorter water route between Europe and Asia, and the fulfillment of the prophecy of Baron von Humboldt, who, between the years of 1799 and 1805, explored and surveyed a great portion of Central and South America. Humboldt, as a result of his explorations, predicted that within a reasonable period of time the two largest oceans of the world, the Atlantic and the Pacific, would be united by an artificial water-way. This water-way, in his opinion, as expressed in a letter to his friend, the German poet Goethe, would be constructed by the little republic at the north, the United States, even then beginning to take an important place among the powers of the world.
In 1867, the energy and foresight of Seward acquired Alaska as an addition to American territory; and though Seward was laughed at and reviled as a foolish dreamer because of his purchase of a so-called iceberg and a fog-bank, nevertheless, that able statesman and diplomat pointed out to the people of the United States that some day the Pacific Ocean must become the world’s greatest sea of commerce and trade, and that in that day Alaska would become one of the most valuable possessions of the American nation.
Those dreams and prophecies today are reaching their culmination and fulfillment in the opening of the Panama Canal, which will be celebrated in San Francisco,—yes, not only in San Francisco, but throughout all California and the sister States of the western coast—by the greatest international exposition ever conducted in the history of civilization. It will be a jubilee celebration in which all the States and principalities, nations and empires of the world will join in proud and thankful participation.
The History of the Canal
The idea of constructing an artificial water-way between the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Panama is as old as the discovery of America. Christopher Columbus, in early life, became converted to the idea that the world was round, and his studies led him to believe that by sailing in a direct course and sailing far enough, he could circumnavigate the globe and come back to the point from which he started, provided he could keep on that straight course. This belief naturally led him to the conclusion that by sailing westward from Spain, across the Atlantic, he could reach the coasts and the islands of Asia, which about that time were coming into great prominence as a desired market for the exchange of the wares of the producers and the manufacturers of Europe.
RUINS OF SANTA DOMINIE CHURCH, PANAMA.
The only mistake made by Columbus was that he estimated the circumference of the world at about 8,000 miles, instead of over 24,000. Following his theory, Columbus embarked on his first and greatest voyage, and was successful, as we know, in discovering one of the islands of the West Indies. Columbus made four voyages in all to the newly discovered land, but it is doubtful as to whether or not he ever reached the mainland of America. One of his historians claims that on his last voyage he landed upon the coast of Honduras in Central America, and on the land now known as Venezuela, farther toward the south. This fact is of little importance to us at this time. We do know, however, that Columbus died in ignorance of the fact that he had discovered a great continent instead of some of the islands of the East Indies.
Immediately following the death of Columbus, his enterprising lieutenants, men like Vespucci, Ojeda, Balboa, and others of equal prominence, pushed their explorations farther westward, and Balboa, the boldest of the Spanish conquistadores, fitted out an expedition in Hispaniola, which island was then the base of operations of Spanish exploration and conquest, and sailed across the narrow sea to the coast of that portion of Central America we now call Panama.
Balboa established a rendezvous and base of supplies and operations on the coast, and thence continued his journey inland, and on the 23rd of September, 1513, surmounted the heights of Darien, and from that eminence beheld the expansive stretches of watery waste known today as the Pacific Ocean. Balboa, continuing his explorations along the coasts of Panama, soon discovered that the land was not an island, but a continent, and becoming acquainted with the Indians who inhabited the country, he learned that there were two large bodies connected by a smaller body.