The next and last point to the southward and the eastward of Chagre is by the river of Chopo, about 25 miles to the eastward of Panama. Narrow as the land in this quarter has been held to be, still the charts and maps lately published by individuals, and by the authority of the Admiralty, show that it is much narrower than what has hitherto been calculated upon; and in the particular point under consideration, very narrow indeed. From the mouth of the River Chopo, opposite the little island Chepillo in the Pacific, to the bottom of the Gulf of St. Blas or Mandinga on the Atlantic, is only about 20 miles (some maps make it still less). In this space, the mountains to the eastward of the high chain S. of Point Manzanillo and Porto Bello, which give rise to the Chagres, and its tributary streams, running first westward and then north-west into the Atlantic, are again, according to Captain Lloyd, interrupted and broken, affording thereby a readier communication between the two great oceans, the Atlantic, and the Pacific. In an apparently good Spanish map of the Isthmus, upon a large scale, the River Chopo or Bayano is represented as being formed by two branches, one under the name of the Rio Canizas, springing to the southward of the Pico de Carti, a hill only four miles from the Atlantic, in the Bay of Mandinga; the whole course of the river to the Pacific on a general south bearing, being only 22 miles. The source of the Chagres comes within 15 miles of the lower course of the Chopo; and some good maps lay down a river which joins the Chopo, near its mouth, as coming from the N. E., its sources likewise being within a very few miles of the Atlantic. Here, certainly, is a point from which, and on which a communication could be opened up at any rate by a good road, so as to afford a speedy conveyance for passengers, mails, and goods, between the two seas; while it is also exceedingly probable that, even in this short space, great facilities and assistance could be obtained by canal navigation, and by the rivers just mentioned.
The points, however, where a canal could be cut of sufficient depth to admit the passage of large ships, and thus save the delay and the expense which loading and unloading cargoes would occasion, where roads of any description remain the only means of communication, and where the approach on either coast is safe, and interior water communication most abundant, are, certainly, the points which should be fixed upon and selected, in order to effect the object so important to the whole world. The two points hitherto the best known, and considered to be the best adapted for the purpose, are, first, the line from Chagre on the Atlantic, to Panama on the Pacific; and secondly, the line, perhaps the best of the whole, from the mouth of the River St. Juan on the Atlantic, by that river and Lake Nicaragua, to Rialejo, or Gulf Papagayo, on the Pacific.
The Panama line comes most properly the first point for consideration. Here the survey, by Lieutenant Lloyd, in 1829, gives some certain data, and some curious and important information. He tells us pointedly, from actual observation, that which good Spanish maps indicated, and what was more vaguely told by others. According to him, on the eastern side of the province of Veragua, the Cordillera breaks into detached mountains, their sides exhibiting only bare rock, almost perpendicular. To these, as approaching nearer Panama, succeed numerous conical mountains, arising out of savannahs and plains, and seldom exceeding from 300 to 500 feet. "Finally," says he, "between Chagre on the Atlantic side, and Chorera on the Pacific, these conical mountains are not so numerous, having plains of great extent, interspersed with occasional ranges of hills of inconsiderable height."
Such is the Isthmus of Panama, where the distance from sea to sea is, even according to the present charts, only 30 geographical miles, and from the mouth of the Chagre to Panama, 33 miles.[18] Of this distance the Chagre, which has a circuitous course, is navigable for 40 miles to Cruces—distant from the sea in a direct line 21 miles, and from Panama 14 miles. At its mouth the Chagre is one-fourth of a mile broad, and at Cruces about 150 feet: in its middle course the depth is 24 feet. The current runs at the rate of from three to four miles per hour. It is full of numerous, constantly shifting sand banks, and sunken trees, which, with the current, render the navigation tedious, difficult, and even dangerous. At its mouth the coast is very sickly, as indeed the country through its course also is; but when the land is cleared, it will doubtless become more healthy. When the current is very rapid, it requires four or five days to reach Cruces. The height of the land which intervenes between Cruces and Panama, has been accurately ascertained by Mr. Lloyd; and that portion of the country which he passed over in his survey along the old road to Panama, is certainly the most elevated of the whole, as is shown in the following summary of his survey.
This survey commenced from the eastern suburb of Panama, at high-water mark, and ran along the old road to Porto Bello, unto the point where it crossed the Rio Chagre,—a distance of 1828 chains, 22¾ miles. The highest land passed over was the ridge Maria Henrique, 12¾ miles from Panama, and 10 from the Chagre. Its height is 633.32 feet. The point where the road approaches the river, is 169.840 feet above the level of high-water mark at Panama; and the bed of the river from whence the survey commenced downwards, is 152.55 feet. Descending the river 1545 chains, 19½ miles, Mr. Lloyd came to the village of Cruces, after a descent of 114.60 feet; thus making Cruces to be 37.96 feet above high-water mark at Panama. From Cruces to Gorgona 410 chains, 5¼ miles, the fall is 16.13 feet; and thence to a small gravel bank, named "Playa los Ingenieros" distant from Cruces 1302 chains, 16¾ miles, the fall is 21.82 feet, precisely level with the high-water mark at Panama. At 2682 chains, 33½ miles below Cruces, Mr. Lloyd first observed the effects of the tide from the Atlantic, the level of the river at this point being 13.65 feet below the level of high-water mark on the Pacific. At 507 chains, 12 miles, further down, reached La Bruja, where the water became brackish; the level of the surface of the river being 13.55 feet below the high-water mark at Panama. From La Bruja there was no perceptible descent to the Atlantic. The whole distance gone over in levelling from sea to sea, was 82 miles.
The tide at the mouth of the Chagre rises only one foot, or 1.16 feet; but at Panama the spring-tide in the Pacific rises in a mean level to the height of 21.22 feet, though high winds and currents occasionally raise them to the height of 27.44 feet. At low water the sea sinks proportionally at Panama below the level of the Atlantic: the reason for this difference is obvious. The current towards the Gulf of Mexico, and which afterwards forms the famous gulf stream, carries off rapidly the waters in the Atlantic; while, on the contrary, the current which flows northward along the western coast of South America, and the tide which flows into the bay of Panama, from the south-west from the Pacific, heaps, as it were for a moment, the waters into the bay and on the shores of Panama, and occasions the tides alluded to, and differing so greatly from those which are seen in the Atlantic at the short distance on the opposite coast.
From Maria Henrique to Cruces is only about nine miles. In the intermediate spaces are several savannahs, and, according to the Spanish maps, a very considerable river, called Rio de los Laxas, which enters the Chagre a little above Cruces. This river flows westward from Mount Maria Henrique; while the principal branches of the Rio Grande, which flows south into the Pacific immediately to the westward of Panama, spring from the south-west side of the mountain already mentioned. The branches of this river and of the Chagre approach very near each other; while savannahs, according to Lloyd's map, fill up, as between the Rio Grande and the Obispo, the most of the intervening space. In this short distance, and with the aid of these rivers, a water communication, were the country properly examined, it is conjectured, might be found. From Cruces the road, for a short distance, ascends considerably; after which it runs along a ridge, with a valley on each side; that on the south the deepest, being about 300 feet, and descends until it comes to a plain, through which it stretches and runs to the city of Panama. It is by quitting the old Spanish track or road, and continuing along the savannahs and levels, that it is believed the water communication adverted to could be effected; and where the distance, taking into account the short bends which may be necessary, is so short, probably not twenty miles!
These observations naturally call the attention to the consideration of a line of communication which may be had from the River Trinidad to the Pacific, either at Panama or a little to the westward of that town, in the bay of Chorera, at the mouth of the Rio Caymito. The condition of the country in that portion of the Isthmus has already been generally described, on the authority of Mr. Lloyd; and from what he has stated, and which is in unison with other information, not a doubt can remain that a water communication can be opened up in this quarter from sea to sea. Lines for railroads have already been chalked out in both places alluded to; and considered so easy that the sum of 400,000 dollars is estimated as the whole expense necessary to complete either. It is scarcely necessary to observe, that wherever a rail-road can be constructed, a canal may be made. The River Trinidad is a branch of the Chagre, which comes from the westward and from the south-westward, and joins the latter at about eight miles due S. W. from its mouth. The Trinidad is navigable to Embracadero, and for some distance, from its mouth, is both broad and deep. Its branches penetrate a considerable way into the country, and approach closely to the branches of the Caymito, a considerable stream, which flows through a country, in its lower course, comparatively level; while between its upper course and the Trinidad the distance is covered with savannahs and small conical hills, and in some places marshy plains—a complete proof of the level nature of the country. The streams which rise to the westward of the line alluded to, namely, in the hills stretching to the province of Veragua, mostly flow into the Chagre, another proof of the direction in which the mountains in this quarter lay; and that there is no continued chain, as has been stated, extending in the centre of the Isthmus throughout, and joining together the Andes of North and South America. From the junction of the Trinidad with the Chagre to Panama is only 26½ miles, and to the mouth of the Chorera 23 miles!
Short, however, as the distances just mentioned are, they are considerably reduced, when the navigation of the Trinidad on the one side, and of the Caymito on the other, are taken into account. These reduce the greater distance at least one-half; and in it, as well as the lesser distance, the nature of the country, for a considerable portion of the distance, if not throughout the whole distance, overcomes almost every obstacle, or rather renders every obstacle that may offer, possible to be overcome. From that portion of the River Chagre, which is level with high-water mark at Panama, south-westward to that city, the country is interspersed with savannahs, and consequently level. Indeed, for "a few miles" inwards from Panama, the plains are below the level of the sea, thus rendering the formation of a canal easy; while, on the north side of the most elevated spot, the numerous streams which spring and flow to the Chagre would afford an abundant supply of water for any canal that may be constructed, however large that may be. The distance, therefore, where any serious difficulty could occur, must be reduced to a mile or two; and in that distance, should any of those conical mountains, from 300 to 500 feet high, or insulated ridges of inconsiderable height, which Mr. Lloyd tells us are here and there to be found in these places—should any such intervene, they may be cut through without any great difficulty. The excess in the rise of the tide in the Pacific, nearly 21 feet above its rise in the Atlantic, would tend greatly to accelerate the construction, in this part of America, of a water communication; which water communication, however, be it observed, must be sufficient to admit the passage through it of ships of the very highest tonnage, and at all seasons; otherwise it will not answer the general purpose, nor interests of the world. Less might indeed suit for the conveyance of mails; but any thing less would occasion such an additional expense in unloading, transporting, and again loading goods, as would render the tedious navigation of Cape Horn preferable.