“From the first it paid tremendously, in the space of forty-seven years making $38,000,000 of clear profit for its projectors. But to build that forty-eight miles of track had cost 2,000 recorded human lives, five years of labor, and $8,000,000.”
“First history, then a railroad year book, and now, I suppose, we’ll get down to the canal,” grunted Tubby.
“Yes, that’s coming now,” smiled Rob. “In the first place, the idea of building a canal across the narrow strip of land forming the Isthmus had been a dream even of the early Spaniards. Then a Scotchman founded a colony which was to grow rich on the products of the Isthmus and also dig a canal. Disease and failure soon put an end to this enterprise. In fact, from the earliest days Panama and the Isthmus have always been known as one of the most unhealthy spots on earth. As you may know, it is only nine degrees north of the equator, and the rainy season lasts more than half the year. But nowadays, with modern medicine and modern hygienic methods, it is quite safe, with reasonable care, to penetrate the jungle. Mr. Mainwaring told me that,” he added.
“Well, after various schemes had been gotten up and had fallen through, a French company, backed by the money of almost everyone in France who could by hook or crook secure stock, in 1882 turned the first shovelful of earth for a canal. It was to have been a sea-level one, that is, one without locks, and was projected and engineered by Ferdinand De Lesseps, the aged builder of the Suez canal.
“We know now that a sea-level canal would not be feasible on the Isthmus. It would take too long to build and cost a prohibitive sum, almost double what a lock canal costs. For seven years digging went on, with fearful loss of life among the laborers and engineers from yellow fever. Then, in 1899, it was discovered that almost half of the $400,000,000 raised had been squandered in mismanagement and waste, and by far the larger part had gone in what we should nowadays call ‘graft’. An investigation was made. Several of the promoters of the canal committed suicide, and De Lesseps went mad and died in an asylum. Such was the tragic history of the French era; but brighter days were to come.
“It was in 1898 when the Oregon made her record run from San Francisco to join the Atlantic fleet in the West Indies and fight the Spaniards off Cuba, that Americans began to think that a short cut was needed. With our acquisition of the Philippines, a ‘door’ between the Pacific and Atlantic was declared to be almost a necessity. There was much discussion at Washington, but finally in 1903 President Roosevelt and Congress decided that if we could purchase from the French all they had left at Panama and could, in addition, buy a strip or ‘zone’ across the Isthmus for canal building purposes, it would be fitting and right for the United States to take up the work.
“After some dickering, the French company, took $40,000,000 for what they owned, and, in 1904, the Panama Republic, a newly created nation, sold the United States for $10,000,000 a strip of land ten miles wide and fifty miles long, which strip of land is now known as the Canal Zone.
“The first thing that the Americans did after they took hold was to start a campaign against disease. No canal could be dug while yellow fever had to be reckoned with. Under the masterly hand of Col. W. C. Gorgas, the Zone has been cleaned up till disease is almost rarer than in cities of the north. Mosquitoes have been wiped out, streets paved, filth and garbage, which used to lie and rot under the hot sun, all swept away, and good comfortable houses put up for workmen and their bosses. The men who stand the climate best among the laborers are Jamaican negroes. Hindus, Italians and Spaniards are also employed for lighter work, but for ‘making the dirt fly’ the Sambo is the real thing.
“Anything else you’d like to know?”
“Well, yes,” said Merritt. “Just why is this Chagres River such an important part of the canal?”