PANAMA CANAL 



1171 



PANAMA CANAL 



Canal wa- dug; a -imilar section !;uil : 



lied the Isthmus of Daiien. Tin- 

 general tendency at the present time, however, 

 is to consider the entire neck of land practi- 

 cally coextensive with the republic of Panama. 



a> tin- Isthmus of Panama. For si/e and 

 topographical feature- sec PANAMA. The story 

 of the excavation of the canal which gave the 

 isthmus its importance 1 . i< related under the 

 heading PAN \M \ < '\\ \i.. 



Gail lard Cut, formerly 



THE STORY OF THE PANAMA CANAL 



ANAMA CANAL. Kvor since tho day that 

 marked the triumph of the adventuring Span- 

 i -ird. 



when with eagle eyes 



it tlie Pacific and all his men 

 Look'd at each other with a wild surmise 

 Silent, upon a peak In Darien. 



men have dreamed of a great waterway across 



narrow hand between the two Amer: 



n later, their dreams have come 



true. There is a canal, and one far greater than 



I into tin- thoughts of most of those who 



<-ated -Uch ;i watercourse. Tlie ships that 



pass through it cam- c her than the 



uold-laden caravels for which King Ferdinand 



r King Philip would have liked to build it, and 



ire will have consequences* more far- 

 iunir flian any ob-ervrr of to-day can BSti- 



Whom the Canal Benefits. When the ques- 

 ion of ehariritiK Ann ncm \ e--, I- |e-= for using 



I he c.in.d than other -hip- -hotlld he a e-- eii 



wa h mi: diwu ed. in 1 ( .1L' and I'.H:;. ->me 

 peopli -aid that unle.-s the I'mti-d Si 



.uppers .-ome advantage it uoiild ! 

 it- four hundred million dollar- mil 

 h. ti. Thai tl. u-om 



- the ca-e will be appan nt from a -hidy 



f t! I map ace - M -le. 



other country, unli - it he Canada. 

 hope to gain as great an advantage from the 



route a> ed States. Were ti 



land in thr middli- >f the Pacific. Ijirop.Mi 



ild profit mole thin tin v .!; as it i-. 

 I'.uropo's route to China, Japan and Au*tt 

 thromrh tin Si;./ is Mill i; ; path to 



'h- <>ri.nt. while New York. New Orleans 



< lake-ton arc now nearer to Yokohama and 

 Melbourne than are Liverpool and Hamburg. 

 San Francisco, too, formerly three times as far 

 as London from the W->t Indian island-, i- 

 now closer to most of them, while Now York, 

 previously the same distance from 1 

 lor and Northern Chile as Genoa or French 

 and English channel ports, i- now hut half as 

 far. Distances between ports, reckon. d m .lay- 

 before and after the completion of thr ' 



iphically shown in the map-. 

 It -eem- -ttam:r f<> think of the Panama 

 Canal as an internal waterway of the Tinted 



and yet from this point of view it may 

 -veil more valuable to the nation than 

 as a highway for foreign trade. The very lirst 

 year that the Canal was open canned fruits 

 from California were rained through it on then 

 way to Saint Paul by way of N. \\ York, and 

 machinery from Saint Lom- pa ed through 



>tk on n- way to the Pacific , 



for thl> was economy. Steamboat-- 

 can alv v goods much farther for the 

 same charge than can freight train-, for 

 boat- ha\e n.i .\pen-e for building and keeping 

 in repair grades and tracks, tunnel- and bridge- 

 The railroad> may temporarily meet tlx 

 pet it n. n of the Canal by reducing rates, but in 



M-tmr,- th. \ cannot do tin-: and when 



on. M..hile. New Orleai, 



Tampa. Baltimore. Charleston. Norfolk and 

 Philadelphia ha\. regular lines . 

 ihrougi :. and when improvements on 



the Mississippi ami its tributaries- art 

 pleted. this roundabout tratlic will 1 

 more common, and tl C mal to 



the United States will inn- 



