816 THE KEPUBLIC OF PANAMA. 



RESOUKCES OF THE REPUBLIC. 



The mineral resources of the Republic of Panama are practicallj^ 

 undeveloped, although it is known that there are consideral)le deposits 

 of coal of fair (piality — perhaps of excellent quality — not far from the 

 railroad and Canal Zone. The precious metals are found in small 

 quantities at mau}^ points, with indications of greater value; hut these 

 resources, like many others of the new Republic, are in such an unde- 

 veloped stage that no definite statement can be made as to their poten- 

 tial value. 



The agricultural resources of the country are greater than ordinar- 

 ily supposed. There is excellent grazing land near Colon, along the 

 Panama Railroad, and within a few miles of the city of Panama. 

 Farther west, in the Chiriqui district, and on the Pacific side of that 

 portion of the Isthnuis, there are extensive stretches of country well 

 adapted to agricultural purposes, both for grazing and for the raising 

 of all those tropical products which grow in such luxuriance through- 

 out the fertile portions of Central America and the Isthmus. Fine 

 grades of stock in substantial numbers are already found on some 

 portions of the Tstlnnus, and dairy farming is alreadv conducted in the 

 vicinitv of Panama. 



Large stretches of native forests of valuable timber, such as mahog- 

 any, both light and dark, and other similar woods are found throughout 

 the Republic, l)ut are yet practically undeveloped. Such valua])le 

 tropical products as cacao, bananas of all kinds, sugar cane, indigo, 

 cotton, tol)acco, vanilla, corn, rice, and other similar products grow 

 in abundance, and conditions of systematic industry only are needed 

 to develop them into sources of great wealth to the country. Under 

 the encouraging infiuences of a stable government, where life and 

 property are respected, the national resources of the Republic of 

 Panama v/ill be productive of an amount of wealth which, if stated in 

 a quantitative way, would now^ be incredible, in view of the crude and 

 depressed conditions of industry which have prevailed from the begin- 

 ning of its history to the present time. 



COMMUNICATION. 



There are pract'cally no roads found in the Republic except those of 

 a crude and ill-kept kind near to the cities or towns along the line of 

 the Panama Railroad Company between Colon and Panama. The only 

 marked exception to this statement is the old so-called Royal road 

 built between Cruces, on the upper Chagre.^, to Panama, a distance of 

 al)out 17 miles. This old road, formerly a crudely paved way, was 

 traveled by passengers crossing the Isthnms before the construction 

 of the Panama Railroad. This traffic found its way up the Chagres 

 River to the small native town of Cruces, now containing a few scores 



