The Republic of Panama 



61 



and also on the southern slopes. Some 

 of these Indians preserve jealously their 

 isolation, and have never acknowledged 

 the sovereignty of any government. 



THE PANAMA RAILROAD 



The most prominent feature of the 

 Republic of Panama is the Panama 

 Railroad and the partially constructed 

 canal, with the adjacent strip of terri- 

 tory, including the cities and towns, 

 with their aggregated business or in- 

 dustrial centers, along the line from 

 Colon to Panama. 



This railroad , a single-track line of five 

 feet gauge, was built nearly fifty years 

 ago. It is but forty-nine miles long, and 

 it is conducted practically as an Ameri- 

 can railroad corporation, although it is 

 owned by the new Panama Canal Com- 

 pany. The principal offices of the com- 

 pany are in the city of New York. 

 This company does not confine itself 

 wholly to railroad business, but owns 

 and conducts the line of steamers run- 

 ning between the ports of New York and 

 Colon under the name of the Panama 

 Railroad-Steamship Company. 



The railroad forms a line of land 

 transportation to which converges ma- 

 rine commerce from many widely sepa- 

 rated ports of the world. On the Pacific 

 side steamship lines plying up and down 

 the west coast of South America, and 

 the Pacific mail steamships touching 

 along the North and Central America 

 coast from San Francisco southward, 

 together with other ships approaching 

 from the Pacific Ocean, have made Pan- 

 ama their terminal port for many years. 

 The port of Colon has an equally exten- 

 sive ocean shipping business, with not 

 less than nine or ten steamship lines 

 from Spain, France, England, Germany, 

 Italy, and the United States, making it 

 either a terminal port or port of call. 

 In addition to these ocean steamship 

 lines there is a little coasting trade of a 

 local character 011 both sides of the Isth- 

 mus carried on in small sailing vessels. 



The Panama Railroad has always been 

 a prominent transportation line, along 

 which currents of commerce and streams 

 of passenger traffic, fed by the steamship 

 lines on the two oceans, have continu- 

 ously flowed. Latterly a considerable 

 banana trade has also sprung up along 

 the railroad line. 



THE RELATION OF THE ISTHMUS TO 

 THE REST OF THE WORLD 



The location of the Isthmus is mark- 

 edly central to that portion of the 

 through commerce of the world which 

 would be served by the Panama Canal. 

 It is practically a half-way station be- 

 tween the ports of eastern Asia, Austra- 

 lia, and the islands between and the 

 ports of Europe. It is believed that the 

 opening of the canal will create a highly 

 stimulating influence upon the trade be- 

 tween the west coast of South America 

 and the ports of the United States — a 

 business which has hitherto been devel- 

 oped chiefly with foreign ports. The 

 geographical relation of the Republic of 

 Panama to some of the principal ports 

 of the world is shown by the following 

 statement of the distances in nautical 

 miles to be sailed by steam vessels on 

 the respective trips indicated: 



Miles 



From Panama to San Francisco 3, 2 77 



From Panama to Honolulu 4,665 



From Panama to Yokohama 8,065 



From Panama to Shanghai 8,985 



From Colon to New York 1 ,981 



From Colon to Liverpool 4,720 



From Colon to New Orleans 1,380 



THE RESOURCES OF THE REPUBLIC 



The mineral resources of the Republic 

 of Panama are practically undeveloped, 

 although it is known that there are con- 

 siderable deposits of coal of fair quality — 

 perhaps of excellent quality — not far 

 from the railroad and canal zone. The 

 precious metals are found in small quan- 

 tities at many points, with indications 

 of greater value ; but these resources, 

 like many others of the new republic, 



