Panama the Isthmus And the Canal

and Their Value ? Suggested Railroad and Steamship Traffic Reforms ? A New Application of Our Protective Policy. The great migration to the Pacific coast following the discovery of gold in " Forty-nine " acted as a strong incentive to the immediate establishment of an isthmian route by which the long and hazardous journey across the western territories of the United States might be avoided. In the last chapter a brief account was given of the enterprise conducted by the American, Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company, which, although it never effected its original purpose of opening a waterway, afforded valuable service to the" gold-seekers in the early fifties by maintaining a transportation line across Nicaragua. At the outset of the gold movement thousands made their way to California by way of the Isthmusof Panama. Steamships carried them from New York to the mouth of the Chagres. The journey thence to the Pacific coast, although no more than fifty miles by the trail, occupied from five to ten days and was accompanied by almost as much hardship and danger as in the days of Balboa. The emigrants were rowed or towed up the river by natives to a point near Cruces. The rest of the way to Panama was covered on foot or on mules. Women, when means would permit, were carried by selleros. These were native Indian porters, with a kind of chair strapped to their backs. There was, at that time, no regular steamship line between California and Panama. The travelers...