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A Little History The Panama Railroad was started in 1851 and finished construction in 1855. The railroad was built to carry gold diggers from the East Coast of the U.S. to California - 49ers. Some Americans were afraid to cross the Western frontier and chose rather to cross the isthmus of Panama or to sail around Cape Horn at the bottom of South America in order to arrive safely in California. As the story goes, a huge group of Americans showed up one day underneath the ruins of Fort San Lorenzo in 1849 and demanded to be taken across the isthmus to Panama City where they hoped to catch a ship to San Francisco, California. The small village near Fort San Lorenzo was so shocked by this sudden wave of Americans crossing the isthmus that they reacted immediately with intelligence. They started to extort money out of the Americans for safe passage. Some people paid to cross the isthmus, then ran to get their luggage and when they returned, the boat they had just paid had left with other passengers, along with the money that had been paid by the innocent Americans now standing on the swampy shores with their luggage and looks of disbelief. People arriving suddenly and wanting to be accommodated was not new to Panama even in 1849; there had been pirates and adventurers for years prior; the country breaths dreams of wealth and transients. Up the Rio Chagres the Americans went in 1849, most were drunk as someone had told them somewhere that drinking hard would save them from malaria. From what I’ve read the first part of the trip which would take them from Fort San Lorenzo to the jungle river town of Las Cruces - this part of the trip was on water - was easier, though not easy in the 21st century meaning. The second stretch, from Las Cruces to Panama City, however, was by trail, the trail taken by the Americans was the old Spanish Camino Real – the trail was originally cut in the early 1500s and had been used to transport all the Peruvian gold and silver of the New World to Spain - this trail no longer exists. The trail was crossed by mule or donkey and was frightening to people because of the narrow, secretive path it took; it was built for that exact purpose - secrecy. When the Americans finally arrived in Panama City after being spooked to death, they were in a bad mood by all reports, and most shipped out soon after - not knowing about the horrible illnesses they had picked up in the jungle that would surely kill them out to sea in the Pacific – many people died on this leg of the trip. The railroad was built on this foundation, the foundation of wanting to cross the isthmus without dying. And in many ways the Panama Railroad is probably the greatest thing the Americans ever did Panama, even in some ways bigger than the Canal – we weren’t quite an empire in 1851; the Civil War was on the horizon.. The railroad
was started in a swamp that had an island named Manzanillo, the present
location of Colon - when you take the train you will see the swamps I am
referring to soon after leaving Colon or, in the opposite direction, starting
in Panama City, late in the trip when you see the swamps open up in front
of you on either side of the train and the ships of the Canal are on your
left and the train is far away from the Canal. Manzanillo was chosen because
of nearby Limon Bay, Colombus had sailed through this bay on his back from
Nombre de Dios in 1502. The American engineers on the railroad were Law
and Aspinwell, later the town of Colon would be called Aspinwall, but the
name disappeared when Colombia, which Panama was a province of at the time,
would not recognize the American name.
The building of the railroad led to the Canal. Without the train there would have been no Canal. The train made people see that there was a way across. Another Central American country that had a similiar experience as Panama, was Nicaragua: there too, people came to cross and build a Canal. The French had wanted to build a Canal under Bonaparte in 1845 either in Costa Rica or Nicaragua; there was talk then in Europe about the city of León in Nicaragua becoming the next Constantinople - a vital trade point in the New World. The British and Americans sussed out an agreement in 1850 called the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. The treaty set out a formal agreement to build a Canal between the U.S. and Great Britain in Central America. Funny thing about the Canal is that it seems that everything was cut down in Panama that was within what would become the Canal Zone: the land was sheared so that all of the growth that you see along the Canal today is secondary growth. If you see pictures during the Canal period, near the areas where they were constructing the Canal, you never see a tree or a blade of grass. The heroes of the Canal building days were the West Indians. They carried all the dynamite, they were close with the Americans, lived among them, and today are the keepers of the English language in Panama. And do they speak and write English. Then came the Canal Zone and the colonial love-hate relationship and now with the colonial period and invasion behind everyone, it seems that people are more or less happy again as though some of the history between the U.S. and Panama has finally settled. The Ride Across We got to the station a little late driving at high speeds and with a short night’s sleep, feeling tired but not sick or exhausted. The railroad conductors are very beautiful Panamanian women, very pretty in the way Panamanian women are, and friendly and pleasant, no sleaze here, don’t need to think that; it will not do you any real good. We sat down and had a cup of coffee and read the paper. I played with my camera realizing I hadn’t bought new batteries, to the point where I might get six shots in for the trip. The funny thing was I knew it but wanted to gamble and think that there would be enough left in the batteries so that I wouldn’t have to go to the store in the middle of the night to buy them. Stupid. But I took some photos, shook the batteries, swore under-my-breath and I took more shots then I thought, but did miss a few good ones. There is a small lookout on the train and you can stand there and feel the air and look at the trees and countryside as well as Gatun Lake and Rio Chagres. My friend Cef was reading the paper and trying out his new skills as a tour guide which both the locals and tourists listened to with mouths agape. I paid no attention and went outside with the other French couple who were having a great time with the air and scenery. It was Friday morning, I thought, and 7:15 in the morning and I am on the train to Colon in Panama – that thought left after we arrived in Colon and ate some spicy morning sausages at the grease covered green bus terminal in Colon; the sausage was cooked by a Chinaman and heated up under the lights and black in colour. We took the bus back which is also great fun. Very friendly people on the bus: Cef slept, I slept and watched a Dolf Lunghren karate movie which had Spanish subtitles rather than dubbing – thank god. We arrived to Panama City on a very busy highway where there were plenty of diesel fumes, a McDonald’s and lots of concrete and environmental destruction. Went back to the railroad station where we had left from, got in my car and went; it was still early morning. We had some friends over that night – Cef was one of them as was R.M.Koster, Ron and Jim – Koster told me about Jimmy Carter. Since Reagan died Carter has been back in my mind and I remember two things about him: he walked to his inauguration in 1977 and he wore sweaters in the White House because he had turned down the heat to save on energy. Koster had gone to Carter's inauguration and said Carter didn’t know how to throw a party and there were too many people from Georgia around. That made sense. Carter is well liked in Panama. Reagan is never mentioned as though he didn’t exist, neither good nor bad, just nothing. Do take the railroad when you come to Panama. My advice is to get a tour: railroad in the morning. Then a trip to the forts, either in Portobello – more to see – or Fort San Lorenz – beautiful beyond belief. Also Colon is nice, go to the Hotel Washington. Other articles by the author:
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Hiding
Out In Panama - 