The privilege of having transversed the Panama canal on board a cruise ship has to be counted among the most significant experiences of my lifetime. The Panama Canal, regarded by many as the eighth wonder of the world, is an awesome feat of engineering and dedication even by today's standards. However, considering the fact that, at the time of this writing, the Panama Canal was constructed almost a century ago, it stands as an almost unparalleled accomplishment. In fact, in the opinion of this author, the only accomplishment that rivals it in terms of engineering and dedication is the first successful landing of a man on the moon in 1969.
It is impossible to pass through the Panama Canal without being humbled and overcome by a sense of awe. As meaningful as the naked experience can be, an understanding of the history of the Panama Canal can make the experience even more meaningful. Many cruise ships offer preparatory lectures on board before proceeding through the Canal. If you have the opportunity to attend one of these lectures, be sure to take advantage of it. I attended one such lecture on the day before we passed through the Canal. It was so well done and so informative that I followed up by watching three additional TV replays of it in my cabin. In the interest of being thorough, I will present a brief history of the Panama Canal in the next section.
The first documented suggestion of a Central-American canal connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea was made in 1524 to Charles V of Spain. That began a serach for the elusive means by which such a waterway could be constructed that would rival the quest for the Holy Grail. The path by which the ultimate goal would eventually be achieved and the precise form of the final solution would both be heavily influenced by several intervening events. The first of these events occurred on December 12, 1846, when Benjamin Alden Bidlack, a U.S. diplomat acting entirely on his own initiative, entered into a treaty with the government of Columbia (then New Granada) whereby the U.S. gained the exclusive right of transit across the Isthmus of Panama. The event received little aclaim. However, Congress took advantage of the treaty on March 3, 1847 when it directed the establishment of a much needed water-land-water postal route from U.S. Atlantic ports, across the isthmus of Panama (Chagres to Panama City) and on to U.S. Pacific ports which included San Francisco. The weak link in the chain was the extremely arduous 50-mile, 4-day (if all went well) trek across the isthmus. The journey from the Caribbean began with a twenty mile canoe segment along the Chagres River to Cruces and continued from there for another 20 miles along the Cruces Trail by mule or on foot to the Pacific. While en route the traveler could expect to risk exposure to Yellow Fever, Malaria, and Chagres Fever and encounter bugs, snakes and swarms of mosquitos.
On January 24th, 1848, a catalytic event of earth shattering proportions took place. That event was the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The ensuing "gold rush" brought a huge migration of prospectors into California from points east. As one commentator observed, there were really only three routes available for making the trek, "The Plains across, the Horn around, and the Isthmus over." In traveling from New York to San Francisco, the isthmus-over route represented a savings of approximately 8,000 miles when compared to the horn-around route. Thus the isthmus-over route became very popular and the steamship companies that were transporting U.S. mail up and down the two sea boards were eager to capitalize on the opportunity to generate additional revenue by carrying would-be prospectors as passengers. Of particular interest was the Pacific Mail Steamship Company which was fortunate to have William H. Aspinwall as one of its principals. It was Aspinwall to whom Congress had awarded the original contract for the Pacific mail route which included the isthmus portion. Aspinwall was a visionary who was studying the possibility of developing the world's first inter-oceanic railroad across the isthmus at about the time gold was discovered in California. Aspinwall and his two partners, John L. Stephens and Henry Chaucey, undertook a detailed feasibility study. When the results turned out to be positive they incorporated the Panama Railroad Company in 1850 and secured the exclusive rights to build the railroad from the government of New Granada. It was originally estimated that the construction would take two years (some estimates went as low as six months) and would cost one million dollars. Construction began on the Atlantic side in May of 1850. Progress was painfully slow and cost overruns were high. By October of 1851 the line had only been extended about seven miles to Gatun. However, the track that had been laid did not remain idle.] There was a train running along its length several times a day transporting workers and supplies. As a means of rasing additional revenue, the railroad added flat cars to the train which were used to transport passengers most of which were gold seekers bound for California. The news of the new passenger service spread and the volume of revenue-generating passengers increased dramatically over time especially as the line extended further across the isthmus. It is clear that a great deal of the success of the world's first inter-oceanic railroad is attributable to the California gold rush because of the revenue-generating passenger stream that it created while the railroad was being developed. The railroad was finally completed in January of 1855. The final cost of construction was' eight million dollars and thousands of lives were lost during the endeavor. The Panama Raiload continues to operate today. They have a website which may be viewed at http://http://www.panarail.com/home.html.
The completion of the railroad link across the isthmus was a giant step forward in connecting the East and the West. However, the impetus to find a waterway passage (the Holy Grail) continued.