File:Panama; a personal record of forty-six years, 1861-1907 (1907) (14758285664).jpg

Identifier: panamapersonalre00robi_0 (find matches)
Title: Panama; a personal record of forty-six years, 1861-1907
Year: 1907 (1900s)
Authors: Robinson, Tracy, 1833-1915
Subjects: Panama railroad. (from old catalog)
Publisher: New York and Panama, The Star and herald company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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ortunity. 61 (Panama CHAPTER VII TT would be impossible to estimate the im-* portance of the results which might havefollowed, if the fortunes of the road had beenin other and wiser hands. Its position wasunique. A mere glance at the possibilitiesshould have convinced the most shortsightedthat, notwithstanding the loss of a large partof the California business with the completionof the Overland Road in 1869, there were stillmagnificent opportunities for the future. Aspointed out, these had been to a large extentsacrificed, but Central America remained, andits importance was recognized at an early day.There were no means of communication withthe Pacific Coast, from Panama to the Mexicanborder, until after the opening of the PanamaRoad, in 1855, when a line of steamers wasorganized by the railroad company, and inthe latter part of 1856 the first steamer, theColumbus, was dispatched from Panama on herinitial voyage as far as Guatemala. The re-turns from the monthly voyages soon proved 62
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mB^aam Chapter VW) the wisdom of the measure, says Dr. Otis, forin less than two years the cargoes of merchan-dise brought from those States, for transporta-tion over the road, often exceeded in value halfa million of dollars, while a large amount offoreign merchandise found its way to thosecountries by the same channel. It was the beginning of great things. Upto that time Guatemala had not produced cof-fee for export; even as late as 1860 the valueof the coffee exported from that republic isstated by Dr. Otis at $15,352. Costa Ricahad begun, as early as 1829, to cultivate thegreat staple; and it is on record that in 185014,000,000 pounds were exported by the slowand tedious route via Cape Horn to Europeanports. Therefore, as soon as the steamers ofthe Panama Railroad Company began to run,a great stimulus was given, in all the CentralAmerican States, to the production of coffee;so that the commerce of the coast became im-portant. At first only a few thousand bagscame to Panama for tra

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