A Lecture On The Panama Canal Its Past History And Future Prospects Delivered 1889

Author : Jno; F. Stevens
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781331697909
Total Pages : 36 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (979 download)

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Download or read book A Sketch of the Panama Canal written by Jno; F. Stevens and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-18 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from A Sketch of the Panama Canal: Its Past, Present and Possible Future The timbers of the first ship which plowed the waters of the Pacific Ocean., manned by white men, as far as history, or tradition, if you please, tells us, were laid in a small bay on the southern side of the isthmus of Darien, by one of these adventurers, and these timbers were cut on the shores of the Atlantic, hewn into shape and carried across the isthmus to the shore of the Pacific, and were there put together for the first voyage into the unknown sea. This work was performed by natives, seized and held as slaves by the Spaniards, whom without such enforced labor could have done little, but whom with the cross in one hand and the sword and torch in the other, forced the civilization of mediaeval Europe, onto the greater part of the new world. It is a far cry from the vision of this small band of Spanish explorers, taking a month with their miserable slaves to carry their small ship across the isthmus, to the vision of some future great admiral, steaming with a fleet of modern war ships, manned by the pride and glory of the United States, making the same trip in 8 hours but the latter is a prospect that should be realized within a comparatively short time. The conquests of Peru, and the spoliation of her wealth by Pizarro and the men who followed him, are matters of history. The most natural route by which all the spoils of conquest, which were claimed by the Crown of Spain, could be sent home was by the west coast of South America, thence across the isthmus and over the Atlantic to Spain. This practice, with the necessity for a port on the south side of the isthmus brought into existence the city of Panama, and from Panama northward across the isthmus, the Spaniards constructed a road, paved with stone, wide enough for two heavily laden mules to pass, and over which for years crossed and re-crossed the pack trains, which kept open the lines of communication between the Pacific Ocean and the plate ships of Spain. This old road still exists, and the writer has traveled over miles of it still in fairly good condition, and giving ample evidence of the thoroughness with which such works were then carried out. All of these millions of treasure did not reach Spain: Panama in those early days was accounted the richest city on earth, in proportion to the number of its inhabitants, and we can be well assured that it took full toll of all treasure passing its portals. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.