Earth and Space News: Panama Railroad Company

Summary: The Panama Railroad's Culebra Station was located on the summit of Culebra Mountain Range, the highest point of the Continental Divide in Panama.

The Culebra Station of the Panama Railroad was located on the summit of the Culebra Mountain Range (Spanish: la sierra Culebra; Snake Mountain Range), which marked the highest point of the Continental Divide (Spanish: la divisoria continental de América) in Panama.

The construction of the Panama Railroad had begun in May 1850, with the clearing of swampy land on the western end of Manzanillo Island (Spanish: Isla Manzanillo) for the railroad's northern terminus on the Caribbean, northern coast of the Isthmus of Panama (Spanish: Istmo de Panamá). The new town created by the construction of the terminus and associated harbor facilities was named Aspinwall in honor of American businessman William Henry Aspinwall (Dec. 16, 1807-Jan. 18, 1875), one of three co-incorporators of the Panama Railroad Company on Saturday, April 7, 1849, in New York. In 1890, the Republic of New Granada (Spanish: República de la Nueva Granada; Oct. 20, 1831-April 11, 1858), which held sovereignty over Panama, renamed the transport hub Colón in honor of late 15th and early 16th century explorer and navigator Christopher Columbus (Spanish: Cristóbal Colón; ca. 1446/1451-May 20, 1506). The Portugal-based explorer of the Americas had explored Panama's Caribbean, northern coast during his fourth and last voyage to the Americas (May 9, 1502-Nov. 7, 1504).

In January 1854 the Panama Railroad Company's crew began excavation on the summit of the Culebra Mountain Range. "Here is a little native settlement called "Culebra" ("the Snake"), noted as having been the terminus of the road in 1854," as noted by American physician, urology pioneer, art collector, author and U.S. Mail Steamship Company and Pacific Mail Steamship Company's ship surgeon (1853-1861) Fessenden Nott Otis (March 6, 1825-May 24, 1900) in Illustrated History of the Panama Railroad (1862; page 121). The reach of the summit-ridge in January 1854 took place ". . . distant from the Atlantic terminus thirty-seven miles, and eleven miles from the city of Panama," noted Otis in Isthmus of Panama: History of the Panama Railroad; and of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company (1867; page 36).

Culebra Station's alternative designation of Summit Station reflected the station's placement at the highest point of the Continental Divide of the Americas in Panama. The Continental Divide of the Americas also is known as the Great Divide (Spanish: Gran Divisoria), the Western Divide or the Continental Divide (Spanish: divisoria Continental). The designation references the spine of mountaintops stretching from the Bering Strait, a meeting place of the Arctic and Pacific oceans, southward to Chile's (Republic of Chile; Spanish: República de Chile) Strait of Magellan (Spanish: Estrecho de Magallanes), the natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The Continental Divide separates watersheds flowing into the Atlantic Ocean from those draining into the Pacific Ocean.

Culebra Station was located southeast of the Obispo and Empire stations in the Obispo River Valley (Spanish: valle del río obispo). Between the Obispo and Empire stations, the "narrow' valley abounded with ". . . fine rolling and luxuriant woodland, where the delicious wild mango, the zapote, the nispero, and the guava are frequently seen; also occasional native huts, surrounded by cultivated fields," as described by American physician, urology pioneer, art collector, author and U.S. Mail Steamship Company and Pacific Mail Steamship Company's ship surgeon (1853-1861) Fessenden Nott Otis (March 6, 1825-May 24, 1900) in Illustrated History of the Panama Railroad (1862; pages 116, 121). After the Obispo Station, the grade began ". . . ascending, with a maximum of sixty feet to the mile. Continuing to rise for about three miles, you pass the 'Empire Station,' and reach the 'Summit,' or highest elevation of the railway above the mean level of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans" (page 121).

Obispo, Empire and Culebra stations were established in the Obispo River Valley (Spanish: valle del río obispo); occupying the most southeasterly location, Culebra neared the upper boundaries of the Rio Grande River (Spanish: el río Grande), where ". . . surrounding scenery now becomes bold and picturesque in the highest degree" (F.N. Otis, Isthmus of Panama, 1867, page 121); "View of Obispo, On the Panama Railroad," illustration of Obispo Station, in Robert Brown, The Countries of the World (1876), page 57: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive

With the temporary terminus at Culebra, the Panama Railroad Company's crew moved south to the Gulf of Panama (Spanish: Golfo de Panamá) and built from the Pacific, southern terminus at Panama City (Spanish: Ciudad de Panamá), also known as Panama (Spanish: Panamá), northward back to Culebra. The railroad was completed at Culebra at midnight, Saturday, Jan. 27, 1855.

Between January 1854 and January 1855, south-bound isthmus transiters disembarked at Culebra for transfer to transport by mule. "Then, passengers arriving at this place by the cars from the Atlantic shore were compelled to mount upon mules, and flounder on through heavy sloughs and rapid streams, along the borders of deep ravines and over precipitous mountains, exposed to drenching rains in the wet season, and a broiling sun in the dry, not unfrequently attacked and plundered by banditti, with which the road was then infested, until, after a whole day's labor and peril, they arrived at Panama, only twelve miles distant" (page 121).

The upper boundaries of the Rio Grande changed the landscape beyond Culebra. "At this point commences the Pacific slope of the road, with a descending grade of sixty feet to the mile" (page 121). "Lofty conical mountains," "irregular ridges," "steep, rocky spurs" and "profuse and gorgeous vegetation" dramatized the railroad's intended, southward path (pages 121-122).

A "huge" basaltic cliff boldly transformed the Culebra Station's environs. "At about a mile from the summit the road passes along the side of a huge basaltic cliff, whose great crystals, nearly a foot in diameter, and from eight to twelve feet in length, lie at an angle of about forty degrees. In the earlier days of the road this cliff presented a lofty, broken, and jagged appearance, that seemed almost to overhang and threaten the safety of those passing along the track below. These great crystals of basalt, firm and compact, but easily dislodged, have been so extensively used in the ballasting of the road, etc., along this section, that the once grand and picturesque appearance of the cliff is almost entirely destroyed; enough, however, remains to strike the beholder with admiring wonder, on contemplating this curious formation, at the still visible regularity and beauty of its crystallization, and with awe when he reflects upon the gigantic internal forces that have resulted in its upheaval" (page 122).

The basaltic cliff near Culebra impressed with its rarity. "It is one of the few known examples in the world where the natural perpendicular which basaltic formations always assume (so beautifully seen in the Fingal's Cave at Staffa, and along the 'Palisades' of the Hudson) has been so rent and displaced" (page 122). Fingal's Cave is a sea cave of hexagonally jointed basalt columns on the uninhabited island of Staffa (Scottish Gaelic: Stafa; Old Norse: Stafi-oy) in the Inner Hebrides archipelago (Scottish Gaelic: na h-Eileanan a-staigh) of Scotland (Scots: Scotland (Scots; Scottish Gaelic: Alba). The Palisades, also known as the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson River Palisades, occur as steep, basaltic cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in northeastern New Jersey and southeastern New York.

The Panama Railroad Company debuted the first rail transit of the Isthmus of Panama Sunday, Jan. 28, 1855, the next day after the railway's midnight completion. The train traversed " . . . 47 miles, 3,020 feet, with a maximum grade of sixty feet to the mile" (Otis, Isthmus of Panama, page 36).

The landscape near Culebra Station was distinguished by a huge basaltic cliff, with a "lofty, broken, and jagged appearance" created by its ". . . great crystals, nearly a foot in diameter, and from eight to twelve feet in length," which angled at about forty degrees; "Basaltic Cliff," illustration by American physician, urology pioneer, art collector, author and U.S. Mail Steamship Company and Pacific Mail Steamship Company's ship surgeon (1853-1861) Fessenden Nott Otis (March 6, 1825-May 24, 1900) in Isthmus of Panama: History of the Panama Railroad; and of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company (1867), page 123: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

(title; second line) "View of Culebra or the Summit. The Terminus of the Panama Rail Road in Dec. 1854."
(first line, left) "C. Parsons, Lith." (center) "Sketched from nature by F.N. Otis M.D. Surgeon in U. S. M. Steamship Co's. Service." (right) "Printed by Endicott & Co. N.Y."
(third line) "Entered according to Act of Congres [sic] by F. N. Otis 1854, in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York."
1854 toned lithograph with applied watercolor by American physician, urology pioneer, art collector, author and U.S. Mail Steamship Company and Pacific Mail Steamship Company's ship surgeon (1853-1861) Fessenden Nott Otis (March 6, 1825-May 24, 1900); lithography by Hampshire, England-born American artist and lithographer Charles Parsons (May 8, 1821-Nov. 9, 1910): No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003664222/; Public Domain, via Amon Carter Museum of Modern Art @ https://www.cartermuseum.org/collection/view-culebra-or-summit-terminus-panama-railroad-dec-1854-19753; via Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens Digital Library @ https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p16003coll4/id/1494/

Bishop, Farnham. Panama Past and Present. New York: The Century Co., 1916.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/panamapastpresen00bishuoft/

Brown, Robert. "Chapter III. The Isthmus of Panama." Pages 48-58. The Countries of the World: Being a Popular Description of the Various Continents, Islands, Rivers, Seas, and Peoples of the Globe. London; New York: Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. , 1876.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/countriesofworld03brow/page/48/mode/1up

Haskin, Frederic J. (Jennings). The Panama Canal. Illustrated from photographs taken by Ernest Hallen Official Photographer of the Isthmian Canal Commission. Garden City NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1914.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/panamacanalhaski00haskrich

Keystone View Company. "Loading Mules with Beef and Ice, Culebra Station, Panama Railroad." University of Florida Digital Collections UFDC Home / Panama Canal Museum Inventory.
Available via UFDC @ https://original-ufdc.uflib.ufl.edu/AA00015332/00001/

Linda Hall Library. "The Land Divided, The World United: The Lure of the Pacific." Linda Hall Library > Experience > Digital Exhibitions > The Land Divided, The World United > 02. The Lure of the Pacific.
Available via Linda Hall Library @ https://www.lindahall.org/experience/digital-exhibitions/the-land-divided-the-world-united/02-the-lure-of-the-pacific/

Marriner, Derdriu. "Panama Railroad Reduced Isthmus Transit From Eight Days to Four Hours." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 5, 2025.
Available via EASN @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2025/03/panama-railroad-reduced-isthmus-transit.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Panama Railroad Train First Transited Isthmus of Panama Jan. 28, 1855." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025.
Available via EASN @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2025/02/panama-railroad-train-first-transited.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Robert Louis Stevenson's Wife's Brother-in-Law Is Buried in Panama." Earth and Space News Blog. Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.
Available via EASN @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2025/02/robert-louis-stevensons-wifes-brother_0853012172.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Where Is Robert Louis Stevenson's Wife's Brother-in-Law Buried in Panama?" Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025.
Available via EASN https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2025/02/where-is-robert-louis-stevensons-wifes.html

Oran. "Tropical Journeyings." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. XVIII, no. CIV (January 1859): 145-169.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015056089751&seq=161
Available via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210014645483&seq=163

Otis, F.N. (Fessenden Nott). Illustrated History of the Panama Railroad; Together With a Traveler's Guide and Business Man's Handbook for the Panama Railroad and Its Connections. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1861.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/012371850
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/histoillustrated00otisrich/page/n11/mode/2up
Available via Internet Archive @ https://ia801607.us.archive.org/29/items/illustratedhisto00otisrich/illustratedhisto00otisrich.pdf
Available via Library of Congress Book/Printed Material @ https://www.loc.gov/item/04005049/

Otis, F.N. (Fessenden Nott). Isthmus of Panama. History of the Panama Railroad; and of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Together With a Traveller's Guide and Business Man's Hand-Book for the Panama Railroad and the Lines of Steamships Connecting It With Europe, the United States, the North and South Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, China, Australia, and Japan. With Illustrations by the Author. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1867.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001353545
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/isthmusofpanamah00otisrich/
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/cu31924021538214/

Otis, Fessenden Nott. "View of Culebra or the summit, the terminus of the Panama rail road In Dec. 1854." Library of Congress > Prints & Photographs Online Catalog.
Available via Amon Carter Museum of Modern Art @ https://www.cartermuseum.org/collection/view-culebra-or-summit-terminus-panama-railroad-dec-1854-19753
Available via Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens Digital Library @ https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p16003coll4/id/1494/
Available via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003664222/

The Panama Railroad. "Misc. Images -- 2." The Panama Railroad.
Available @ https://www.panamarailroad.org/misc2.html

Ruiz, Bruce C., Sr. "The Argonauts." Bruce C. Ruiz Sr. > Panam History Conquistadores & Colonial > Historic Panamá La Conquista & Exploración > The Argonauts (49'ers) (1849-1855). Feb. 15, 2002.
Available @ http://www.bruceruiz.net/PanamaHistory/argonauts.htm

Ruiz, Bruce C., Sr. "The Isthmian Crossing." Bruce C. Ruiz Sr. > Panam History Conquistadores & Colonial > Historic Panam La Conquista & Exploración > Crossing the Isthmus. Aug. 14, 2002.
Available @ http://www.bruceruiz.net/PanamaHistory/isthmus_crossing.htm

Ruiz, Bruce C., Sr. "Panama Railroad." Bruce C. Ruiz Sr. > Panam History Conquistadores & Colonial > Historic Panam La Conquista & Exploración > Panam History Conquistadores & Colonial > Historic Panam La Conquista & Exploración > Panama Railroad (1849-1855). April 19, 2002.
Available @ http://www.bruceruiz.net/PanamaHistory/panama_railroad.htm

Schott, Joseph L. Rails Across Panama; The Story of the Building of the Panama Railroad, 1849-1855. Indianapolis IN: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1967.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/railsacrosspanam0000unse

Stephens, John L. (Lloyd). Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan. In two volumes. Volume II. London: John Murray, MDCCCXLI [1841].
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/incidentsoftrave02stepuoft/incidentsoftrave02stepuoft/

Tomes, Robert. Panama in 1855 An account of the Panama rail-road, of the Cities of Panama and Aspinwall, With Sketches of Life and Character on the Isthmus. New York: Harper & brothers, Publishers, 1855.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/panimain185500tomerich/

University of Florida Digital Collections UFDC. "73-G. An East Indian Bamboo Tree at Culebra, C.Z. 1910." University of Florida Digital Collections UFDC Home / Panama Canal Museum Inventory / Panama Canal Museum Collection: Panama and the Canal Collection.
Available via UFDC @ https://ufdc.ufl.edu/PCMI004442/00001/citation

University of Florida Digital Collections UFDC. "Culebra." University of Florida Digital Collections UFDC Home / Panama Canal Museum Inventory / Panama Canal Museum Collection: Panama and the Canal Collection.
Available via UFDC @ https://ufdc.ufl.edu/collections/pcm/results?mediatype=Photograph&q=culebra

University of Florida Digital Collections UFDC. "Panama and the Canal (Panama and the Canal) -- 1307 Results." University of Florida Digital Collections UFDC Home / Panama Canal Museum Inventory / Panama Canal Museum Collection: Panama and the Canal Collection.
Available via UFDC @ https://ufdc.ufl.edu/collections/pcm/results?mediatype=Photograph

Wolmar, Christian. The Iron Road: An Illustrated History of the Railroad. New York: DK Publishing, 2014.

Wolmar, Christian. "The Panama Railroad: A Deadly Rush for Gold." Pages 110-119. The Iron Road: An Illustrated History of the Railroad. New York: DK Publishing, 2014.

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Panama Railroad Reduced Isthmus Transit From Eight Days to Four Hours

Summary: In 1855 replacing dugout canoes and mule teams with the Panama Railroad reduced transit time of the Panamanian isthmus from eight days to four hours.

Prior to the opening of the Panama Railroad Sunday, Jan. 28, 1855, crossing the Isthmus of Panama entailed an arduous, eight-day-plus journey via two-stage transport by dugout canoes and mule teams; "Crossing the Isthmus in the Olden Time," illustration, page 102, in Robert Tomes, Panama in 1855 (1855): Not in copyright, via Internet Archive

The mid-19th century completion of the Panama Railroad reduced the transit time across the Isthmus of Panama from the eight days-plus logged by the previous two-stage transport via dugout canoes and mule teams to the railroad's approximately four to four and one-half hours.

Prior to the construction of the Panama Railroad, a two-stage transport by dugout canoes and mule teams conveyed travelers across the Isthmus of Panama (Spanish: Istmo de Panamá). The Panama route was one of three options for bicoastal travel of the east and west coasts of the United States. A second option rounded Republic of Chile's (República de Chile) stormy Cape Horn (Spanish: Cabo de Hornos), the meeting place of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The third option, which was routed overland, followed wagon trails across the continental United States.

Interest in improving the time and transit mode for crossing the Panamanian isthmus spiked with the Gold Rush precipitated by the Monday, Jan. 24, 1848, discovery of gold flakes in the South Fork American River at Sutter's Mill, California, by American carpenter and sawmill operator James Wilson Marshall (Oct. 8, 1810-Aug. 10, 1885). American businessman William Henry Aspinwall (Dec. 16, 1807-Jan. 18, 1875) tackled the increased demand for mail and passenger ships between the Pacific coast of the Panamanian isthmus and the U.S. west coast's Territory of Oregon (Aug. 14, 1848-Feb. 14, 1859) by founding the Pacific Mail Steamship Company Tuesday, April 18, 1848, in New York. Less than one year later, on Saturday, April 7, 1849, he co-founded the Panama Railroad Company in New York. American lawyer, Maya civilization rediscoverer and writer John Lloyd Stephens (Nov. 28, 1805-Oct. 13, 1852) and American businessman Henry M. Chauncey (April 3, 1795-April 28, 1863) co-incorporated with Aspinwall.

Panama was under the sovereignty of the Republic of New Granada (Spanish: República de la Nueva Granada; Oct. 20, 1831-April 11, 1858). On Monday, April 15, 1850, one year eight days after incorporation, the Panama Railroad Company finalized with the government of New Granada a 49-year contract for the exclusive right to establish a canal, highway or railroad across the Isthmus of Panama.

"Running the Lines," illustration of dense fauna through which crews of the Pacific Railroad Company laid tracks, by American physician, urology pioneer, art collector, author and U.S. Mail Steamship Company and Pacific Mail Steamship Company's ship surgeon (1853-1861) Fessenden Nott Otis, in Illustrated History of the Panama Railroad (1862; page 20): Not in copyright, via Internet Archive

The daunting project confronted a plethora of such challenges as overgrown flora, swampy hydrology and rugged terrain of the Isthmus of Panama's local physical geographies. Additionally, the tropical climate obstructed progress with constant, heavy rainfall-induced floods annually from June to December. Tropical diseases threatened debilitating and fatal illnesses from the climate's ferocious fauna, such as malarial mosquitoes. Other potentially negative scenarios with Panama's animal kingdom included encounters with alligators, scorpions and tarantulas, as noted by British journalist and railway historian Christian Wolmar (born Aug. 3, 1949) in The Iron Road (2014; pages 112-113).

Travelers also experienced discomfort inherent in their transport by canoe and by mule. The traveler ". . . who has once undergone the trials of a journey across the Isthmus during the days of the now obsolete mule and canoe . . . . will recall the long days and nights upon the Chagres river, and the hard ride over the rough road to Panama . . . . He will recollect the struggle with his thronging fellow-travelers for the scant boats ; and if he had the good luck to secure a foot-rest in a crowded canoe, he will not forget how eagerly he sprung from the shore infected with pestilence and vice. He will recollect the three days and nights of his wearisome ascent of the ever-bending river, the never-ceasing monotonous cries of the Negro boatmen, as they toiled along the banks, tugging at the over hanging foliage, startling the chattering monkeys, putting to flight the noisy parrots, and disturbing the sleepy alligators, which slided their huge, black, slimy bodies from the mudreefs into the water. With the tedious monotony of his slow progress by day, and no rest at night, in his contracted canoe, shared with coarse adventurers, and no relief in the exorbitantly-paid entertainment at the hovels which stretched their mud-floors, and dispensed their stringy pork, muddy coffee, and wretched brandy by the wayside, for the refreshment of the traveler, he will recollect how spiritedly he took to mule at Cruces, and sped joyfully on until, soon jaded by the hard ride, he at last reached Panama, fatigued and dispirited, where, perhaps, if with powers of endurance equal to every trial, he slept, or if not, tossed restlessly about on his hard cot in the early agonies of fever," as described by American physician, diplomat and writer Robert Tomes (March 27, 1817-Aug. 28, 1882) Panama in 1855 (1855; pages 100, 103).

The railway project began in May 1850 with the clearing of a mangrove-choked, swampy spot on the western end of Manzanillo Island (Spanish: la isla de Manzanillo). The emergence of harbor facilities and the railroad's Caribbean, northern terminus created the new town of Aspinwall, named in honor of the Pacific Railroad's first president, William Henry Aspinwall. In 1890 the government of New Granada renamed the town Colón in 1890 in honor of late 15th and early 16th century explorer and navigator Christopher Columbus (Spanish: Cristóbal Colón; ca. 1446/1451-May 20, 1506), who had explored Panama's Caribbean, northern coast during his fourth and last voyage to the Americas (May 9, 1502-Nov. 7, 1504).

The railway project was completed in approximately four years eight months. At midnight, Saturday, Jan. 27, 1855, the last rail was laid at Culebra, the summit of the Continental Divide of the Americas (Spanish: Divisoria continental de las Américas), also known as the Continental Divide (Spanish: Gran Divisoria). Mountainous Culebra's location was near the Pacific, southern terminus at Panama City's northern suburb of Playa Prieta. Culebra lay ". . . distant from the Atlantic terminus thirty-seven miles, and eleven miles from the city of Panama," as recalled by American physician, urology pioneer, art collector and author Fessenden Nott Otis (March 6, 1825-May 24, 1900) in Isthmus of Panama: History of the Panama Railroad (1867; page 36).

Robert Tomes received an invitation, dated Thursday, Jan. 25, 1855, for a complimentary trip on the Panama Railroad from American banking and railroad businessman David Hoadley (Feb. 13, 1806-Aug. 20, 1873), who had become the railroad's president in November 1851 (pages 14-15). On Sunday, Feb. 18, 1855, Robert Tomes boarded the train at Aspinwall (page 69) and disembarked at Playa Prieta. "Our watches tell us we have been only four hours and a half in making the transit of forty-eight miles from ocean to ocean" (page 95).

"Terminus at Panama," illustration of the Pacific, southern terminus of the Pacific Railroad, by American physician, urology pioneer, art collector and author Fessenden Nott Otis, in Isthmus of Panama: History of the Panama Railroad; and of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company (1867), page 128: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Dedication

"Running the Lines," illustration of dense fauna through which crews of the Pacific Railroad Company laid tracks, by American physician, urology pioneer, art collector and author Fessenden Nott Otis, in Illustrated History of the Panama Railroad (1862; page 20): Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/histoillustrated00otisrich/page/20/mode/1up

Bishop, Farnham. Panama Past and Present. New York: The Century Co., 1916.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/panamapastpresen00bishuoft/

Linda Hall Library. "The Land Divided, The World United: The Panama Railroad." Linda Hall Library > Experience > Digital Exhibitions > The Land Divided, The World United > 05. Panama Railroad.
Available via Linda Hall Library @ https://www.lindahall.org/experience/digital-exhibitions/the-land-divided-the-world-united/05-panama-railroad/

Marriner, Derdriu. "Where Is Robert Louis Stevenson's Wife's Brother-in-Law Buried in Panama?" Earth and Space News Blog. Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025.
Available via EASN @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2025/02/where-is-robert-louis-stevensons-wifes.html

Otis, Fessenden Nott. "View of Culebra or the summit, the terminus of the Panama rail road In Dec. 1854." The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens Digital Library > Jay T. Last Collection of Graphic Arts and Social History.
Available @ https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p16003coll4/id/1494/

Panama Canal Railway Company. "Construction of the first transcontinental railroad." Panama Canal Railway Company > History.
Available @ http://panarail.com/en/history/index.html

The Panama Railroad. "History of the Panama Railroad." The Panama Railroad > History.
Available @ https://www.panamarailroad.org/history1.html

The Panama Railroad. "History of the Panama Railroad Part -- II." The Panama Railroad > History.
Available @ https://www.panamarailroad.org/history1b.html

Puleo, Lorna. "Dr Fessenden Nott Otis." Find A Grave > Memorial. Find a Grave Memorial ID 124405568. Created by Lorna Puleo. Added Jan 31, 2014.
Available via Find A Grave @ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/124405568/fessenden_nott-otis

Wolmar, Christian. The Iron Road: An Illustrated History of the Railroad. New York: DK Publishing, 2014.

Wolmar, Christian. "The Panama Railroad: A Deadly Rush for Gold." Pages 110-119. The Iron Road: An Illustrated History of the Railroad. New York: DK Publishing, 2014.

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Panama Railroad Train First Transited Isthmus of Panama Jan. 28, 1855

Summary: Panama Railroad Company's inter-oceanic train first crossed the Isthmus of Panama Jan. 28, 1855, with a run between the Caribbean and Pacific coasts.

The inter-oceanic run of the Panama Railroad Company's train between Panama's Caribbean, northern, and Pacific, southern coasts on Sunday, Jan. 28, 1855, marked the first rail transit of the Isthmus of Panama.

The Gold Rush triggered Monday, Jan. 24, 1848, by the finding of gold flakes in the South Fork American River at Sutter's Mill, California, by American carpenter and sawmill operator James Wilson Marshall (Oct. 8, 1810-Aug. 10, 1885) also escalated interest in establishing a viable route via canal or rail across the Isthmus of Panama (Spanish: Istmo de Panamá) for east coast gold prospectors, according to British journalist and railway historian Christian Wolmar (born Aug. 3, 1949) in The Iron Road (2014; page 110). Three options, with one by land and two by sea, existed for travel from the east coast of the United States to the continent's west coast.

The transcontinental option, which linked the east and west coasts of the United States, featured an overland journey via wagon trails across the United States. The land route, with a duration of at least six months, traversed 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers).

The second option offered an oceanic voyage from the east coast to California via the Republic of Chile's (República de Chile) Cape Horn (Spanish: Cabo de Hornos), the meeting place of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The Cape Horn route logged 15,000 miles (24,000 kilometers) and lasted at least 85 days (almost three months).

The third option comprised an inter-oceanic journey by steamship from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean via the Isthmus of Panama. The isthmic transit required up to eight days and covered 50 miles (80 kilometers) by dugout canoes and mules between Panama's northern and southern coasts. Coordination of the schedules of the Atlantic and Pacific steamships with transit of the isthmus finessed the Panama route's duration to 35 days, according to A.C.W. Bethel, professor of philosophy at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, in "The Panama Route" in J.J. Rawls and R.J. Orsi, eds., A Golden State: Mining and Economic Development in Gold Rush California (1999; Chapter 12, page 252).

American businessman William Henry Aspinwall (Dec. 16, 1807-Jan. 18, 1875) had co-incorporated the Pacific Mail Steamship Company Tuesday, April 18, 1848, in New York as a mail and passenger service between Panama's isthmic Pacific coast and the west coast's Territory of Oregon (Aug. 14, 1848-Feb. 14, 1859). Co-incorporators included his uncles, Gardiner Greene Howland (Sep. 4, 1787-Nov. 9, 1851) and Samuel Shaw Howland (Aug. 15, 1790-Feb. 9, 1853), with whom he partnered, since 1832, in the New York-headquartered, Pacific Ocean trade-specializing merchant firm of Howland & Aspinwall.

Marshall's discovery of gold sparked Aspinwall's interest in minimizing travel time across the Panamanian isthmus by constructing a transisthmian railroad. On Saturday, April 7, 1849, Aspinwall co-incorporated the Panama Railroad Company in New York with American lawyer, Maya civilization rediscoverer and writer John Lloyd Stephens (Nov. 28, 1805-Oct. 13, 1852) and American businessman Henry M. Chauncey (April 3, 1795-April 28, 1863). Aspinwall served as the company's first president. The company sought a concession from the government of New Granada for building a railroad with Atlantic and Pacific termini. At that time Panama was contained within the Republic of New Granada (Spanish: República de la Nueva Granada; Oct. 20, 1831-April 11, 1858), which also consisted of present-day Colombia (Spanish: República de Colombia) as well as smaller parts of present-day Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil), Costa Rica (Spanish: República de Costa Rica), Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador), Peru (Spanish: República del Perú) and Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela).

On Monday, April 15, 1850, the Panama Railroad Company obtained a 49-year contract with the government of New Granada granting to the company the exclusive right to construct a canal, highway or railroad across the isthmus, according to "History of the Panama Railroad" page on The Panama Railroad website (https://www.panamarailroad.org/history1.html). Provisions of the contract included ". . . guaranteeing that all public lands lying on the line of the road were to be used gratuitously by the Company; also a gift of 250,000 acres of land, to be selected by the grantees from any public lands on the Isthmus," as explained by American physician, urology pioneer, art collector, author and U.S. Mail Steamship Company and Pacific Mail Steamship Company's ship surgeon (1853-1861) Fessenden Nott Otis (March 6, 1825-May 24, 1900) in Illustrated History of the Panama Railroad (1862; pages 17-18).

The Panama Railroad Company selected Manzanillo Island (Spanish: la isla de Manzanillo) as the railroad's Atlantic terminus. The mangrove tree-shrouded islet is located on the eastern shore of Limon Bay (Spanish: la bahía de Limón) and the western shore of Manzanillo Bay (Spanish: la bahía de Manzanillo).

Fessenden Nott Otis described the geographical challenges presented by Manzanillo Island. "This island, cut off from the main land by a narrow frith, contained an area of a little more than one square mile. It was a virgin swamp, covered with a dense growth of the tortuous, water-loving mangrove, and interlaced with huge vines and thorny shrubs, defying entrance even to the wild beasts common to the country. In the black, slimy mud of its surface alligators and other reptiles abounded; while the air was laden with pestilential vapors, and swarming with sand-flies and musquitoes" (page 26).

In May 1850 clearing of a swampy spot on the western end of the mangrove tree-shrouded islet commenced. The town created at the site remained nameless for almost two years. Company co-founder John Lloyd Stephens suggested Aspinwall in honor of the company's first president. On Monday, Feb. 2, 1852, the town's name was formalized as Aspinwall (Otis, Illustrated History of the Panama Railroad, page 33).

The government of New Granada, however, preferred Colón, in honor of Christopher Columbus (Spanish: Cristóbal Colón; ca. 1446/1451-May 20, 1506). During his fourth and last voyage of the western Atlantic Ocean (May 9, 1502-Nov. 7, 1504), the late 15th and early 16th century explorer and navigator had explored, unsuccessfully, the northwestern and central Caribbean coast of Panama in his quest for the "narrow place between two seas” described by Indigenous Americans. Missing the isthmus, Columbus sailed as far northeast as present-day Portobelo, according to "The Lure of the Pacific" in Linda Hall Library's Digital Exhibition of "The Land Divided, The World United." Founded March 20, 1597, the port city on Portobelo Bay (Spanish: La bahía de Portobelo) is situated approximately 50 kilometers northeast of Aspinwall-Colón. According to legend, the port's name derives from Puerto Bello ("beautiful port"), the name given by Columbus to his discovery Nov. 2, 1502, as related by Patricia Katzman in Pocket Adventures: Panama (page 136).

Controversy over the town's name lasted for 38 years. In 1890, the refusal of the Colombian post office to deliver mail addressed to Aspinwall settled Colón as the town's name, according to "Construction of the first transcontinental railroad" in the "History" section of the Panama Canal Railway Company website.

Located on the Gulf of Panama (Spanish: Golfo de Panamá), Panama City (Spanish: Ciudad de Panamá) also known as Panama (Spanish: Panamá), marked the Pacific, northern coast's terminus of the Panama Railroad Company's railroad. The terminus was constructed at Playa Prieta, a northern suburb of Panama City.

Fessenden Nott Otis described the effective design of the Pacific terminus. "A pier of four hundred and fifty feet in length was constructed at the Panama terminus, which gave greatly increased facilities for embarking and landing passengers and freight, and a steam-tug was substituted for the lighters and small boats which had been previously used for transportation between ship and shore, a distance of two and a half miles. The Company owned, by purchase, fourteen acres of land, having a front of five hundred feet on the bayy. The Company also obtained by purchase, in connection with the Pacific Mail Steam-ship Company, a group of four islands in the Bay of Panama, about two and a half miles from the city, affording good shelter and anchorage for vessels of the largest class, and well supplied with good springs of water." (Illustrated History of the Panama Railroad, page 40).

At midnight, Saturday, Jan. 27, 1855, crews working southward from the Caribbean coast and northward from the Pacific coast met at Culebra, the summit of the Continental Divide of the Americas (Spanish: Divisoria continental de las Américas), also known as the Continental Divide (Spanish: Gran Divisoria). The Continental Divide stretches from the Bering Strait, between the Arctic and Pacific oceans, to the Strait of Magellan (Spanish: Estrecho de Magallanes), the natural passage in southern Chile (Spanish: República de Chile) between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. As the principal, primarily mountainous hydrological divide of the Americas, the Continental Divide separates the watersheds that flow into the Atlantic Ocean from those draining into the Pacific Ocean.

The completed railroad traversed 47 miles 3,020 feet. Fessenden Nott Otis described the meeting of the Caribbean coast and Pacific coast crews. "Simultaneously with the operations toward the Pacific, a large force was established at Panama, under the superintendence of Mr. J. Young, one of the Company's most efficient and energetic officers, and the road was pushed rapidly onward, over the plains of Panama, through the swamps of Corrisal and Correndeu, and up the valley of the Eio Grande, to meet the advancing work from the Atlantic side; and on the 27th day of January, 1855, at midnight, in darkness and rain, the last rail was laid, and on the following day a locomotive passed from ocean to ocean" (page 36).

The next day, Sunday, Jan. 28, 1855, the Panama Railroad Company's train debuted the first rail transit of the Isthmus of Panama. The Jan. 28, 1855, issue of The Portland Transcript described momentous achievement: "That great enterprise, the inter-oceanic or Panama Railroad across the Isthmus, is completed, and the rough Atlantic is now wedded, with an iron band, to the fair Pacific" ("Panama RR opens Jan 28 1855.jpg," Wikimedia Commons).

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Dedication

The Panama Railroad Company achieved the first rail crossing of the Isthmus of Panama on Sunday, Jan. 28, 1855; image from Oran, "Tropical Journeyings," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. XVIII, no. CIV (January 1859), page 145, in F.N. Otis, Illustrated History of the Panama Railroad (1862), "On the Road," frontispiece: Public Domain, via Library of Congress Book/Printed Material @ https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.illustratedhisto00otis/?sp=12; Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/histoillustrated00otisrich/page/n9/mode/1up

Trans-oceanic Panama Railroad, completed Saturday, Jan. 27, 1855, traversed the Isthmus of Panama, with end points at Panama's Caribbean and Pacific coasts, the next day, Sunday, Jan. 28, 1855; the railroad replaced the previous dual mode of transit by boat via the Chagres River and by mule via mule paths at Cruces or Gorgona; "Map of the Panama Railroad," F.N. Otis, Illustrated History of the Panama Railroad (1862), page 5: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/histoillustrated00otisrich/page/n12/mode/1up; Public Domain, via Library of Congress Book/Printed Material @ https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.illustratedhisto00otis/?sp=15; Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Illustrated_history_of_the_Panama_Railroad;_together_with_a_traveler%27s_guide_and_business_man%27s_hand-book_for_the_Panama_Railroad_and_its_connections_with_Europe,_the_United_States,_the_north_and_(14758501004).jpg; Internet Archive Book Images, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14758501004/

For further information:

"A Great Enterprise." The Portland Transcript. Jan. 28, 1855.
Available via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Panama_RR_opens_JAN_28_1855.jpg

Bethel, A.C.W. "The Panama Route." Pages 251-252. In James J. Rawls and Richard J. Orsi, eds., A Golden State: Mining and Economic Development in Gold Rush California. Chapter 12 The Golden Skein: California's Gold-Rush Transportation Network. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999.
Available @ https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft758007r3&chunk.id=d0e10615

Bishop, Farnham. Panama Past and Present. New York: The Century Co., 1916.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/panamapastpresen00bishuoft/

The British Museum. "Day & Co." The British Museum > Collection.
Available @ https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG61275

Correa, Tom. "California Gold Rush -- The Argonauts." The American Cowboy Chronicles. April 3, 2017.
Available @ http://www.americancowboychronicles.com/2017/04/california-gold-rush-argonauts-part-one.html

Day & Son. "View of the Playa Prieta, Panama." Calisphere University of California > UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library Honeyman (Robert B., Jr.) - Collection of Early Californian and Western American Pictorial Material V.
Available @ https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/tf4w1010tg/

Erdman, Shelby Lin. "How Did The Gold Rush End?" Grunge > History. Oct. 26, 2021.
Available via Grunge @ https://www.grunge.com/643931/how-did-the-gold-rush-end/

FamilySearch. "Henry Chauncey Male 3 April 1795–28 April 1863 K4K3-LHY." FamilySearch.
Available @ https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/K4K3-LHY/henry-chauncey-1795-1863

Franco, Jan. "Henry Chauncey." Find A Grave > Memorial > Find a Grave Memorial ID 22085810. Created by Jan Franco. Added Oct 10, 2007.
Available via Find A Grave @ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22085810/henry-chauncey

Harris, Mark. "How People Survived Building the Panama Canal—A Construction Project Like No Other." Survival World. Feb. 6, 2025.
Available @ https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/how-people-survived-building-the-panama-canal-a-construction-project-like-no-other/ss-AA1ywZdV?ocid=BingHp01&cvid=174aafe69fdc462df144a81f446b2823&ei=35#image=1

The Illustrated London News. "The Panama Railway." The Illustrated London News, no. 734, vol. xxvii (Saturday, March 31, 1855): pages 291-292.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c0000066753&seq=288&view=1up

Katzman, Patricia. "Portobelo: History." Pages 136-137. Pocket Adventures: Panama. Edison NJ: Hunter Publishing, Inc., 2006.
Available via Google @ https://www.google.com/books/edition/Panama/i94Ea2E97jAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA136

Panama Canal Railway Company. "Construction of the first transcontinental railroad." Panama Canal Railway Company > History.
Available @ http://panarail.com/en/history/index.html

The Panama Railroad. "History of the Panama Railroad." The Panama Railroad > History.
Available @ https://www.panamarailroad.org/history1.html

The Panama Railroad. "History of the Panama Railroad Part -- II." The Panama Railroad > History.
Available @ https://www.panamarailroad.org/history1b.html

The Portland Transcript. "A Great Enterprise." Wikimedia Commons > Category:Panama Railroad > Media in category "Panama Railroad" > "Panama RR opens JAN 28 1855.jpg."
Available via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Panama_RR_opens_JAN_28_1855.jpg

Prince, Jeff. "Tapping in to the Bureau." Fort Worth Weekly > News > Feature. Nov. 22, 2011.
Available @ https://www.fwweekly.com/2011/11/22/tapping-in-to-the-bureau/

Today in Connecticut History. "April 15: The Middletown Man Who Built the First Transcontinental Railroad -- But in Another Country." Today in Connecticut History. April 15, 2024.
Available @ https://todayincthistory.com/2024/04/15/april-15-the-middletown-man-who-built-the-first-transcontinental-railroad-but-in-another-country-2/

Tomes, Robert. Panama in 1855 An account of the Panama rail-road, of the Cities of Panama and Aspinwall, With Sketches of Life and Character on the Isthmus. New York: Harper & brothers,Publishers, 1855.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/panimain185500tomerich/

Wolmar, Christian. The Iron Road: An Illustrated History of the Railroad. New York: DK Publishing, 2014.

Wolmar, Christian. "The Panama Railroad: A Deadly Rush for Gold." Pages 110-119. The Iron Road: An Illustrated History of the Railroad. New York: DK Publishing, 2014.