Panama fever (2 page)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Heroes and Villains—The “Battle of the Routes”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“I Took the Isthmus”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Make the Dirt Fly”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Yellow Jack

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Restart

CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Railroad Era

CHAPTER TWENTY
The Digging Machine

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Segregation

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“The Army of Panama”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Hell's Gorge”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Lord How Piercing!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The Land Divided, The World United

POSTSCRIPT
Whose Canal Is It, Anyway?

NOTES

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

ILLUSTRATIONS

Insert One

Vasco Núñez de Balboa (from
History of the Panama Canal
by Ira E. Bennett, Washington, 1915)

William Paterson (Mary Evans Picture Library)

Mapping the route for the Panama Railroad (Mary Evans Picture Library)

Members of the American Selfridge expedition (from
The Land Di-videdby
Gerstle Mack, New York, 1944)

Armand Reclus (from
Panama: Armand Reclus et le Canal des Deux Océans
by Gérard Fauconnier, Paris, 2004)

Ferdinand de Lesseps cartoon (Plon/Perrin)

Ferdinand de Lesseps with family (Getty Images)

Triumphal arch (Getty Images)

Charles de Lesseps (from
Panama: The Creation, Destruction, and Resurrection
by Philippe Bunau-Varilla, New York, 1914)

Colón Harbor (from
Panama and the Canal in Pictures and Prose
by J. Willis Abbot, New York and London, 1913)

The beginning of the “big ditch” (from
The Panama Canal
[Building History Series] by Tim McNeese, Chicago, 1997)

Jules Dingler (from
Panama: The Creation, Destruction, and Resurrection
by Philippe Bunau-Varilla, New York, 1914)

The execution of Pedro Prestan (Panama Canal Company)

A French ladder excavator (Corbis)

Philippe Bunau-Varilla (from
Panama: The Creation, Destruction, and
Resurrection
by Philippe Bunau-Varilla, New York, 1914)

Bottle Alley in Colón (from
Panama and the Canal in Pictures and Prose
by J. Willis Abbot, New York and London, 1913)

Huerne, Slaven & Co. dredges at work (from
From Cadiz to Cathay
by Miles Duval, Stanford, 1940)

Works in the Culebra Cut (from
Panama: The Creation, Destruction, and
Resurrection
by Philippe Bunau-Varilla, New York, 1914)

Canal Company trial cartoon (by Pépin in
Grelot
, November 1892)

Wreckage from the French era (Getty Images)

“Panama Revolution” cartoon (from
P. Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography
by Henry F Pringle, New York, 1931)

William Nelson Cromwell (Corbis)

General Esteban Huertas (from
From Cadiz to Cathay
by Miles Duval, Stanford, 1940)

Insert Two

A steamer carrying laborers from Barbados (Getty Images)

An ICC-run mess kitchen for West Indian workers (from
History of the Panama Canal by
Ira E. Bennett, Washington, 1915)

Fumigation squad (from
The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs
by Ulrich Keller, New York, 1983)

Doctor William Gorgas (Corbis)

Cemetery on the western slope of Ancón Hill (from
Panama and the Canal in Pictures and Prose
by J. Willis Abbot, New York and London, 1913)

John Stevens (Corbis)

Spreader at work (from
Panama and What It Means
by John Foster Fraser, London, 1913)

Theodore Roosevelt (Getty Images)

West Indian wedding party (from
The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs
by Ulrich Keller, New York, 1983)

Commissary store (from
The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs
by Ulrich Keller, New York, 1983)

Claude Mallet (from the private collection of Mrs. Primrose Mallet-Harris)

Spanish track workers (from
The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs
by Ulrich Keller, New York, 1983)

Steam shovels at work (from
The Strength to Move a Mountain
by W. S. Lee, New York, 1958)

Blasting rock on Contractors’ Hill (from
Panama and What It Means
by John Foster Fraser, London, 1913)

Dynamite gang (from
The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs
by Ulrich Keller, New York, 1983)

Steam shovels meeting at the center of the Cut (courtesy of the Panama Canal Authority)

A slide in the Culebra Cut (from
Panama and What It Means
by John Foster Fraser, London, 1913)

Gatún Locks under construction (from
The Construction of the Panama Canal by J.
F Stevens and W L. Sibert, New York, 1915)

Workers at the base of the Lower Gate of Gatún Locks (Getty Images)

The final joining of the oceans (Corbis)

SS
Ancon
at the opening of the canal (from
The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs
by Ulrich Keller, New York, 1983)

The USS
Texas
in Gatún Locks (from
The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs
by Ulrich Keller, New York, 1983)

Maps

Text Illustrations

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am very grateful to the K. Blundell Trust, administered by the Society of Authors, for their generous contribution to the research expenses of this book. Many people in a number of countries have helped me. For my research trips to the United States I am indebted to the staff of the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives, in particular Jackie Cohen, who went far beyond the call of duty in guiding me through the enormous amount of material—particularly the French records—held at NARA. I was also well looked after in the United States by Peter Sollis and his family in Washington and by Ben and Louise Edwards in New York. I have also been lucky enough to receive help and encouragement from Roman Foster in New York and Eunice Mason in California as well as Barbara Adamson, Lesley Hendricks, Dr. Philip C. Breunle, Donald Paine, and Professor Hugh Brogan.

For help in researching the Jantje Milliery story I am indebted to Danielle Susijn and Patrick van Griethuysen in Holland. In the United Kingdom I was lucky enough to have the enthusiastic and invaluable support of the Panamanian consul and ambassador, Liliana Fernandez, who was able to open many doors for me in Panama. I must also acknowledge my debt to the staff of the British Library (where much of this book was written), the London Library, the Public Records Office, and to Carol Morgan at the Institute of Civil Engineers. Mrs. Primose Mallet-Harris has been kind enough to let me quote from her grandfather's letters and offered hospitality at her home in Somerset. James Spence has provided much assistance on the engineering side of the story, and I am grateful to Dr. Mary All-wood for her checking of the medical material. In France I was greatly helped by Jane Martens, Jean-Yves Mollier, and Gérard Fauconnier.

The time spent in Panama on several visits was a great pleasure of researching this book. If nothing else, I am delighted to have seen the amazing canal up close, an experience I can recommend to anyone. My greatest debts are to Judy Dixon and John Carlson, both of whom provided invaluable help with introductions and research material. I was also lucky enough to be taken under the wing of Gisela Lammerts Van Bueren at the Technical Resource Center at Balboa, Panama City, who provided enthusiastic assistance. In Panama I would also like to thank all those who gave me their time for interviews or assisted in other ways: Marc de Banville, Dr. Angeles Ramos Baquero, Ned Blennerhassett, Foster Burns, Walter Clarke, Georges Colbourne, Graciela Dixon, William Donadío, Victor Echeverria, Terry Ford, Egla Gooden de Lynch, Cecil Haynes, Dr. Stanley Heckadon-Moreno, Eric Jackson, Maria Esperanza Lavergne, Dr. Hedley C. Lennon, Melva Lowe de Goodin, Jim Malcolm, Gerardo Maloney, Mercedes and Charles Morris, Marc Quinn, Lidia Ricardo, Carlos Russell, Enrique Sanchez and all at SAMAAP, Leonardo J. Sid-nez, Henry F. Smith Jr., Omar Jeán Suárez, and Juan Tam.

I have been very lucky in having editors of great experience, skill, and patience—Tony Whittome at Hutchinson and Adam Bellow at Doubleday in New York—and I am grateful to all at their companies for their efforts on behalf of this book. I would also like to thank my agents, Julian Alexander in London and George Lucas in the United States, for their encouragement and advice. Richard Collins has performed a very careful and skillful edit of the manuscript, and Reg Pilkington has drawn maps of real distinction and character.

Above all, I am indebted to my family—Anne and Paul Swain, who read early drafts of this book and provided invaluable advice and encouragement as well as a bolt-hole to write in. My parents, Sheila and David Parker, read, translated, and noted numerous works in French and Spanish respectively as well as commented on early drafts. And my immediate family—Oliver, Thomas, Milly, and their mother, Hannah—while endlessly asking how many more pages I had to write, put up with good grace with my frequent absences on research trips and the many years of distraction that writing such a book as this entails.