Gold Seekers of 49 | Page 4

Edwin L. Sabin
Constitution
assembles at Monterey, the capital. On October 10 the constitution is
adopted.

1850--September 9, 1850, California is admitted as a State, into the
Union, without having been a Territory. Since then she has forged to
the front as one of the richest members of the Republic. Her soil has
been found to yield greater treasures than gold, and her people pride
themselves upon being among the most progressive of all between the
two oceans.

THE PANAMA CANAL
1513--September 25, the young Spanish navigator Vasco Nunez de
Balboa and party, from the Atlantic, exploring afoot the Isthmus of
Panama (first called the Isthmus of Darien), on the mountain divide
sight the Pacific Ocean. This they reach and claim for the King of
Spain. They were the first white men to cross the Isthmus, and they
discovered the Pacific Ocean.
1516--Balboa again crosses the Isthmus, transporting the material for
four ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Two thousand native Indians
die by the hard labor of jungle travel.
1520-1529--Various other explorations are made by Spain, in hopes of
finding a water-way clear through the Isthmus.
1521--Charles the Fifth of Spain orders a Royal Road constructed
across the Isthmus between Nombre de Dios on the Atlantic side and
Panama on the Pacific side. It crossed the Chagres River at Las Cruces.
1530--Vessels begin to navigate the Chagres up to Gorgona and Cruces,
and there connect with the Royal Road from Panama.
1534--The Spanish authorities of this New Spain undertake a survey of
the Isthmus, in order to construct a water-way from ocean to ocean.
The project fails.
1535-1814--Nothing more has been accomplished toward bettering
communication across the Isthmus, although a water route by way of
Lake Nicaragua has been much discussed.

1814--Spain authorizes the construction of a canal through the Isthmus,
but by a revolution loses her Central America provinces.
1825--The Republic of Central America requests the assistance of the
United States in the construction of a canal through Nicaragua.
1826--Aaron H. Palmer, of New York, contracts with the Republic of
Central America for the construction of a canal across Nicaragua. This
project also fails, and so does an English plan.
1827--President Bolivar of the Republic of Colombia (formed by the
States of New Granada, Ecuador and Venezuela, and thus embracing
the Isthmus) commissions J. A. Lloyd to survey the Isthmus with a
view to a rail-and-water route across. Lloyd recommends a canal from
Limon Bay to the Chagres River (as now), the river route as far on as
possible, and a railroad thence to the Pacific coast.
1835-1841--The United States further debates the subject of a ship
canal across the Isthmus or up through Nicaragua. Commissioners
report in favor of the Nicaragua route.
1838--A French company obtains from New Granada a concession to
open a route by land or water across the Isthmus. Although many
surveys are made, and a canal from Limon Bay to the vicinity of
Panama is mapped out, no actual construction work is done.
1847--The Republic of New Granada grants the right to a French
syndicate to build a railroad across the Isthmus. The right expired in
1848.
1848--Spurred on by the acquisition of California, the United States
secures from New Granada the right of passage across the Isthmus.
1849--The United States secures from Nicaragua the right to construct
communication of any sort between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific
Ocean.
1840--The American, Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company,

headed by Cornelius Vanderbilt, is formed, to build across Nicaragua.
The company makes fresh surveys of value, but does no construction
work, and in 1856 its concession is recalled by Nicaragua.
1849--The Panama Railroad Company is formed by John Lloyd
Stevens, William Henry Aspinwall and Henry Chauncy of New York,
to build across the Isthmus. Work is started.
1855--After tremendous labor in the jungles and swamps, and the loss
of thousands of lives, the railroad is finished. On January 27, 1855, the
first locomotive crosses from ocean to ocean. Reconstructed to conform
to the canal, the railroad is in operation to-day.
1866--The United States Senate requests the Secretary of the Navy to
supply it with all available information upon the feasibility of a canal
across the Isthmus.
1867--Nineteen canal and seven railroad projects for the Isthmus region
are submitted in the report to the Senate. The report recommends that a
route be found through Panama.
1869--President Grant recommends to Congress the building of an
American canal across the Isthmus. Resolutions are adopted.
1872--An Interoceanic Canal Commission authorized by Congress
begins various surveys throughout the Isthmus country. Its final report
(1876) unanimously recommends the route through Nicaragua, instead
of through Panama.
1875--France forms a company to secure from the Republic of
Colombia, which again controls the Isthmus, the rights to build a canal
across, and to operate it for ninety-nine
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