Colon – the Boomtown that is Still Busted
Posted by Mike | Under Colon PanamaAfter the discovery of gold in California in 1849, many travelers chose the 47.5 mile (76.5 kilometer) isthmus as a cheaper, quicker and less dangerous route to the gold rush than crossing the U.S. Early treasure-seekers traveled across Panama by boat when they could and walked when they couldn’t; to catch a northbound ship on the western coast of Panama to the California gold fields.
Based on the traffic across the isthmus, a company from the United States began work on a Panama Railroad and when completed in 1855; it was the only transcontinental rapid transit in the western hemisphere. The city of Colon began as an island boomtown, with the railroad, growing and then emptying, as travelers came and went. Today, the Panama Railroad terminus is inside the Colon Free Trade Zone compound, and still has a busy role in transportation across Panama.
How many actually died building the railroad and the canal is unknown, they were taken by yellow fever, cholera, dysentery, and smallpox; and no records were kept, for the most part. In the end, the companies discovered that for heavy work in the tropics, no race of men could match West Indian men. Slow-moving, accustomed to heat, resistant to the fevers, these cheerful and humble people played an honorable part in the realization of mankind’s dreams on the Isthmus.
1909 Arrival of SS. Ancon with 1500 laborers
from Barbados, at the Cristobal Port in Colon
Many Colon residents are the descendants of migrant laborers from the English-speaking Caribbean, brought in to dig the canal. It is still surprising to realize that the actual builders of the Panama Canal included only 357 Panamanians and over 20,000 Barbadians. It is dubious though that those people were offered a ride home, after the work was done.
For more information about Panama travel, tourism, and locations contact Panama Travel Group today.
i...@panamatravelgroup.com
+507-202-1111 (Panama) | 1-786-539-4731 (USA)
