Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 104, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1907 — LETTER FROM THE PANAMA CANAL [ARTICLE]

LETTER FROM THE PANAMA CANAL

Former Jasper County Boy Working on Panama Railroad. W. B. Yeoman, Trustee of Newton tp., has just received the following very interesting letter from his nephew, Charley YeomaD, formerly Of- this county, but now an engineer on the Panama railroad: Cristobol Canal Zone, Isthmus of Panama. Dear Uncle: — It has been some time since I wrote you, so I will try and send you a'few lines. I suppose you knew before this that I was down here in Panama, and as I thought you would like to hear something aoout this place, I will try. and give you some idea of it. I haver been here * months and am very well pleased with everything. I was working on the Canal when I first came here, but am now working as engineer for the Panama railroad, it is owned by the U. but still goes under the old name. We are having lots of rain here now, every afternoon it rains 3 or 4 hours; there is an average rain fall of 18 feet here in a year, the L river has been known to rise 30 feet in 24 hours. The weather is not as hot tho as it is in the States, the average temperature is about 90 degrees but alway a good breeze from the Atlantic and Pacific, which are only 47 miles apart The country here is very mountainous which makes a great deal of digging on the canal in some places, the deepest cut is a little over 300 feet, it is to be a lock caual with an artifical lake in the center of the Isthmus, 110 square

miles in area, the narrow channel will be only 8 miles long. It is estimated that 40,000 men are employed here by the Govern ment; about 8,000 whites, the rest are Jamacians, Barbadoians, Martiniques, ' Hindooes, Spaniards, Italians and some I don't know where they came from. There lots of tropical fruits here, such as bananas, oranges, mangoes, and fine apples, but the bananas are the most common. They grow thicker than any weed that grows in Indiana, and can be bought for 15 cents a bunch. Living cost $27 a month here everything is shipped in from the States. Wages are from $4 to $8 a day for Americans and $1.50 for the common laborers. Panama City which is on the Pacific side, is the largest town here, Colon on the Atlantic side is only a short distance from here. I generally go over to Panama every Sunday. " The government furnishes very good houses for us to live in, with beds and all the furniture including baths and running water in every house. For married' men, who have their families here they furnish the house complete except dishes and linen. There are a great many families here. I visited the old French grave yard where there are 100,000 men buried who died here while working on the canal, but now since the Americans have taken hold the health of the'plaoe has changed 100 per cent. Tour nephew, O. Yeoman.