The Panama Railroad.

[Tawmis]

Cool video about the Panama Railroad, that gives some history about the Gold Rush... and really shows all of the history around it...




The part about the cadavers is.... wild.

That is a part I'd never heard of....

And the Chinese Workers fate....

Insanity.

[Rath Darkblade]

Yes, building anything in Panama (and a little further south, between Panama and Colombia) is extremely difficult. But the number of deaths involved in building the Panama Railway, sad as it is, isn't especially unusual. The 1850s, 60s and 70s were the era of the Robber Barons, who were notoriously brutal and greedy, and the Gilded Age, built with their ill-gotten loot.

Just 6 years after the Panama Railway was built, the ACW started, with all its horrors and unprecedented number of deaths. But in the 1850s, railroad building in the US itself skyrocketed from 9,000 miles to 25,000 miles. The 1860s saw the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad and the passing of the 1862 Pacific Railway Act. In the 1870s, railways grew even further, facing several major financial scandals (including the Panic of 1873) and labor conflicts caused by severe wage cuts, marking the beginnings the labor unions -- especially in 1877, with the Great Railway Strike.

You can't achieve all that and not kill thousands (or even ten of thousands) of workers.

As for Panama: if you want to see a truly chaotic place, look up the Darién Gap, between Panama and Colombia. Of the entire Pan-American Highway, that stretches all the way from Proudhoe Bay (Alaska) in the north and Ushuaia (capital of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina) in the south -- in fact, the southern-most city in the world ...

... of that entire highway, the Darién Gap - a tiny place (about 70 miles, north to south) - is the only place where building a road, even a primitive one, is completely impossible. The place is remote and extremely harsh, with steep mountains and dense, steamy rainforest in the north (on the Panama side) and huge, deep swamps in the south (on the Colombia side). It is infested with poisonous wildlife, malaria-bearing mosquitos, parasites and diseases. The climate is torrid, hot, and wet. Heavy rain and flash flooding is frequent, which makes building any road impossible. Law enforcement and medical centres don't exist, so violent crime is rampant, and even minor injuries can become infected and deadly quickly.

Nevertheless, the Darién Gap is the only land bridge between North America and South America, and has historically served as a major route for both humans and wildlife. But even passing through is very difficult. This is why migrants from South America, heading north, have to get on ferries or boats, to avoid this place.

The Darien Scheme - a disastrous attempt by Scotland to build a colony here in 1698 - is also interesting. It was poorly planned and led from the start, didn't consider the geography or terrain, and was undermined by jealous English traders and the hostile natives and Spanish conquistadors. The Scots held on until 1700, but they were doomed from the start. By then, Scotland - whose nobility and landed gentry funded this mad plan - was almost bankrupt, and joining England's growing power was the only way to keep the country afloat. This was probably the start of Great Britain (and eventually the United Kingdom). Up until then, England and Scotland were independent countries, but after much wrangling, they joined together in 1707 with the "Acts of Union", which made them one.

Sorry for all that. I guess you know I enjoy history. I hope I didn't bore anyone!