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The Panama Railroad—the first steam road to El Dorado—was begun in 1850, at the height of the California gold craze. And by anyone’s standards it was a stunning demonstration of man’s “wonderful skill, endurance, and perseverance,” It was, for example, and as almost no one ever acknowledges, the first ocean-to-ocean railroad, its completion predating that of the Union Pacific by fourteen years. Mile for mile it also appears to have cost more in dollars and in human life than any railroad ever built. For fourteen years it was the world’s best-paying railroad. The surveys made by its builders produced important geographic revelations that had a direct bearing on the decision to build a Panama canal along the same route. In addition, the diplomatic agreement upon which the whole venture rested, the so-called Bidlack Treaty of 1846, was the basis of all subsequent involvement of the United States in Panama. uninterrupted traffic on the railroad was the pretext by which American military force was used to prevent the transportation of Colombian troops, thereby guaranteeing a bloodless triumph by the local junta and the creation of the new Republic of Panama.) the world’s first transcontinental run. Once, with its price per share at $295, the Panama Railroad was the highest listed stock on the New York Exchange. There had never been a railroad to compare with it. the true value of a Panama railroad would be the precedent it would establish: “ . . . by showing to the world how immense this business is, men will come from the four quarters to urge with purse and tongue the construction of a ship canal.” Years later, in 1904, when the United States purchased all the holdings of the long-since bankrupt French canal company—its equipment, properties, the unfinished excavations—the railroad was part of the $40 million package. McCullough, David. Brave Companions (p. 104). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. McCullough, David. Brave Companions (p. 103). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. McCullough, David. Brave Companions (p. 102). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. McCullough, David. Brave Companions (p. 100). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. McCullough, David. Brave Companions (p. 93). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. McCullough, David. Brave Companions (p. 90). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. McCullough, David. Brave Companions (p. 90). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. McCullough, David. Brave Companions (p. 90). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

— Panama Railroad  

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