Celebrating 160 Years of the Panama Canal Railroad (1855-2015)

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My friend Loüis Seldon sent me this great article on the Panama Canal Railroad that has a link to some great pictures. More articles talk about the Panama Canal Society and Ocean to Ocean canoe races they held here. You have got to love all these people in suits and ties back then when it was 95 degrees and humid. Of course, no one had air conditioning here then so it was not missed.

Above is Photograph number 7 from Travel and Family Photo Album of William L. Sibert, Gift of Bill Angrick on behalf of William P. and Barbara G. Angrick, Panama Canal Museum Collection, Special and Area Studies Collection, George A. Smathers Libraries.
More photos here

Celebrating 160 Years of the Panama Canal Railroad (1855-2015)

Six decades before the Panama Canal opened, U.S. companies built and financed the Panama Railroad, an engineering feat that rivaled the Canal itself. In fact, John F. Stevens, chief engineer of the Canal from 1905 to 1907, viewed the Canal primarily as a railroad engineering project during the early stages of construction.

Completed in 1855 to expedite trade during the California Gold Rush, the railroad ultimately established a pathway for the Canal. During the Canal’s construction, the railroad was rerouted and rebuilt to accommodate modern, steam-driven machinery. Trains ferried men, equipment and supplies across the Isthmus and moved vast quantities of excavated dirt.

Today, the Panama Canal Railway continues to carry freight and passengers between the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.

Friends, Staff, Volunteers Gearing up for Panama Canal Society Reunion

Panama Canal Society Reunion attendees are cordially invited to drop by the Panama Canal Museum Collection room July 2-5. Our exhibit and slideshow will feature the Panama Railroad, and the popular Canal Zone townsite maps will be displayed.

Friends and volunteers will conduct the annual Silent Auction, and they will share details about an exciting new fundraising program. Reunion attendees who are descendants or relatives of Roosevelt Medal holders will have the opportunity to purchase replicas of their ancestors’ medals. The program will be offered at the reunion only.

Descendants who want to buy a replica will be asked to join the Friends of the Panama Canal Museum Collection, or renew their memberships for 2016, and make an additional donation of $50 to the Friends. The replicas can then be purchased directly from the supplier for a cost of $20 each (plus $5 for each bar and shipping fees.)

The funds raised will go toward preservation and maintenance of the Panama Canal Museum Collection.

The program was conceived and made possible by UF Emeritus Professor of Engineering Frank Townsend, who had a die made to replicate his grandfather’s medal so he could share the replicas with extended family members.

The Roosevelt Medal recognizes U.S. citizens who worked on the Canal, or the Panama Railroad, for at least two years between May 4, 1904, and Dec. 31, 1914.

A list of Roosevelt Medal holders can be found at http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00015478/00001. (A printed copy of the book will be available at the reunion.) This is also where you can download a PDF of the Roosevelt Medal Certificate Template so you can print your own certificate.

Centennial Medals also will be available at the reunion for those who wish to join the Centennial Club. The Centennial Medal is modeled after the Panama Canal Completion Medal issued in 1914.

A 1957 cayuco team races in a boat called Slave Galley. Were you in this race? Do you recognize anyone in the photo?

Ocean to Ocean Cayuco Race — The Early Years: 1954-1963

BY FRANK C. TOWNSEND (balboa58@cox.net)

If you’re going to the Panama Canal Society Reunion, please drop by the Panama Canal Museum Collection Room to share information about the early years of the Ocean to Ocean Cayuco Race and view some unidentified photos from past races.

If you raced between 1954 and 1963, I ask that you send me your name, e-mail address, year of race, and the names of your unit and team members. You can email the information to me (Frank Townsend) at balboa58@cox.net.

I raced in 1956 for Post 3 Balboa, and my team members were Frank Miller, J.P. Bradley and Steve Gorham.

I seriously doubt that in 1954, when a group of civic-minded Zonians were contemplating a challenge for the fledgling Explorer Scouts, they imagined an event which has lasted to today and become international.

Explorer scouting was a new offshoot of Boy scouting, designed to keep lads 14–18 interested and active in scouting. Capitalizing upon Panama’s unique geography, the concept of an ocean-to-ocean race using native cayucos was born.

I’m impressed that the race organizers—like the original Canal builders—overcame doubts, financing and logistical obstacles. How would cayucos weighing several hundred pounds be transported to “the other side” for the Pacific-siders, and then returned for the Atlantic-siders? How would safety issues be addressed? How would 50+ scouts and advisors be housed and fed? Who would order the patches, etc.?

Yet this was all overcome, and the race still exists today—a tribute to those original planners and Club de Remos de Balboa, which continues the race today.

The organizing committee for the first race included Gerald Doyle, “chief dreamer-upper,” Wesley “Red” Townsend (my father), Bob Ashbaugh, Boy Scout Council executive, and Judge Guthrie Crowe, vice president of the CZ BSA Council.

2015 Panama Canal Society Survey

TAKE SURVEY

You are invited to share your thoughts about preserving Panama Canal history and heritage in a survey. Anyone with an interest in the Panama Canal can take the survey. If you are unable to take the survey online, it will be available in paper form at the reunion.