File:Panama - a personal record of forty-six years, 1861-1907 (1907) (14778889763).jpg

Identifier: panamapersonalre00robi (find matches)
Title: Panama : a personal record of forty-six years, 1861-1907
Year: 1907 (1900s)
Authors: Robinson, Tracy, 1833-1915
Subjects: Panama Railroad Co
Publisher: New York Panama : Star and Herald Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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THE CANAL WILL BE MADE 149 ^Panama CHAPTER XV T^ROM the midst of this confusion one enter-•■ prise stands out in conspicuous contrast toall the others. Good work was performed hereand there, by this contractor and that, but it wasreserved for the American Contracting andDredging Company (the only American con-cern connected with the canal) to gain the creditof having virtually completed the first section,of about thirteen miles from the Atlantic end. The channel dug by the dredges of that com-pany still shows for itself. With the exceptionof a few places where the depth had beenlessened by deposits from the floods of rainyseasons, there was water sufficient for anysteamship that visited Colon up to the year1888. The banks stood remarkably well, and ingeneral appearance this portion of the canal,amounting to one fourth of its entire length,conveyed the impression of being in every wayfit to serve the purpose for which it was in-tended. The history of this dredging company, com-150
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o o Q Chapter XV) monly known as the Slaven Company, is like aromance. The two brothers, Henry B. andMoses A. Slaven, were born in Canada. Theyboth began life for themselves when very young—the former as skilled pharmacist, the latteras mechanical engineer. When the PanamaCanal was talked of, H. B. had the finest drugstore in San Francisco; while M. A. was inactive business in the same city. They heardabout the great contracts to be let, and deter-mined to have, a finger in the canal pie. H. B.,who was the younger of the two, with an au-dacity akin to inspiration, made bids for severalmiles of excavation, although he knew nothingof that kind of work. The bids were accepted,and he at once entered upon the organization ofhis company. The other brother, M. A., furnished the me-chanical knowledge, and it was not long beforethe first of their great dredges was built and sentout from New York, in which city the ofiices oftheir company had been established. The mon-ster machine had hardly

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