File:Panama and the canal (1910) (14594075530).jpg

Identifier: panamacanal01hall (find matches)
Title: Panama and the canal
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Hall, Alfred B. (Alfred Bates), 1875-1936 Chester, Clarence Lyon, 1877- joint author
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Publisher: New York, Newson and Company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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Map V,—Routes Across Central America, ENEMIES OF THE RAILROAD 95 are of iron instead of wood, and if we get out, when the trainstops, and look carefully at the cross-ties beneath the rails,we shall find that they are all of lignum vitae, almost thehardest wood in the world. It is next to impossible to drivea spike into these cross-ties. Holes for them must be bored
Text Appearing After Image:
Pedro Miguel.—Panama Railroai out. And this is, of course, a long and expensive task. Itis odd to think that all this trouble was made necessary byharmless-looking ants. We have heard of beavers cuttingdown young trees with their sharp teeth, in order to eat thetender twigs and leaves or to use the branches in buildingtheir mud houses. But that ants will eat dry, hard telegraph 96 SPANISH ROADS poles and railroad cross-ties seems like a fairy story. We maysmile at the idea, but it is true nevertheless. In the forestsof Panama there are great colonies of wood-eating ants thatwill eat into and destroy any but the very hardest wood. Ironand lignum vitse, however, have proved too much for them. The story of the building of the Panama railroad takes usback again, for a moment, to the early Spanish times. Whenall that long stretch of land between North and South Amer-ica which we call Central America (Map V) was discoveredand conquered by Spain, and the rich west coast of Americafell into

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