Natick High School - Sassamon Yearbook (Natick, MA)

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0 , fe fi-.. ' or N It Iii' - I -, fan! R - J'3ii ,g E FWVT' ,U THE GROWTH OF THE PANAMA CANAL Even before Columbus came to the West Indies, there was a legend among the na- tives that there was a strait through which one could pass directly into the waters of the Pacific Ocean. At that time maps not only showed the land that had been dis- covered, but also the land that was sup- posed to be there. On these maps the strait was always shown. After Colum- bus. came Balboa. the discoverer of the Pacific Ocean. Curiously enough the leg- end still existed and Balboa believed it just as Columbus had, and that was prob- ably the reason why he explored so dili- gently through that region. The first proposer of the Panama Canal was Hernando Cortez, the conqueror ot Mexico. He was sent by his monarch Charles V of Spain to find the strait that was supposed to exist. Failing to find this strait. he proposed to build a strait that would connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, but his work was cut short by the treachery of hisfollowers. He encouraged his cousin to carry out his plans for a canal. His cousin drew up plans and intended to present them to the king but he diled before his plans were realized. His' plans called for routes through what is now Darien, Nicaragua, Tehuantepec. and Panama. The Spanish king looked into the project and after con- ferring with his friars, stopped all work on the canal, and quoted from the Bible, What God hath joined together, let no nzan put asunderf' The French attempt was first suggested by Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, the noted builder of the Suez Canal, and a commit- tee met at Paris at which nearly all na- tions were represented. The Committee believed that the approximate cost of the canal would be ii324.000,000. The com- pany went under the title, 'Tampagne Universelle du Canal Interoceanique de Panama. At the first excavation in May, 1832 the company was assembled to wit- ness the formal opening and the Bishop of Panama was to give his blessing. A tre- mendous charge of dynamite was to be ex- ploded, but when the time came for it to go off there was no explosion. Something went wrong. This beginning was typical of the whole French attempt. The work was pushed ahead vigorously by deLessnps, but serious obstacles began to arise, which had been foreseen by the trained engineers who opposed de Lessups plan from the start. It was evident that it was impossible to carry out the original plan, therefore, the company being so seriously hampered re- sorted to irregular and corrupt practices. In time all were exposed. and de llesseps returned to France where he was dis- graced and 1-ndcd his remarkable career PAGE FIFTEISN

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The S' Aft WIQN : 1934 E. Y ,,,. .RYA atick Ziaigb bcboul Iiaunnr nlls SENIURS HIGHEST HONORS Ernst. Evalyn l'RO-MEKITO Angeleri, Joseph Downing, John Dunbar, Hugena Evangelista. Antonio Felch. Virginia Gilleran, Mary Grupposo. Mary E. Guthrie, Virginia Hamilton, David Mangle. Daisy McGrath, Alice Mitchell, John Falladino, Grace Squires. Marjorie Moir, Helen Mullen, Eleanor Osol, Eleanora Peoples, Robert Prime, Dorothy Quast, Wentworth Quatrale, Rose Randall, Helen Rotchford. John Stocker, Dorothy Stubbs, Helen Thomas, Robert Viles, Avis Whittaker, Walter Williamson, Reginald FACULTY Roy W. Hill Elva C. Coulter Thayer, Dorothy Weatherby, Martha Wheeler, James NVhittier, Dorothy Wignot. Jackson HONORS Bismark, Andrew Bremner, Clara Burleigh, William Carey. Francis Coleman, Robert DeWitt, Louise Feathcrman, Maurice Field. Estelle Grassey, F. Joseph Graye. Marjorie Johnson. Helen Kimble, Lawrence Liddell. Raymond Long. Eleanor Meek, Edward PAGE FOURTE EN Clayton E. Gardner Harold C. Sears Emily L. Shannon Edward N. VVhite Florence E. Belliveau John C. Caldwell Jane E. Carrick Margaret E. Cellarius E. Grace Church Isabel C. Currier John F. Donahue Elizabeth G. Murphy Chester Nichols Edith M. Nutt Marguerite Rafferty Ethel K. Ratsey Louise Scott Louise M. Sullivan Lydia Tolander Daisy V. Wildbur Kathleen W. Young

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j Tze - 1934 j by dying in an insane asylum. The origi- nal plan of de Lesseps was to have a sea- level type of canal, but it was soon found that it would not be practical, and it was decided to change to a lock type. but the change came too late. The company de- clared itself to be bankrupt in 1887. The whole story of the French attempt may be summed up in one statement, Eighty million cubic yards of earth had been ex- cavated at a cost of 3S260,000,000. That was 320,000,000 more than the committee had said the entire project would cost. A new Panama Canal Company was or- ganized in 1894 and work went along favorably with all the assets and proper- ti-es of the old company being transferred to the new one. Meanwhile public senti- ment in the United States had been strong- ly impressed with a desire for a canal across the Isthmus under American con- trol, and in December 1898 a full report of the Technical Committee of the French Company was presented to President Mc- Kinley. In order to have American control ot canal rights, the permission of Columbia was necessary because, Panama was a pro- vince of Columbia. Columbia did not agree to American terms but Panama did. The Panama proposition looked hopeless until something speedily happened. On November 3, 1903, Panama revolted and severed a connection of eighty-two years with Columbia. The Columbian govern- ment could do nothing but quickly agree. After Panama had been recognized by a number of nations, United States bought the canal rights from the French company, and drew up a treaty with the Republic of Panama. From the time that the treaty was rati- fied by both countries, work on the canal went rapidly forward. The United States had to compete with the same obstacles as the former companies. Both the preced- ing companies had been seriously handi- capped by the numerous cases of Malaria that had reduced the laborers by thous- ands. The first step the United States took was to, literally, clean up Panama. ' Many doctors were sent by the government to find the cause of the deadly disease, and many lives were risked in experiment- PAGE SIXTEEN ing, before it was discovered by doctors, Finley and Ross, that the female Anophe- les mosquito was responsible for the high death rate of the people of Central Ameri- ca. The quarters of the laborers were as comfortable as the homes of the white residents, all rooms were screened in to protect the occupants from the malaria gerin. The streets of the city were paved and kept as clean as the streets of Ameri- ca. No more refuse was thrown out on the streets, as was done in former times. Electric lights and water systems were in- stalled, and one could drink from a foun- tain in the center of Panama, without the least fear of Malaria, for the water was clear spring water, which was piped in from mountain springs, far from Panama. The Panama Canal is of great value to the world. It saves a long, hard trip of over three thousand miles around Cape Horn. and although it was a great expen- diture to the United States, it gave the country the power and jurisdiction over the greatest canal, in the world. The cost of a ship passing through the canal, costs about 51.20 per ton, and takes about ten hours to cover the stretch of fifty miles from deep water to deep water. The Pan- ama Canal zone extends five miles on each side of the canal, and is under the control of the American government, but the re- public of Panama is governed by its own constitution, which was drawn up just at- ter they revolted against Columbia in 1903. MAURICE FEATHERMAN RADIUM In 1896 a Frenchman, Henri Becquerel. discovered that something resembling X-rays is radiated by some minerals, such as pitchblende, that contain aranium. He also found that if he wrapped a photo- graphic plate ln black paper and placed it near one oi these minerals a shadow photograph would be formed of any dense object which intervened. This quality or certain minerals is called radioactivity. Shortly after this, three French chem- ists. M. G. Belmont, and Monsieur and Madame Curie found that thorium pos-