The remaining passes in Central America most notably connected with the dissemination of settlers on the Pacific slope have nearly all been brought into prominence as routes for railroads or canals.

The Nicaragua route to California, in its pass through the western range, in latitude 11° 15', and the Panamá route, in latitude 9° 10′, are the only ones of historical note, however; and they, as portages connecting great sea routes on the Atlantic and Pacific_oceans, have an extensive history of their In addition to these, where the distance from sea to sea is so short, and the mountains are so frequently interrupted and low as they are in Central America, the number of passes of more or less local importance is too large for mention in this connection.

own.

Those actually surveyed for interoceanic canals or railroads were, continuing southward from the isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Honduras Pass, leading south from Honduras Bay along Ulua River to the bay of Fonseca, crossing the water-shed in latitude 13° 45'; the Nicaragua Pass, leading west from Greytown along the navigable waters of San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, and crossing the water-shed to San Juan del Sur, in latitude 11° 15′.

The Costa Rica Railroad line leads west from Port Limon, at the mouth of Macho River, to the head of Grand River, flowing into the gulf of Nicoya. It passes the dividing ridge in latitude 10°. Along this route a fine macadamized wagon road was completed in 1866.30

The Chiriquí Railroad route leads west-south-west from Chiriquí Bay, on the Atlantic, to the gulf of Dulce on the Pacific, following small river valleys on either side, and crossing the water-shed in latitude 9°.

At the isthmus of Darien three different routes have been surveyed, all of them approximately in latitude 9°; the Panamá Railroad route from Limon Bay up Chagres River having only a distance of

30 Kootz' Interoceanic Railroad Rept., quoted in Davis' Interoceanic Canals, 9.

THE PANAMÁ ISTHMUS.

663

forty-seven and a half miles and an altitude of two hundred and fifty-four feet to overcome. Since 1832 this route has been the most prominent line of travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific, becoming second to the Central-Union Pacific Railroad in the amount of its travel after 1869. That leading from Caledonia Bay, on the Atlantic side, the site of the old Scotch colony of Darien, following Chucumaque River to the gulf of San Miguel on the Pacific, and was the route most favorably reported on of all those advocated for an interoceanic canal by the officer deputed to make the comparison by the United States congress of 1866.31

By the trend of the coast at Panamá, as well as by the Atrato route to the Pacific, the Spaniards were naturally led first to explore and to take possession of what appeared to them to be the more valuable continent; and the discoveries of placer gold-mines in South America had the effect of leading across the isthmus and to the south a much larger emigration of Spaniards than went to the western coast of North America. To the south Panamá has contributed a steady flow of emigration for as many centuries as there are decades in its existence as a route to the Northwest Coast. Yet Panamá has done more and won more by the latter since 1849 than in all her previous history.

With the discovery of America, which was also approximately that of the Pacific Ocean, by Balboa's journey from the Darien settlement over the isthmus of Panamá in 1513, began the commercial movements and emigrations from the north Atlantic, which in less than four centuries have assumed the character of a general invasion of the western world by the Indo-European race, foremost of all races in physical perfection and mental development. Having fairly possessed themselves of the Atlantic Ocean, there immediately arose a rivalry among themselves for the

31 Admiral Davis' Rept. on Interoceanic Railroads and Canals, 11–16.

possession of the road to the Indies. A passage, in short, from the north Atlantic to the Pacific, giving its possessor absolute control of European trade with the Orient, was deemed necessary by England to offset the fortune of the Spaniards in dominating the Central American region.

Thus the north-west passage became the grand desideratum of the English; its history is told elsewhere. But the problem had to await its solution until the Anglo-American emigration to Oregon through South Pass had developed the fabulous wealth of the Pacific flange of the cordillera in both silver and gold, as has now been shown.

Their superior mechanical and engineering capabilities in time gave the English and the Anglo-Americans possession of every road to the far east by land and sea. When the pass by the Laramie plains through the Rocky Mountains was finally perfected by railroad, not only was the north-west passage realized, the north Atlantic being brought into commercial proximity to the Pacific, but the destinies of the world for a thousand years hence instantly unravelled themselves. The extensive admixture, after the discovery of America, of the Indo-European races now gathered under one language and a northern civilization, rather than that of a Latin race, placed the emigration to the north Pacific in historical relutions of the widest scope, and, as affecting race mixtures, of the utmost human interest. By reason of their geographical position the North Americans were now enabled to lay one hand upon the Atlantic and the other upon the Pacific, midway between the Occident and the Orient, and within easy reach of the great populations of both, and thus permanently placed in possession of the central and commanding situation of the civilized world as it is to be.

We have traced out the broad road made by nature in the valley of the Yukon, forming the north-western extremity of the cordilleran plateau, and along which

EFFECT ON POPULATIONS.

665

it is believed by the foremost students of ethnological science that the native Americans probably emigrated to the New World from Asia; their affinities both of race and language being those of the Asiatic subdivision of mankind.

The races of the west and those of the east, brought face to face, though separated by the extent of the broad Pacific, have nevertheless had established between them a line of communication physically indicated by the trend of the cordillera, and the islands of the ocean extending in a genial climate between Asia and America, formed the commercial highway of the Russians from their Asiatic coast to the northwest coast of America.

Briefly as we have glanced at the physical conditions under which the emigrations from east and west have been influenced and directed, until finally they have come together, it is noteworthy that they still exert, and must continue to exert, a like influence, in a greater degree as the progress of settlement, of industry, and of wealth shall enhance the importance of communications: a permanent guide to the student of history who would attempt to read the future.

CHAPTER XXI.

MACKENZIE'S VOYAGE.

1789-1793.

ORIGIN, OCCUPATION, AND CHARACTER OF ALEXANDER MACKENZIE - HIS JOURNEY TO THE ARCTIC OCEAN AND RETURN - EMBARKS AT FORT CHEPEWYAN FOR THE PACIFIC-PROCEEDS UP PEACE RIVER-WINTERS AT FORK FORT-CONTINUES HIS JOURNEY THE FOLLOWING MAY-ARRIVES AT THE FINLAY BRANCH-TURNS SOUTHWARD INTO PARSNIP RIVER-ASCENDS A BRANCH OF THIS STREAM TO ITS SOURCE-PORTAGE AT THE GREAT DIVIDE-DESCENDS BAD RIVER TO THE FRASER, WHICH THE PARTY FOllow as far aS QUESNELLE-RETURN TO A TRAIL ABOVE WEST ROAD RIVER-STRIKE OUT OVERLAND FOR THE WESTERN OCEANROUTE-ARRIVE AT FRIENDLY VILLAGE-GREAT VILLAGE-RASCALS' VILLAGE-REACH THE SEA AT BENTINCK NORTH ARM-OBSERVATIONSTRACES OF VANCOUVER-RETURN-TROUBLES WITH THE NATIVES-NARROW ESCAPES-REACH FRASER RIVER-ARRIVE AT FORT FORK-THE JOURNEY COMPLETED.

We come now to the first passage by a European of the Rocky Mountains north of California. This honor belongs to Alexander Mackenzie, a native of Inverness, knighted by George III. for his distinguished services. Emigrating to Canada while yet a young man, in 1779 he entered the service, as clerk, of Mr Gregory of Montreal, a prominent fur-trader of that day, and subsequently a partner in the Northwest Company. After remaining with Gregory for five years, he engaged in business on his own account, becoming partner, first with Pangman and Gregory, and later in the Northwest Company.

Mr Mackenzie possessed a vigorous mind and a fine physique. In form he was of medium stature and of spare muscular build, symmetrical, very strong, lithe