Chiriqui Commission Expedition Original Manuscript, Panama

"ANOTHER MULE JOB": THE FIRST AMERICAN SURVEY OF THE ISTHMUS OF CHIRIQUI: THE MANUSCRIPT TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF THE CHIRIQUI COMMISSION EXPEDITION (1860), THE RESULT OF A LAND SPECULATION SCHEME OF AN AREA WHICH LINCOLN WOULD SOON PROMOTE AS A HOME FOR COLONIZED FREE NEGROES FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.: FIVE SCROLLS TOTALING OVER 80 FEET IN LENGTH

[CHIRIQUI COMMISSION EXPEDITION, PANAMA ]. [MORTON, Lt. James St. Clair (1829-1864) U.S. Army Topographical Engineer]. Long, legible AMs by Lt. Morton, heavily corrected, being a preliminary report of his topographical survey for the Chiriqui Commission for the purpose of establishing coaling stations for the U. S. Navy. 5 scrolls of sheets joined end-to-end totaling over 70 feet in length, the equivalent of approx. 80pp. Foolscap, and over 22,000 words in substance. N.p., [1860? or Jan. 1861?].

A wonderfully descriptive and important mid-19th century manuscript of exploration concerned with American national security. Being a new country, the United States got into the exploration and expansion business late, but here, at the end of the era of "Manifest Destiny", is an effort to expand the Military and commercial might of the country. Although unsigned, this heavily corrected manuscript is in the hand of Lt. James St. Clair Morton, engineer in charge of the Chiriqui Expedition. The son of the distinguished Philadelphia anatomist Samuel George Morton, he was a West Point graduate, a skilled engineer, author, and brave soldier. He was killed leading the attack on Petersburg, June 17, 1864 (see DAB). His final report can be found in Chiriqui Commission. Message from the President of the United States, transmitting reports from the Chiriqui Commission, 36th Congress, 2d Session. House. Ex. Doc. No. 41, Washington [1861], a copy of which we include with this manuscript. Referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs, the Commission was, according to the printed report, "to examine the coal upon the lands of the Chiriqui Improvement Company, the Harbors of Chiriqui Lagoon and Golfito, the practicability of a railroad across Chiriqui Isthmus, and the value of a contract made by the Navy Department with the Chiriqui Improvement Company. Frederick Engle in command of the Commission." The Chiriqui Improvement Company, the brainchild of Ambrose W. Thompson, was an attempt to get Congress to pay a significant sum for rights to land controlled by Thompson for naval coaling stations and fortifications on the Isthmus of Chiriqui. His son, Ambrose Thompson, Jr., accompanied the expedition by authority of the Secretary of the Navy, Isaac Toucey.

Morton's significant deletions which are many and large are easily readable, and, of course, do not appear in the printed report. More importantly, there are large sections of the manuscript that are unpublished, particularly accounts of the expedition which do not relate to Morton's primary purpose and which, although very interesting to the reader, he evidently deemed not germane to a government report; specifics about jungle and mountain travel on foot, inter-actions with native Indians, and general personal observations. A significant amount has been amended, and we would estimate that at least a third or more of the manuscript was not included in the printed report and is thus unpublished. Conversely, being a preliminary manuscript, there are parts not here which are in the printed report. This nearly completes the circle. The very end of the manuscript is not here, nor are four short pieces which appear as appendices in the printed version: a barometrical report, a short one on the least promising rout, one about track adhesion, and one about local wood. "Note C-Appendix" is here, four pages of manuscript about rolling stock on railroads constructed on very high grades.

The New York Times reported news from Washington on Thursday, Nov. 29, 1860, of the arrival of the heads of the Chiriqui Survey. "They bring the official reports to Government. The surveying party have endured great hardships by the heavy rain. Lieut. Morton's party have encountered and surmounted greater difficulties than the famous [Naval Lieutenant Issac G.] Strain party [1854] some years ago, but the determined energy of its leader triumphed. The rivers throughout the plains had in some places overflowed the country, and for many miles through the water Morton and his party waded, establishing a true and solid line of road. The passes of the mountains on the first examination were believed impracticable. Morton said a pass should be found; he discovered it, and his companions gave it his name."

The U.S.S. Brooklyn, the first screw sloop of war authorized by Congress, under the command of David Farragut, left Norfolk, Virginia, on August 13, 1860, carrying the party assigned to survey the Isthmus of Chiriqui, arriving at Frenchman's creek August 24th. Farragut commanded the Brooklyn until relieved by Capt. William S. Walker, 20th October. This is Morton's heavily corrected manuscript report of his topographical survey conducted during the almost three months' expedition, 24 August-13 November, 1860, a narrative of dangerous mountain paths up to 8000 feet, swollen rivers necessitating difficult river crossings by raft with men in the water with alligators, incessant rain, wading through swamps, jungle damp, days spent in canoes on the Pacific Coast, spoiled food, marching in woolen clothing, marching in sand, the hot sun, mountain cold, insects, etc. The expedition was commanded by naval Captain Frederick Engle, accompanied by Lt. Morton, John Evans (Owen's Survey of Wisconsin, 1848) hydrographer W. N. Jeffers (Rodgers and Ringgold Expedition, 1853), and W.M. Gabb (California Geological Surveys, 1853).

There are two sections to Morton's manuscript. The first is a detailed account of the travels and activities of Morton's surveying party during the expedition, with wonderfully detailed descriptions of the varied and interesting countryside, jungle and volcanic, interactions with natives, the occasional plantation owner, and the governor of the province who helped Morton after he had been betrayed by a Negro he had employed. Morton's descriptions of the hardships of bush travel are striking. Morton does not identify himself by name, but all other members of the party are identified, including the appearance mid-way through the survey, of naval Lt. William Jeffers (see DAB). In the second section Morton confines himself to a long "inquiry into the mechanical elements of the problem."

Morton begins: "I have the honour to submit the following Report of the manner in which the 'Topographical Division' of the Chiriqui Commission has been conducted, and the accompanying Map & Profile [not present] of the country surveyed together with some information touching the value of the privileges proposed to be conveyed in the provisional contract of A[mbrose] W. Thompson…" He begins the second section by stating his belief that "the country offers no difficulties that cannot be overcome to the construction & working of a railroad between the Lagoon & Golfito. A demonstration of the correctness of such an opinion would involve inquiries into the economical, and even the political aspects of the question. Considerable research of statistics would be required to ascertain what kinds of freight, and in what quantities, would be likely to prefer the transit route to the voyage round the Horn on their way to China, Japan or the Pacific coast…The manner in which such a road, supposing it to be completed and its harbours fortified and garrisoned, would add to the defensive strength of the United States and increase the cohesion between its Pacific and Eastern divisions; and control over the entire western continent which they would be in a position to acquire, are points which bear on the question of practicability…" Morton's report demonstrated that a practicable route for a line of railroad had been found between the two oceans, on the Isthmus of Chiriqui.

Morton's party was comprised of four surveyors, Messrs Jekyll, Wilson, Babcock & [Frederick] Engle Jr., two chairmen, two guides, including Ambrose Thompson, Jr., as well as natives hired to carry instruments and baggage, about 84 pounds each, across the rugged mountains. Morton mentions his journal [owned by the Library Company of Philadelphia]: "I do not deem it necessary to quote in

full my journal of each days march, but it may be useful to give a general idea of the mode in which I found that the movements of a party of this size must of necessity be conducted in the mountainous regions of this part of Central America." Time and money were short and "The quantity of work to be done was very considerable. The Cañon, and the Savanna, had to be surveyed with the instruments, and the Pass in the mountains and the region between it and the Lagoon both explored and surveyed. The country between the Golfito and the Cañon (of which I received such contradictory accounts that I suspected, and it turned out rightly, that nothing was known of its character) required exploration and at least a Topographical Survey…" Morton divided his party into two groups, his group surveying the Pacific Coast. Their diet consisted of rice and dried beef, supplemented by coconuts and such wild turkeys and red monkeys as they killed. He describes harvesting coconuts and how wasteful he thought the natives who cut down the tree to get the nuts. He determined that the harbor of Golfito was ideal for a military and commercial settlement as the Pacific terminus of the railroad. He names a peak there after Secretary of War John Floyd. "No engineer can fail to be struck with admiration at the extraordinary combination of commercial and military facilities which are afforded by the Golfito, and they seem able of being concentrated at this single point." At the end of his "mechanical" report Morton mentions M. [Eugene] Flachat, a French civil engineer, and writes "There can however be little doubt that if the inventive genius of this country was interested in perfecting the mechanism perfected by M. Flachat, trains of a not too costly pattern and of a size to give good profile could be drawn over such a road as I have proposed to locate." Morton notes that he drew over 30 sketches and profiles for the report to Congress, present whereabouts unknown to us, if indeed they are extant.

The New York Times looked askance at the Chiriqui Improvement Company, and published several articles in 1860 against the scheme, one entitled "Another Mule Job." Thompson was loath to let his scheme die, and a year or so later it became one of Abraham Lincoln's pet projects to send free Negroes from Washington, D.C. to colonize the Chiriqui area and provide labor to fuel the fleet. The colonization scheme never got off the ground because of the Civil War, but Thompson's "improvement company" was news again in 1882, reported by the New York Times, and, we have found, again in 1905. Minor defects, generally very good.