English: 1855 account of the opening of the Panama Railroad (with freight rates). The Western Journal and Civilian. Vol. XIII, No. 6. M. Carver & T. Cobb, Editors and proprietors, St. Louis, Missouri, May, 1855 (The Cooper Collections)

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Panama Railroad Completed.
Laying the foundation of the monument to be erected in comemoration of the work.

The opening of this highway between the two great oceans was celebrated on the 16th day of February, 1855. Hon. J.B.Bowlin, of Mo., Minister from the U.S. to New Grenada, being on his way to Bogota, delivered a very neat and appropriate address on the occasion. The completion of this great enterprise will forever stand out as a prominent event in the history of civilization, and we congratulate Judge Bowlin upon his good fortune in being present and having an opportunity of officiating in the ceremonies of the day. The Panama Railroad was chartered by the Legislature of New York by an act of April 7, 1849, and in June of the same year, the company was organized. Partial surveys having been made, a party of thirty men commenced clearing the ground early in 1850. Whole length of road 49 miles, cost about $7,000,000. We copy the following remarks and tariff of charges from the "American Railway Times" of February 15, 1855.

Tariff on the Panama Railway.—This road has been finished throughout, and a letter from Major Totten, the Engineeer, gives a very favorable account of its efficiency. At the last account the road was in full operation, and business was so good that the Superintendent had no time to write in detail to the Company. The British mail steamer Dee had arrived with 750 packages goods for the west coast of South America, which was being transported over the road, and the next steamer would bring 1,500 packages. The agent of the steamer line predicts a very large business from this source. We annex the tariff of the passenger and freight rates on this road, as a curiousity. The rates of transportation over a road only about 50 miles long will, to the comprehension of our northern managers, appear truely enormous. The reasons for some of the distinctions between different classes of freight are not very apparent, but time, probably, will arrange all the discrepancies:

Tariff of Rates for Passage and Freight.—Price of passage through, $25; children under 12 years of age, half price.

Commutation, for residents of the Isthmus only, $50 p. month.

Special Rates of Freight.—Expense freight for passenger trains, 10 cents per pound.

Express freight for freight trains, 6c. per lb.

Baggage of passengers, 10c. per lb.

Gold, one quarter of 1 per cent.

Silver one half of 1 per cent.

Jewelry and precious stones, one quarter of 1 per cent.

Indigo and cochineal, 2 cents per lb.

Bark, 2 cents per lb.

Coffee and Cocoa, 1 cent per lb.

Coal in bulk, $9 per ton, 2,240 lb.

Coal in bags, $7 per ton, 2,240 lb.

Iron in pigs, $7.50 per ton, 2,240 lb.

Iron, wrought, cast or rolled, except machinery, $10 per ton, 2,240 lb.

Lumber—White Pine, per 1000 feet, $18.

Yellow Pine, per 1000 feet, $20.

Oak, per 1000 feet, $22.

Shingles, per 1000, $5.

Horses, at owner's risk, each $40.

Mules, at owner's risk, each $20.

Cattle, at owner's risk, each $7.

Swine, of all sizes, $2.

Demijohns, filled, 5 gallons, each $2

Whale oil, per gallon, 5 cents.

Classification of Freight.—First class freight, as per description annexed, 3 cents per lb.

Second class frieght, as per description annexed, 2c. per lb.

Third class freight, as per description annexed, 1c. per lb.

All articles not specifically named, to be assimulated.

First Class.—Dry Goods, Clothing, Medicines, Wines and Liquors, Cigars, Books and Stationary, Glassware, Furniture, Hats and Caps, Tea, Boots and Shoes, Harness, Preserved Meats and Fruits, Eggs in barrels and boxes, Carriages, Fire-arms, Hollow Ware, Umbrellas, Matches, Stoves, Mats, Nuts.

Second Class.—Machinery, Crockery, Hides, Leather, Ale and Porter, Tobacco, Hardware and Cutlery, Groceries not enumerated, Hams and bacon in casks, Butter and Cheese, Lard, Oranges, Lemons, Bananas, Cocoa Nuts, Chocolate, Candles, Cassave, Oil in barrels going West, Paints.

Third Class.—Beef, Pork, Fish, Flour, Corn, Rice, Meal, Salt, Bread, Crackers, Vegetables, Sugar, Molasses, Steel in bars and boxes, Copper,-Nails and Spikes, Rope in bales, Rosin, Tar, Pitch, Dye Woods, Iron Castings, Bricks, Cement, Lime, Stone and Marble, Tea castward.