*Leigh Mercer coined this palindrome (the phrase reads the same backwards and forwards) in the Nov. 13, 1948 issue of the Oxford quarterly journal “Notes & Queries.”
From The Glenwood Post, Oct. 30, 1924:
“Mrs. Frank Sweet gave a delightful dinner Tuesday evening in honor of Mrs. Hattie Holland and her guest, Miss Clark. Mrs. Holland and Miss Clark leave Friday for New York. They will go to Los Angeles, going from there by boat through the Panama Canal and the Gulf of Mexico and up the Atlantic Coast to the big city. Mrs. Holland will not return before next spring.”
When 58-year-old widow Hattie (Thompson) Holland left her home in Carbondale to embark on a Central American adventure, the Panama Canal had only been in operation for 10 years. The American government, having financed and built the canal, was in charge of its operation. The American people rightly felt pride and admiration for the monumental engineering accomplishment, so long dreamed of by the world’s shipping enterprises.
In addition to providing a convenient shortcut for ships traveling around the world, the invention and construction of the canal’s intricate lock system fascinated the curious mind. And Mrs. Holland had a curious mind.
Contained in the Carbondale Historical Society’s Thompson/Holland archives are souvenirs of Hattie’s journey to Panama. From these few items, we can glimpse the mind and personality of this turn-of-the century pioneer woman.
Her interest in the construction of the canal is represented by an 8”x6” hardbound book with a cover of tan woven cloth, titled “The Panama Canal” and subtitled “Pictorial View of the World’s Greatest Engineering Feat, Linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, With a Brief History and Description of the Gigantic Undertaking,” by Thomas H. Russell. The book was copyrighted by the Hamming Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, in 1913, a year before the opening of the canal.
Mrs. Holland also purchased a set of labeled black-and-white photographs of the canal during construction and in operation, taken between 1910 and 1923. On the back of one showing a dirt road lined with tropical trees and foliage, titled “Canal Zone Roads, Gaillard Highway,” is a description written in pencil in Hattie’s hand:
“After leaving Colon on this highway for Gatun, you pass Mount Hope Cemetery, sometimes known as Monkey Hill, where multiplied thousands of the victims of the yellow fever scourge lie buried. Old Cristobal, Fort Randolph, France Field which is an aviation station, Caco Solo; a naval station, and Fort Davis; a military station near Gatun, are all passed on the road to Gatun, and add to the zest and variety of the drive.”
We don’t know if Mrs. Holland and Miss Clark hired a car or drove themselves. Either way, it appears they had a pleasurable experience traveling through the Panamanian jungle.
Another of the commercial photos, showing French cruiser Jeanne D’Arc in Pedro Miguel Locks, belies Hattie’s interest in the mechanics of the canal, as she wrote the facts she’d gathered on the back:
“Pedro Miguel Lock sometimes familiarly spoken of as Pete McGill. It is similar to Gatun lock and lowers a ship 30.5 feet to Mira Flores Lake, which is a mile wide. From this point the canal continues eight miles to the Pacific Ocean.”
Being a successful businesswoman and banker in Carbondale, Hattie’s documentation of canal facts included its commercial operations. On a single page of her Pleasant View Ranch stationary, she transcribed from an unknown source:
“More and more Panama is becoming a repair and supply center. Its coaling stations contain a maximum of 700,000 tons of coal, with facilities for loading 500 tons an hour, while 1,440,000 barrels of oil can be stored in its great tanks. The canal tariff for laden freight ships is $1.20 per net ton. In 1924 the tolls on each ship averaged $4,600; 25,704 commercial vessels have passed through the canal carrying about 43,000,000 tons of cargo; $24,290,963 was received during the year ending July 1, 1924, a clear profit above maintenance of about $17,209,572. The cost of the canal was $373,000,000 including the forty million paid to the French canal company. It is the greatest engineering feat in world history, a tremendous work dwarfing all other undertakings of human skill and labor. America can build anything the world wants and has the men and money to do it.”
Though the operation of the canal was eventually turned over to the Panamanian government in perpetuity, its construction will always remain one of America’s great sources of pride.
The original lock gates are still in use, and today’s tourists can experience the canal in the same way Mrs. Holland did 100 years ago. During my recent visit to the “Canal Zone,” I traced Hattie’s steps to some of the places she visited, and though much has changed, Panama is still just as full of wonder and adventure as it was in her time.
Sue Gray is a Carbondale historian and volunteer archivist for the Carbondale Historical Society. She is planning a public presentation called; “Following Hattie to Panama,” date and location to be announced.