Amazing Facts

That at $295 a share, the Panama Railroad was at one time the highest-priced stock on the New York Stock Exchange?

That the PRR was the most expensive (per mile) railroad ever built? It cost 8 million dollars and took 5 years to build.

That in 1913 the Panama Railroad transported 2,916,657 passengers and hauled 2,026,852 tons of freight across the Isthmus. At this time it was reported to have the heaviest per-mile traffic of any railroad in the world.

That at US$25.00 in gold, for 47.5 miles, the PRR was the most expensive railroad (per mile) to travel?

That more than 12,000 people died in the construction of the Panama Railroad?

That forty-seven and a half miles of railroad required 170 bridges and culverts of 15 feet or more, and 134 bridges and culverts of less that 15 feet?

That disposing of the dead was becoming such a problem, that the Railroad started “pickling” the bodies in barrels and selling them to medical schools? The proceeds were then used to build a hospital for the railroad.

That during the first 12 years of its operations, the Panama Railroad carried over $750,000,000 in gold dust, nuggets, and gold and silver coin and collected a quarter of one percent on each shipment.

That the Panama Canal would have been impossible to build without the Panama Railroad?

That the Panama Railroad was instrumental in bringing about the independence of the Republic of Panama?

That the PRR gave birth to the city of Aspinwall (now called Colon)?

Other sites of interest:

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