Views of the World, Colon, Panama

Was this the view from the boat?  Colon, Panama was founded in 1850, by Americans building the Panama Railroad, the precursor to the Panama Canal.  It was a pretty simple idea actually, if you wanted to get to San Francisco and the gold fields, didn't want to go cross country, or around the horn, you got off the boat in Panama, went across the isthmus and caught another boat for S.F.  The American builders called the new community Aspinwal, after American businessman William Henry Aspinwal.  The local workers preferred Colon, after Christopher Columbus, Colon in Spanish.  Originally the town was on Manzanillo Island, completely surrounded by Manzanillo Bay, Limon Bay, and the Folks River.  Since the return of the Panama Canal, which replaced the railroad, communities on the mainland have been incorporated into Colon.

Click on Views of the World to see other postcards in the set.