Page:Panama-past-present-Bishop.djvu/13

 PREFACE

HIS book has been made possible by the kind assistance of many friends, to whom the author wishes to express his deepest gratitude. First and foremost, thanks are due to his father, Joseph Bucklin Bishop; who, ever since he became Secretary of the Isthmian Canal Commission, has been the official source of information for all who have either written or lectured about the Isthmus of Panama. Colonel Goethals and the men under him, from gang-foremen to divisional engineers, have been uniformly courteous and helpful. The librarians of Harvard University, the New York Historical Society, and the New York Public Library, have given every facility for historical research. Special thanks are due to the publishers of The World's Work, St. Nicholas, and the Harvard Illustrated Magazine, for permission to republish parts of articles written for them; and to Professor Kemp of Columbia University for authoritative information concerning the geologic formation of the Isthmus, and the closing of the prehistoric Straits of Panama.

It is hoped that this book will appeal to the average boy, as it is mainly about the two things that interest Rh