Last week in Balboa, Canal Zone, local poets competed in a 15-Balboa ($15) prize contest for "the most appropriate poem." Occasion: the Panama Canal's 2 5th birthday. The milestones of the canal, stretching over four centuries of history, now include:
1) A day in 1513 when on a peak in Darien, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, after slogging through malarial jungles, emerged in sight of the Pacific. First man to hit upon the idea of an interoceanic canal was Balboa's companion, Alvaro de Saavedra Ceron.
2) A report made by engineers to Charles V of Spain,...
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