# Panama Railroad Company Founded (7 April 1849)

URL: https://allhistories.com/panama/timeline/1849-panama-railroad-company-founded
Location: New York, USA
Themes: main-event

Even before the gold rush, American investors saw the potential of a railway across the narrowest part of the American continent. In 1848 the New York shipping magnate William Henry Aspinwall, owner of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, joined the travel writer and diplomat John Lloyd Stephens, famous for his books on Maya ruins, and the financier Henry Chauncey in a scheme to link the Caribbean and Pacific steamship services by rail. Stephens travelled to Bogotá to secure a concession from the government of New Granada, formalised in a contract of 1850, granting exclusive rights to build and run a railway across the isthmus for 49 years, together with grants of public land. The Panama Railroad Company was incorporated by the New York State legislature on 7 April 1849 with capital of one million dollars, later increased. A survey made in 1849 by Colonel George W. Hughes confirmed a route along the Chagres valley from the Caribbean towards Panama City. The company was one of the earliest large American enterprises abroad. Stephens served as its president until his death in 1852, partly from illnesses contracted in Panama. The railway it built would be the first to cross a continent and would be the decisive asset sold to the French and later the American canal builders. At this point in the timeline (7 April 1849), the President of the Republic of New Granada was José Hilario López (1 April 1849 – 1 April 1853); the Governor of the Province of Panama was Tomás Herrera (1846–1849); the Governor of the Province of Panama was José de Obaldía (1849); the Governor of the Province of Panama was Manuel María Díaz (1849–1850).

## Why it matters
The Panama Railroad Company began the era of large-scale American investment in the isthmus.

Ruler at the Time: [José Hilario López](https://allhistories.com/panama/rulers/jose-hilario-lopez)

Governor of the Province of Panama: Tomás Herrera
Governor of the Province of Panama: José de Obaldía
Governor of the Province of Panama: Manuel María Díaz

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — William Henry Aspinwall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Aspinwall)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Panama Railroad](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Panama+Railroad)
- [Wikipedia — Panama Canal Railway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Railway)
- [Wikipedia — John Lloyd Stephens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lloyd_Stephens)
- [Wikipedia — Panama In Colombia (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Panama_(1821%E2%80%931903))