Gamboa, Panama
Encyclopedia
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Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
townships, built to house employees of the Panama Canal and their dependents. The name Gamboa is the name of a tree of the quince family.
Location
Gamboa is located on a sharp bend of the Chagres RiverChagres River
The Chagres River is a river in central Panama. The central part of the river is dammed by the Gatun Dam and forms Gatun Lake, an artificial lake that constitutes part of the Panama Canal. Upstream lies the Madden Dam, creating the Alajuala Lake that is also part of the Canal water system...
at the point which feeds Lake Gatun. Just south of Gamboa, Lake Gatun and the Chagres meet the Gaillard Cut
Gaillard Cut
The Gaillard Cut, or Culebra Cut, is an artificial valley that cuts through the continental divide in Panama. The cut forms part of the Panama Canal, linking Lake Gatún, and thereby the Atlantic Ocean, to the Gulf of Panama and hence the Pacific Ocean...
where the Canal cuts through the Continental Divide
Continental Divide
The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...
. Thus, though Gamboa is closer to the Pacific side of Panama, its watershed is on the Atlantic side. A single lane iron and wood bridge crosses the Chagres and is the only road access to Gamboa. This bridge is still in use today. Vehicles waiting to pass over the bridge must wait for a stoplight to enter the bridge, since it is only capable of providing space for one lane of traffic at a time. In December 2010 this bridge was the site of massive flooding and huge floating islands passing under the bridge, with trees violently hitting it, which led to the temporary closure of the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
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History
Gamboa was built near the site of the former village of Santa Cruz. Three miles further up the ChagresChagres
Chagres, a village of the Republic of Panama in the Colón Province. It has a harbour from 10 to I ~ ft. deep, which is difficult to enter. The port was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502, and was opened for traffic with Panama, on the Pacific coast, by way of the Chagres River, in the 16th...
river was the town of Las Cruces, where 19th century travelers and cargo disembarked from river barges to take the overland Las Cruces trail by mule. After the completion of the Panama Railroad in 1855, the railroad ran near the area, but made no stops and no PR maps list any towns in Gamboa's present location.
Present-day Gamboa was built in 1911, during Canal construction. It was initially populated by "silver roll" (i.e., Afro-Antilleans and other non-US, non-white) workers and their dependents. These initial settlers, counted at around 700, had previously lived in the construction areas between the former towns of Tabernilla and Gorgona, which were covered by Lake Gatun as Canal construction advanced. No Americans were counted amongst the town's first inhabitants.
By 1914, at the conclusion of Canal construction activities, Gamboa's population decreased to 173 and the town consisted of a police station, a four-family house which had been brought in from the former town of Empire, and a two-family house brought from the former town of Culebra, and several old railroad box cars used to house silver roll employees. The first commissary, operated by a division of the Panama Canal Company/Canal Zone Government, also operated out of three box cars.
After many years of studies and debates, the Panama Canal Company moved its Dredging Division from the town of Paraiso
Paraíso
Paraíso, the Spanish and Portuguese word for paradise, or paraiso, the Tagalog equivalent, may refer to:-Places:Belize*Paraiso, Belize; see Districts of BelizeBrazil*Paraíso, Santa Catarina*Paraíso, São PauloCosta Rica*Paraíso, Costa Rica...
to Gamboa in 1936. In 1933, when a three-man board appointed by Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
Governor J.L. Schley studied the feasibility of moving the Dredging Division to Gamboa, the population was 251, including just 10 Americans. The first Dredging Division families began moving into the newly-built town of Gamboa in September 1936. Within a year, the town's population jumped to 1,419 and by 1942, the town reached its peak population—3,853.
The new residents of Gamboa built their civic center with their own hands and funds. It was initially used as a USO to entertain troops stationed in nearby hills, but later became headquarters of the Civic Council. The Civic Council and Gamboa's residents also built the Gamboa Golf and Country Club, on the Gamboa Ridge, overlooking the Chagres
Chagres
Chagres, a village of the Republic of Panama in the Colón Province. It has a harbour from 10 to I ~ ft. deep, which is difficult to enter. The port was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502, and was opened for traffic with Panama, on the Pacific coast, by way of the Chagres River, in the 16th...
river. The men in the town hammered, sawed and poured concrete while the women brought picnic lunches and tended barbecues. The Club was officially opened on January 1, 1939 and eventually included a 9-hole golf course.
Gamboa, like most Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
towns, had its own commissary, post office, school, churches (five of them), railroad station, fire station and gas station. For much of the town's history, Gamboa's non-US, non-white population lived in a separate part of town called Santa Cruz. This included 50 families moved from La Boca in October 1954 when that town was depopulated and converted into a white housing area.
Not all Gamboans worked for the Dredging Division. Because of its remote location and distance from other Canal Zone towns, Gamboa was seen as less desirable than some of the other Panama Canal Company/Canal Zone Government's townships, and since housing in the Canal Zone was assigned based on seniority, many of the new arrivals to the "Zone", as it became known to its residents (Zonians), were initially assigned housing here before becoming eligible for housing in other towns. U.S. military personnel and their dependents lived in Gamboa during the 1940s due to the shortage of housing on the local military bases. U.S. personnel continued living in Gamboa until the total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Panama in 1999.
Over time as the Panama Canal Company/Canal Zone Government began to transfer operations to Panama following the 1977 Panama Canal Treaties, some of the services offered in Gamboa were shut down. The most visible closures were the commissary and movie theater, which were boarded up throughout the 1980s. The demise of the Panama Railroad in the late 1980s further cut the town off from the rest of the Canal area.
Gamboa's elementary school was built in 1937 by the Panama Canal Company/Canal Zone Government Division of Schools. It consisted of 3 classrooms, a library, and principal's office upstairs, with a kindergarten classroom underneath. The school was transferred to the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) in 1979 after the abolition of the Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
and its government. That school year, its total enrollment was 115. Three U.S. grade school teachers were employed and classes were paired up, with first and second grade sharing one room, third and fourth grade sharing a room, and fifth and sixth grade sharing the third classroom. A physical education teacher was also employed for the school's gymnasium, which was inside a separate building. Since December 1980, a small space underneath the school has operated as a mini-shopette. Total enrollment for the 1987-1988 school year was down to 53. In June 1988, with a projected enrollment of just 40 students for the 1988-1989 school year, DoDDS closed the Gamboa Elementary School. Starting in 1988, all students were bused to Balboa Elementary. Following Operation "Just Cause" in December 1989, the school building was used as a local headquarters for U.S. Military Police.
Gamboa's golf course became a Boy Scout camp for several years, but remained inactive in the last years of the Treaty reversion period.
Gamboa today
The town of Gamboa is still inhabited, but as a shadow of its former self, maintained, but without the vibrancy and civic spirit it once enjoyed. Many of its houses are not inhabited and several public buildings are underutilized. It remains the primary headquarters of the Dredging Division of the Panama Canal Authority (formerly PCC).The Dredging Division's docks are used by light ferries to reach the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States, is dedicated to understanding biological diversity. What began in 1923 as small field station on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal Zone has developed...
(STRI) facilities at Barro Colorado Island.
Gamboa is home to caymans, crocodiles, iguanas, and several hundred bird species. Given its location at the "end of the road" and the single road connecting it to the rest of the Canal Zone, Gamboa is adjacent to significant tracts of relatively undisturbed rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
. A trail that follows an old pipeline ("Pipeline Road") is considered one of the best birding hikes in Panama. It is one of the premiere bird watching sites in all of Central America. Many amateur birdwatchers join ornithologists for yearly bird counts held near Gamboa by the Audubon Society of Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
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The old Spanish colonial era Las Cruces Trail used to carry precious metals and supplies between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans passes near Gamboa, though parts of it are now underwater.
The Gamboa Rainforest Resort, a hotel offering access to the nearby forest, is the town's main attraction today, attracting tourists from all around the world. An especially large population of tourists visit the resort through a Noolitours package only offered to citizens of Canada. Built in the Gamboa Ridge area, the Resort incorporates the former 9 hole golf course (although it is not maintained or in use), the town's Clubhouse and a row of typical Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
wooden quarters on Goethals Boulevard. The area is also home to many opossums, jaguarundis, and iguanas. The Resort is also equipped with 2 tennis courts and a gazebo, providing tourists with an excellent view of the lake and beautiful sunrises.
Gatun Lake Benefits
Created in 1913 by the damming of the Chagres River, Gatun Lake is an essential part of the Panama Canal which forms a water passage between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, permitting ship transit in both directions. At the time it was formed, Gatun Lake was the largest man-made lake in the world. The impassable rainforest around Gatun Lake has been the best defense of the Panama Canal. Today these areas have endured practically unscathed by human interference and are one of the few accessible areas on earth that various native Central American animal and plant species can be observed undisturbed in their natural habitat. World famous Barro Colorado Island, which was established for scientific study when the lake was formed and is today operated by the Smithsonian Institution, is the largest island on Gatun Lake. Many of the most important ground breaking scientific and biological discoveries of the tropical animal and plant kingdom originated here. Lake Gatun encompasses approximately 180 square miles (466.2 km²), a vast tropical ecological zone part of the Atlantic Forest Corridor and eco-tourism on Gatun Lake has become a worthwhile industry for Panamanians especially in and around Gamboa. Gatun Lake also serves to provide the millions of gallons of water necessary to operate the Panama Canal locks each time a ship passes through and provides drinking water for Panama City and Colon. Angling is one of the primary recreational pursuits on Gatun Lake. It is suspected that the Cichla Pleiozona species of Peacock Bass was introduced by accident to Gatun Lake by a renowned Panamanian aquarist and doctor in 1958. Locally called Sargento, these peacock bass are not a native game fish of Panama but originate from the Amazon, Rio Negro and Orinoco river basins of South America where they are called Tucanare or Pavon and are considered a premier game fish. Since 1958 the Cichla Pleiozona species of Peacock Bass have flourished to become the dominant angling game fish in Gatun Lake of the Panama Canal. The aggressive fish is an angler's dream come true. They hit topwater lures, subsurface lures imitating baitfish, and a variety of fly patterns. When hooked, they perform admirably, generating a respectable fight on appropriate tackle. Oddly, they have a preference for feeding during daylight hours. Lake Gatun remains to this day, as it has been for more than 50 years, one of the best peacock bass angling lakes in the world.In popular culture
In the movie The Tailor of PanamaThe Tailor of Panama
The Tailor of Panama is a 2001 American film based on the 1996 spy novel of the same name by John le Carré, which was inspired by Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana...
the character played by Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years...
stays at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort, and has a meal at a waterside restaurant in Gamboa. In the background of the opening shot of this sequence, you can see the iron and wood bridge that leads to Gamboa, with an ocean liner behind it.
The Gamboa Rainforest Resort is a 5-star hotel located in Gamboa. The Resort has developed 2 Indian reservations (Embera and Wounaa) an aerial tram to visit the jungle canopy, and many other attractions which now draw many people to the otherwise sleepy town.