I have been posting photos of people and groups of people for the past
few weeks and we have another one for this week. This is a
unique photo showing the office force that worked for Chief Engineer
Goethals. They are seated in front of the same building that the
movers and shakers were sitting last week. This is the
administration building in the town of Culebra. This photo
is from 1911. I started to look fro some of these in my Makers
of the Panama Canal yearbook, but will have to study this more
later. I did find Ernest Hallen once again. He is sitting
in the second row up, third from the left. I stated weeks ago I
had never seen a picture with Ernest Hallen within and now I have
found three photos. He looks much younger in this photo compared
to the photo I posted from 1927. As official photographer for
the I.C.C, he worked directly for Goethals. Another interesting
thing is that almost ever photo that Hallen took during the
construction of the Panama Canal a copy was given to Goethals per his
request. The Goethals collection is now preserved at the United
States Military Academy Library at West Point. The library has a
great website where you can view hundreds of these photos (click
here). These are the photos that Hallen handed over to
Goethals.
Now.....for the best part of this
photo!! Sitting in the top row, in the middle, is a nice looking
young lady. I was shocked when I first saw her as I have never
seen women in these all men photos. I wonder who she is? I
looked through both copies of my Makers of the Panama Canal and
couldn't find her. I found a couple of other ladies, but two
were teachers and the third a steward. A new goal is to find out
who this lady is. I wonder if she worked for Goethals
directly? His secretary? She is sitting right in front of
Goethals. She has a very nice smile while all the men in the
photo are straight lipped. This is all very interesting indeed.
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