Photo of the Week

This is one of the best early Gamboa photos I have come across in a long time!! There is so much going on in this old photo. First, both floating cranes Hercules and Ajax are tied up at the Dredging Division's docks. This is only the second photo I have seen with both cranes in Gamboa. Canal Zone Images Photo of the Week, June 17, 2000 also shows both cranes. In fact, this photo may have been taken on the same day.

Points of interest are:

This photo was taken with a great camera, as it shows both quarters 163 and the cranes/Canal in focus. This must have a been a great lens and photographer to get this depth of field captured so good.

This is house 163 which is truly a tropical quarters at this time. No air-conditioning available. As you can see this house was designed with windows all the way around the front and side of the house. The windows at this time are those that slide up and down. When I left Panama in '96, these windows were all solid panes of glass.

Another great part of this photo is the old car with someone getting out. This person has a helmet type hat on and I presume a dredging division engineer or worker of some type.

There is a U.S. flag flying on the left, which I would believe is at the old Gamboa Police Station.

The commy and clubhouse are seen, but out of focus. There is a ship tied up along the reserve fleet area. Not sure why, but it is seen in the photo on the right.

One other observation. I noted when blowing up the photo at 600 dpi, house 163 had name boards with the resident's name on it. These name boards were required at one time in the Canal Zone, but was phased out in modern times. I have my Dad's name board that he must have been assigned when he first got housing in the late 40's.

Enough...as you can see, this is a really great old photo and I would like to thank my good friend Vicente Pascual for sending me this original post card to show you and for my collection.

Long live the memories of Gamboa, Canal Zone!!