Excerpt from Panama and Its Bridge of Water<br><br>HE story of a raging stream made navigable, Of a mountain chain bridged by an artificial stream Of water, of climatic conditions overcome, and Of swamps and jungles made a healthful dwelling place reads like a romance, but such is the history Of the building Of the Panama Canal. It was the conviction Of the author in writing this story for young people that it Should be a familiar tale to every school child Of the grammar grades.<br><br>The geography and history Of the past is largely the story Of man adapting himself to natural condi tions. In the Old days physiographic features, such as rivers and mountains, determined routes of travel and commerce. While their effect is still important, the coming of steam and electric power has helped man to conquer nature to an astonishing degree. Deserts are traversed by the iron horse, rivers spanned by monster bridges, and mountains pierced by tunnels. Arid regions are irrigated and made to yield abundantly and great hills are leveled to plains. The men Of the future, instead Of search ing for natural routes, will go about making their own where they will. The explorer has given place to the engineer.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.