| During the construction of the Panama Canal,
much of the work to complete the Canal was done in the Culebra Cut. Because of this, many
little villages were constructed along the west bank of the soon to be Culebra Cut. These
were known as the Culebra Cut Villages. These included Bas Obispo, Haut Obispo, Camp
Elliott, Las Cascadas, Camp Otis, Empire, and Culebra. There were other little hamlets and
fincas along the way as well. In it’s peak, the Culebra Cut Villages were big and
offered just about everything a normal permanent town would. Stores, Markets, Churches,
Clubhouses, Post Office, Fire Station, Police Station, Hospital/Clinics and more could be
found in each of these villages. This
presentation is about two of these villages, or should I say one. Camp Otis and Las
Cascadas were basically within the same village border but were identified with separate
names. I wanted to do a presentation on Camp Otis for the CZ Images Military History
section. As I began research, I found how the two villages were tied together so closely,
I decided to keep them together here as well. I have walked the land that these two
villages once stood on while looking for bottles and relics. Parts of the old village and
camp could still be seen then.
The name Las Cascadas means "the waterfalls" or
"cascades". Here the Obispo River formerly tumbled over a precipice forty feet
high on its way to the Rio Chagres. This village dates from the French times, when it
became the site of a labor camp. Under the Americans it continued as one of the centers of
canal life. Here were established a engine-house, where forty locomotives used to tie up
for the night to be cleaned out an made ready for their morrow’s work, and an
air-compressor plant to supply air to the drills in the north end of Culebra Cut. It does
not appear on maps prior to 1880 and was not touched by the old trail that ran through
Obispo on its way to Panama. In 1908, Las Cascadas had 2,425 inhabitants - 957 whites,
1,424 blacks and 44 others. - "The Panama Guide", by John O. Colins, 1912
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