This map of the Americas is used in the exhibit to display the routes used by ships carrying mail,
cargo and passengers from the East to the West coast.
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In the years before steamships, clipper ships provided passage from the East Coast to the West Coast
by way of Cape Horn. In 1851 the Flying Cloud, true to its name, carried letters and passengers from
New York around Cape Horn to San Francisco in a record-breaking 89 days.
However, a three-month journey was not fast enough for those eager to make their way to California
following the discovery of gold there in 1848. Nor was it fast enough for those already in California
anxiously awaiting news from home. Responding to the jump in demand, coastal steamers quickly became
the central communication link between the East and West Coasts.
The Pacific Mail Steamship Company contracted with the U.S. government to carry the mail from Panama
north to San Francisco by ship. By mid-century two companies monopolized the Panamanian Isthmus route,
linking East and West Coast communications. George Law's U.S. Mail Steamship Company operated on the
Atlantic coast, and William H. Aspinwall's Pacific Mail Steamship Company, on the Pacific. Tickets from
New York to California ranged from $400 in first class to $125 in steerage, and passengers paid their
own way across the Panamanian Isthmus.
The 50-mile journey by mule, wagon, or on foot along jungle trails was difficult, and many fell ill. In
1851 the Vanderbilt Line opened a route through Nicaragua, all but 12 miles of it by water, giving
California-bound travelers a more comfortable alternative to Panama. The exhausting overland trip across
Panama became faster and easier in 1855 when the Panamanian Railroad began operations.
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The Central America, with 423 passengers and crew, tons of mail and freight, and over $1 million
in gold on board, sunk in a storm off Cape Hatteras on September 12, 1857.
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