Chagres

Chagres, a town of the United States of Colombia, on the N. coast of the Isthmus of Panama, situated at the mouth of the Chagres River. A poor place at best, with a harbour for vessels drawing from 10 to 12 feet of water, it was almost forsaken on the stoppage of the Panama Canal. Pop. 1000. The river Chagres rises about 10 miles NE. of Panama, makes an immense bend round to the NE., and enters the Caribbean Sea. Though towards its mouth it varies in depth from 16 to 30 feet, it is, by reason of its rapidity and its falls, of little use for navigation. The line of the Panama Canal (q.v.) lay partly by the valley of the Chagres.