The plight of the so-called "West Indians" who came by the tens of thousands from the Caribbean islands to the wilder- ness of the Isthmus of Panama at the dawn of the twentieth century and who gave, in most cases, the last ounce of their strengths, and in many cases their lives, to help create the miracle of the Panama Canal, has always been a special and very dear subject to me. The disappearance of La Boca, Ca- nal Zone, as a West Indian town (like many other "silver" towns), and soon perhaps likewise its history as many who once lived there remember it, has provided for me the strongest incentive for writing this book, Songs and Stories of a Digger's Son.
