The Panama Canal - American Era History at Its Best

The building of the Panama Canal marked the beginning of a new era in American history. America had arrived as a world power, and the Canal was an important demonstration, and component that power.

The story of the building of the Panama Canal should be required reading in our schools. It is a story of magnificent planning, ingenuity, hard work, and dedication.

Until I, myself, read about the building of the Panama Canal, I had no idea what a grand accomplishment it was, and still is. In MY modern era, i.e., the 21st Century, where I see small mountains leveled in a matter of weeks, I didn't realize that even in this day and age, the building of such a canal would still be a monumental task.

And that is not even the whole story. The conquering of Malaria, and Yellow Fever, themselves, is an accomplishment beyond compare, and is a story unto itself.

The numbers are staggering. In digging what is known as the Culebra Cut (through Culebra Mountain), 96 million cubic yards of dirt was removed; and over 19 million pounds of dynamite was used on the Cut, alone.

While a canal across the isthmus of Panama was envisioned by many, it was the French who actually planned and began excavating a canal in 1882.

Ferdinand de Lesseps, credited with building the Suez Canal in Egypt, was the moving force behind the effort to build a canal at Panama. He felt that a canal could be built and operated through private financing, rather than by the French government.

Though he was not an engineer, he  insisted that a sea-level canal be built, as was Suez, rather than a canal with locks. This proved to be a grave mistake, and after several years of excavation, in 1885, design changes were made which added a single lock to the canal.

At Suez, the canal was built at sea-level because the ground is at sea-level. At Panama, this meant creating a small valley by cutting through Culebra Mountain. The task of creating the “Culebra Cut”, as it was known, proved to be grossly underestimated, and that, along with lack of financial backing, and over 20,000 deaths attributed to disease (Yellow Fever and Malaria), eventually led to the failure of the French company, and the French effort, in 1889.

A new French company was formed in 1894, in a vain attempt to complete the canal.

At the same time, America had been investigating the possibility of building a canal. In 1899, a commission eventually recommended building a lock canal in Nicaragua, instead of Panama. President McKinley was prepared to sign a bill to begin construction of the canal, however, he was assassinated in 1901, before he could sign the bill.

His predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, was also an advocate of building a canal, and was especially keen on such a project after a well-publicized incident during the Spanish War in which an American battleship, the Oregon, had to make a two-month trip around South America, from San Francisco, to join the war (which was nearly over). A canal was necessary if America was to assert it's power, and engage the world community.

It seemed that a canal was going to be built at Nicaragua. It had backing from politicians, and regular citizens, alike. It seemed that the die was cast, until the new French company offered to sell their holding's at Panama for 40 million dollars, instead of their original asking price of 100 million dollars.

The lower price made the construction of a canal at Panama more practical than at Nicaragua. It took a major effort to change the minds of Americans, and gain support for a Panama Canal, but, eventually, in 1902, funding was authorized to build the canal at Panama.

The American era construction of the canal did not begin until 1904. In the meantime, the United States attempted to negotiate an agreement with Colombia to build a canal in the province of Panama. But negotiating with the unstable, and ever-changing, Colombian government proved to be impossible. In 1903, Panama declared it's independence from Colombia, with the backing of American military might. In 1904, the American congress ratified a treaty with the new government of Panama that opened the door to construction of the Panama Canal. The history of Panama was forever tied to American era history.

The Panama Canal construction began in 1904, and was officially completed in August of 1914. The fact that the canal has endured for over 92 years is a testament to the skill of its builders; one only needs to see pictures of the lock gates, then, and now, to know that they are meant last.

The engineering and construction of the canal, even by modern-day standards, is a marvel beyond compare. It no doubt deserves a enduring place as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, and a rightful place in American era history.

There are many fine history books that tell the whole story of Panama, and the building of the Canal. If the story was made into a movie, it would be an exciting, and uplifting story of human  ingenuity, bravery, and triumph.

The End