THE PANAMA CANAL

Following the failure of a French construction team in the 1880s, the United States
commenced building a canal across a 50-mile stretch of the Panama isthmus in 1904.
The project was helped by the elimination of disease-carrying mosquitoes, while chief
engineer John Stevens devised innovative techniques and spurred the crucial redesign
from a sea-level to a lock canal. His successor, Lt. Col. George Washington Goethals,
stepped up excavation efforts of a stubborn mountain range and oversaw the building of
the dams and locks. Opened in 1914, oversight of the world-famous Panama Canal was
transferred from the U.S. to Panama in 1999.

Linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

The idea of creating a water passage across the isthmus of Panama to link the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans dates back to at least the 1500s, when King Charles I of Spain
tapped his regional governor to survey a route along the Chagres River. The realization
of such a route across the mountainous, jungle terrain was deemed impossible at the
time, although the idea remained tantalizing as a potential shortcut from Europe to
eastern Asia.

France was ultimately the first country to attempt the task. Led by Count Ferdinand de
Lesseps, the builder of the Suez Canal in Egypt, the construction team broke ground on
a planned sea-level canal in 1880. The French soon comprehended the monumental
challenge ahead of them: Along with the incessant rains that caused heavy landslides,
there was no effective means for combating the spread of yellow fever and malaria. De
Lesseps belatedly realized that a sea-level canal was too difficult and reorganized
efforts toward a lock canal, but funding was pulled from the project in 1888.

Teddy Roosevelt and the Panama Canal

Following the deliberations of the U.S. Isthmian Canal Commission and a push from
President Theodore Roosevelt, the U.S. purchased the French assets in the canal zone
for $40 million in 1902. When a proposed treaty over rights to build in what was then a
Colombian territory was rejected, the U.S. threw its military weight behind
a Panamanian independence movement, eventually negotiating a deal with the new
government.

On November 6, 1903, the United States recognized the Republic of Panama, and on
November 18 the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed with Panama, granting the U.S.
exclusive and permanent possession of the Panama Canal Zone. In exchange, Panama
received $10 million and an annuity of $250,000 beginning nine years later. The treaty,
negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay and French engineer Philippe-Jean
Bunau-Varilla, was condemned by many Panamanians as an infringement on their
country’s new national sovereignty.

Seemingly not grasping the lessons from the French effort, the Americans devised
plans for a sea-level canal along the roughly 50-mile stretch from Colón to Panama City.
The project officially commenced with a dedication ceremony on May 4, 1904, but chief
engineer John Wallace encountered immediate problems. Much of the French
equipment was in need of repair, while the spread of yellow fever and malaria was
frightening off the workforce. Under pressure to keep construction moving forward,
Wallace instead resigned after a year.

A railroad specialist named John Stevens took over as chief engineer in July 1905 and
immediately addressed the workforce issues by recruiting West Indian laborers.
Stevens ordered new equipment and devised efficient methods to speed up work, such
as the use of a swinging boom to lift chunks of railroad track and adjust the train route
for carting away excavated material. He also quickly recognized the difficulties posed by
landslides and convinced Roosevelt that a lock canal was best for the terrain.