The Panama Canal Essay, Research Paper
The shortest distance between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is the bantam
Isthmus of Panama which joins Central and South America. The dreams of constructing a
canal through this land dates back to the 1500 & # 8217 ; s. The Isthmus was a cardinal participant in the
California gold haste for prospectors. The Gallic originally tried to construct a canal but
failed and the United States took over. [ 2 McCullough 24-26 ] There were many
reverses, the greatest of which was disease and Roosevelt sent William Gorgas to
manage the job. [ Jorden 14 ] & # 8220 ; When the canal was finished it genuinely joined two
separate worlds. & # 8221 ; [ 2 McCullough 30 ]
Hundreds of old ages before the Panama Canal was completed, people of many
lands dreamed of constructing a canal across Central America. & # 8220 ; As early as 1517, Vasco
Nunez de Balboa, the first European to make the Pacific, saw the possibility of a canal
linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. & # 8221 ; [ 2 McCullough 24 ] During the period of
the 1840 & # 8217 ; s and 50 & # 8217 ; s, present -day Panama was a Providence of Colombia. Colombia
feared that Britain would seek to prehend Panama for usage as a canal site. Colombia signed
a pact with the United States in 1846 in which they agreed to guard all trade paths
across Panama and to continue Panama & # 8217 ; s neutrality. [ Cameron 37 ]
During the California gold haste, the Isthmus of Panama became an of import
path between the Eastern United States and California. [ 2 McCullough 34 ] & # 8220 ; Many
prospectors sailed from Atlantic ports to Panama, crossed the isthmus by boat, mule, or
on pes, and took another ship to California. & # 8221 ; [ Cameron 44 ] In 1850, a group of
concern executives pooled together $ 8 million dollars and construct a railway across the
isthmus that was completed in 1855. This was the first solid nexus in a concatenation of events
that sparked the edifice of the Panama Canal. [ St. George 12 ]
The Gallic first tried to build a canal across the isthmus in 1878 under the
company headed by Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps, who had directed the building of
the Suez Canal. [ 2 McCullough 181 ] He faced many adversities and one time said,
& # 8220 ; Faithful to my yesteryear, when they try to halt me, I go on. & # 8221 ; [ 2 McCullough 182 ] They
2
planned to delve a canal at sea degree, hence extinguishing the usage of locks. In 1886,
many jobs arose with this program and so the Gallic decided to construct a canal similar
to the 1 that operates today. [ Jorden 126-127 ] Due to jobs with disease,
specifically xanthous febrility, and corrupt concern running the excavation undertakings, the Gallic
sold out to a 2nd Gallic house, the New Panama Canal Company, took over in 1894.
They made really halfhearted efforts at excavation, in order to maintain the franchise until
another purchaser could be found. [ Cameron 69 ]
The United States originally endeavored in constructing a canal across Nicaragua in
1899 since it would necessitate less delving than a canal across the Isthmus of Panama.
The Gallic proverb this and sent Philippe Bunau-Varilla to carry the Americans to
purchase the Panama Canal Zone. He told them that the Nicaraguan vents
presented the danger of lava flows and temblors, and that Panama was safer. In
1902, Congress gave President Theodore Roosevelt permission to accept the Gallic
offer if Colombia allowed the United States lasting usage of the canal zone. [ St.
George 30-37 ] Congress acted after the United States and Britain had replaced the
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty with the Hay-Paunceforte Treaty which gave the United States
the exclusive right to construct and run a canal across Central America. [ Cameron 82 ]
In 1903, U.S. Secretary of State John Hay signed a canal pact with a
Colombian representative, Tomas Herran. The pact provided that the United States
would give Colombia an initial payment of $ 10 million and pay $ 250,000 one-year rent for
the usage of the zone. The job was that the Colombian legislative assembly refused to
O.K. the pact because it felt this was non adequate money. [ Jorden 199-200 ]
A group of Panamanians feared that Panama would lose the commercial
benefits of a canal across the isthmus. The Gallic company worried about losing the
sale of its belongings to the United States. [ St. George 49 ] The Panamanians, with the
aid of the Gallic and some encouragement from the United States, revolted against
3
Colombian November 3, 1903, and declared Panama independent. [ 2 McCullough
223 ] In conformity with its 1846 pact with Colombia, the United States sent ships to
Panama to protect the Panama Railroad. Marines landed in Colon, and prevented
Colombian military personnels from processing to Panama City, the centre of the revolution, by
organizing a long line across the Panama-Colombia boundary line. [ Cameron 107 ] On
November 6, 1903, the United States recognized the Republic of Panama. Less than
two hebdomads subsequently, Panama and the United States signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty.
It gave the United States permanent, sole usage and control of a canal zone 10
stat mis broad. [ Jorden 282-283 ] & # 8220 ; In return, the United States gave Panama an initial
payment of $ 10 million, plus $ 250,000 a twelvemonth, get downing in 1913. & # 8221 ; [ Jorden 284 ] The
United States besides guaranteed Panama & # 8217 ; s independency. The United States took over
the Gallic belongings in May 1904. [ St. George 56 ]
The greatest obstruction to constructing the Panama Canal wasn & # 8217 ; t the dense jungle,
that was merely an component of the biggest job, it was disease. [ 2 McCullough 254 ]
& # 8220 ; The Isthmus of Panama was one of the most disease-ridden countries in the world. & # 8221 ;
[ Cameron 125 ] In 1904, President Roosevelt gave Col. William C. Gorgas the undertaking of
cleaning up the Canal Zone so that edifice could get down. [ Cameron 126 ]
Gorgas, an American doctor, had become celebrated for pass overing out xanthous febrility
in Havana, Cuba, after the Spanish-American War. He was a public wellness physician who
knew precisely how to assail the job. He knew that he had to kill the beginning of the
xanthous febrility and malaria & # 8211 ; the mosquitoes. [ 2 McCullough 271 ] He had all of the
Windowss and doors installed with screen to barricade out bugs. He knew the mosquitoes
hung around H2O so he had all the streets leveled and paved so that no standing
puddles would happen when a storm hit. Besides, with regard to the H2O job, he had
all fens drained to extinguish the insects at that place. [ Jorden 320 ] He began to cover the
good
s to maintain the disease-carrying rats out of the streets. He besides began cutting down
4
coppice and tall grass where the mosquitoes and other disease transporting insects dwelled.
[ Cameron 155 ] One illustration where he obtained monolithic supplies for the zone was
here:
While the Sanitation Department budget for 1904 had been $ 50,000,
Gorgas now ordered $ 90,000 worth of Cu testing entirely ( merely
Cu could defy Panama & # 8217 ; s humid clime ) , 50,000 gallons of
kerosine and 200 barrels of larvacide a month, 3,000 refuse tins,
5,000 lbs of soap and 120 dozenss of insect pulverization America & # 8217 ; s full
end product for a twelvemonth. [ St. George 64 ]
By 1906, he was acquiring a good start. He had wiped out xanthous febrility and eliminated
the rats that carried bubonic pestilence in the Canal Zone. He told Congress, the
applied scientists, and the President that he needed at least three more old ages to wholly
cleanse the topographic point. Unfortunately for everyone who was involved, delving began shortly
after. [ 2 McCullough 289 ] During the first twosome old ages of building, there were
many reverses to the 6600 deceases from assorted diseases. Throughout all this Gorgas
continued his work and by the last twelvemonth of building, merely 1 or 2 work forces died from
disease. [ St. George 68 ]
& # 8220 ; Roosevelt appointed a civilian committee to take the canal project. & # 8221 ; [ Cameron
166 ] He appointed John Frank Stevens as one of his chief and John F. Wallace as
his other. & # 8220 ; Stevens had played an outstanding function in the edifice od the Hill-owned
Great Northern Railway. & # 8221 ; [ 1 McCullough 67 ] In 1906, Congress decided to construct a
canal with locks, instead than the low-lying canal that the Gallic had originally planned.
[ Jorden 348 ] When challenged with the inquiry of the American presence in Panama,
he answered, & # 8220 ; Tell them I am goin to do the soil fly on the Isthmus. & # 8221 ; [ 1 McCullough
66 ] Engineers believed that a canal with locks would be cheaper and faster to construct.
They besides felt a canal with locks would command the Chagres River & # 8217 ; s floodwaters better
than a low-lying canal would. [ Jorden 350 ] The work progressed easy because of
5
disease, the dense jungle, and dissensions among the committee members. In
1907, Roosevelt put Colonel George W. Goethals, an Army applied scientist, in charge of the
undertaking and the Canal Zone. [ St. George 75-76 ] The high bid consisted of:
The governor of the Panama Canal George Goethals, Lt. Col. William L.
Silbert, Joseph C.S. Blackburn, Rear Adm. Harry H. Rousseau, Joseph
Bucklin Bishop, Lt. Col. Harry F. Hodges, Col. William C. Gorgas, and Lt.
Col. David D. Gaillard. [ 2 McCullough 332 ]
This was the regulating organic structure of the building and other undertaking like public wellness.
[ 2McCullough 332 ]
The building undertaking involved three major technology occupations. The builders had
to unearth the Gaillard Cut, construct a dike across the Chagres River to make Gatun
Lake, and construct the canal & # 8217 ; s locks. The biggest occupation was delving the Gaillard Cut ; :
The hills through which the cut runs consist of a soft volcanic stuff,
and delving into them was like delving into a heap of grain. Equally shortly as
workers dug a hole, more stone and Earth would skid into the infinite, or
push up from below. The applied scientists had originally expected to take
about 95 million three-dimensional paces of Earth and stone to construct the canal. The
really dug out about 211 million three-dimensional paces. Some of this was subsequently
used in the building of the Gatun Dam. [ 2 McCullough 351 ]
Most of the excavation was done by monolithic 95 ton steam-powered Cranes. Each of the
locks was about every bit high as a six narrative edifice with the inundation pipes being18 pess in
diameter. The land was really uneven and difficult to cut over or about. There was a
85 pes difference between the top of the locks to the sea degree. Massive ditches were
cut in order to house the tremendous ships that would be go throughing throught the canal.
There were many systems of railwaies inthe canal during building for visitos like
the President and for easiness of transit of the workers. Everything was operated
and still is by a hydro-electric works a eletric switch room. [ 2 McCullough 355-368 ]
At the tallness of the work in 1913, more than 43,400 people worked on the
Panama Canal. Three-fourthss were inkinesss from the British West Indies, the remainder were
6
from Italy, Spain, and the skilled clerical workers came from the United States. [ St.
George 90-98 ]
The canal was finally made up of 6 locks, 2 lakes, and the Gaillard Cut. the
Gatun lake was deepen so that a ship sould base on balls right throught without any locks. [ St.
Goerge 102 ] & # 8220 ; The first ship to go through through the canal was a passenger-cargo ship
named the S.S. Ancon on August 15, 1914. & # 8221 ; [ Cameron 200 ] A elephantine landslide in the
Gaillard Cut closed the canal for a few months in 1915-16. It was the last major
break in the concluding completion of the Panama Canal. [ Jorden 412 ] & # 8220 ; President
Woodrow Wilson officially declared the Panama Canal open on July 20, 1920. & # 8221 ; [ St.
George 119 ] The concluding merchandise cost about $ 400 million which includes $ 40 million paid
to the Gallic, $ 10 million to Panama, and $ 20 million for sanitation. [ Jorden 414 ]
& # 8220 ; Since 1903 the United States has invested about $ 3 billion in the Canal endeavor,
about two-thirds of which has been recovered. & # 8221 ; [ Netscape 1 ] The canal was
built so that a ship can go through either manner. Since the official gap in 1920, there have
been no major fixs done at all on the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal truly made
existent it & # 8217 ; s motto: & # 8220 ; The Land Divided, the World United. & # 8221 ; [ Jorden 440 ]
Bibliography
Cameron, Ian. The Impossible Dream: The Building of the Panama Canal, New
York, Sam Fox Publishing Co. Inc. , 1965
Jorden, William J. Panama Odyssey, Austin, Texas, University of Texas Press,
1984
1. McCullough, David G. American Heritage, A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama!
October 1976, pgs. 65-71, 100-103
2. McCullough, David G. The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the
Panama Canal: 1870-1914, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1977
Netscape. Panama Canal Commission, & # 8220 ; Panama Canal History, & # 8221 ;
hypertext transfer protocol: //www.pananet.com/pancanal/public/history1.htm
St. George, Judith. Panama Canal: Gateway to the World, Winnipeg, Canada,
Anchor Publishing, 1989
328