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The Panama Canal is a large canal that cuts through the isthmus of Panama, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans.
The canal has two sets of locks on the Pacific side and one on the Atlantic.
At the Atlantic end, the massive steel gates of the triple locks at Gatún are 70 feet (21 m) high and weigh 745 tons each, but
are so well-counterbalanced that a 40 horsepower (30 kW) engine suffices to open and close them. Lake Gatún, which is 26 meters above sea level, is fed by the Chagres River, which was dammed to make the
lake. From Lake Gatún, the canal passes through the continental divide at the Gaillard Cut, and then descends to the Pacific
first through a single set of locks at Pedro Miguel to Miraflores Lake at 16.5 meters above sea level, and then through a double
set of locks at Miraflores. All the locks on the canal are paired so that ships may pass in both directions. The Pacific end of
the canal is 24 cm higher than the Atlantic end and has much greater tides.
Several islands are located within the Lake Gatún portion of the Panama Canal,
including Barro Colorado Island, a world-famous wildlife sanctuary.
History
After decades of wrangling, the canal finally opened in 1914.
The dream of a canal across the isthmus of Central America goes
back centuries, and there was serious discussion of its possible construction from the 1820s onwards. The two most favorable routes were those across Panama and across Nicaragua, with a route across the Isthmus
of Tehuantepec in Mexico as a third option. The Nicaragua route was seriously
considered and surveyed; see Nicaragua Canal.
The Panama Railway was built across the isthmus from 1850 to 1855. The infrastructure of this functioning railroad was a key consideration in the plan to build the canal in Panama.
Prior to the Panama Canal's construction, the fastest way to travel by ship from New
York to California would have been by "rounding the Horn" Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America, a long and dangerous route. After the success of the Suez Canal in Egypt, the French were confident that they could connect another two seas with little difficulty. Ferdinand de Lesseps, who was in charge of the construction of the
Suez Canal, was initially called upon to build the new canal at Panama and construction began on January 1, 1880.
However, there was a vast difference between digging quantities of sand in a dry flat area and removing enormous quantities of
rock from the middle of a jungle. Floods, mudslides, and high mortality rates from malaria, yellow fever and other tropical diseases eventually
forced the French to abandon the project. (see Panama scandals)
President Theodore Roosevelt of the United States was confident that the United States could complete the project,
and recognized that US control of the passage from the Atlantic to Pacific oceans would be militarily and economically important.
Panama was then part of Colombia so Roosevelt proceeded to negotiate with the
Colombians to obtain the necessary permission. In early 1903 the Hay-Herran Treaty was signed by both nations, but the Colombian Senate
failed to ratify the treaty. In what was then, and still is, a very controversial move, Roosevelt implied to Panamanian rebels
that if they revolted the US Navy would assist their cause for independence. Panama
proceeded to proclaim its independence on November 3, 1903, and the U.S.S.
Nashville in local waters impeded any interference from Colombia (see gunboat diplomacy).
Here, the triple locks at Gatún can be seen.
When fighting began Roosevelt ordered US battleships stationed off of
Panama's coast for "training exercises". Many argue that fear of a war with the United States caused the Colombians to avoid any
serious opposition to the revolution. The victorious Panamanians returned the favor to Roosevelt by allowing the United States
control of the Panama Canal Zone on February 23, 1904 for $10 million (as provided in the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, signed on November 18, 1903).
The first success of the North Americans was to eliminate the noxious yellow
fever that had killed so many construction workers. Walter Reed had
determined in Cuba during the Spanish-American War that the disease was spread by mosquitos. 20,000 French workers had died from it. However, new health measures led by Dr William C. Gorgas eliminated
yellow fever in 1905 and improved general sanitation and working conditions.
The first chief engineer of the project was John Findlay Wallace. Hampered by disease and poor organization, his work did not go well and he
resigned after one year. The second chief engineer, John Stevens, set up much of the infrastructure necessary for construction of the canal, including
building housing for construction workers, rebuilding the Panama Railway to accommodate heavy freight traffic, and devising an
efficient system for removing spoil from the excavations by rail. He resigned in 1907. US Colonel George Washington Goethals was the last chief engineer
and his management of the project was highly praised. The work was still grueling, but great progress was made.
De Lesseps had insisted on a sea-level canal, but the French engineers never found a solution for dealing with Chagres River,
which crossed the line of the canal many times. The Chagres was prone to tremendous floods in the rainy season and a sea-level
canal would have had to carry its entire drainage. The lock canal plan finally selected by Stevens and built by Goethals
harnessed the Chagres by means of a huge earth dam at Gatún. The resulting artificial lake not only provided the water and
hydroelectric power to operate the locks, but also a water "bridge" covering a
third of the distance across the isthmus. Under Goethal's leadership, the engineering work on the canal was broken down into
construction of the breakwaters, dams, and locks at either end; and the great task of excavation through the Continental Divide at Culebra, now known as the Gaillard Cut. Even with
the change from a sea-level to lock canal, the final volume of excavation was almost four times that initially estimated by de
Lesseps.
US President Woodrow Wilson triggered the blowing up of the Gamboa
Dike on October 10, 1913 thus completing
the construction of the canal. Numerous West Indian laborers had worked on the Canal, and official mortality figures were 5,609
lives.
Pedro Miguel Locks under construction, early 1910's, showing center wall and intakes, looking north.
When the canal opened on August 15, 1914
it was a technological marvel. A complex series of locks allowed even the
largest ships to pass. The canal was an important strategic and economic asset to the US, and revolutionized world shipping
patterns.
The United States used the canal during World War II to help revitalize
their devastated Pacific Fleet. Some of the largest ships the United States had to send through the canal were aircraft carriers, in particular the Essex class aircraft carrier. These were so large
that, although the locks could hold them, the lampposts that lined the canal had to be removed. The largest ships able to go
through the canal are Panamax size.
The canal and the Canal Zone surrounding it were administered
by the United States until 1999 when control was relinquished to Panama. This was the result of the September 7, 1977 signing of the Torrijos - Carter Treaty in which US president Jimmy Carter conceded to Panamanian demands for control. The treaty called for a gradual handover that placed
the canal completely under Panamanian jurisdiction by December 31, 1999.
Panama has since managed the Canal very professionally, breaking all previous traffic, revenue and safety records year after
year.
It has been declared one of the modern Seven
Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
1888 German map of the Panama Canal
External links
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