Construction of the Panama Canal

1
Construction of the Panama Canal

• Laurie Taylor
• LT 130
• Spring 2006

2
Why a Canal?

• Shorten Route
• NYC around South America to SF is 13,000 mi.
• NYC through the Panama Canal is 5,200 mi.

3
French Effort 1879 1889Reasons for Failure

• Sea Level Canal
• Disease
• Corruption, Fraud, Bribery

Ferdinand de Lessops
4
Foundation for the Successful U.S. Effort

• Advances in Science and Technology
• Discovery of the Causes of Malaria and Yellow
  Fever
• The Assassination of William McKinley

Roosevelt firmly believed that a canal was
vitalthe indispensablepath to a global destiny
for the U.S.A.
5
U.S. Acquires Rights to Build the Panama Canal

• Breakdown of Negotiations with Colombia
• U.S. Supports Independence for Panama
• Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty

6
John Wallace 1904 - 1905

• Problems Caused by Seven Man Canal Commission
• Lack of Organization
• No Support for Gorgass Sanitation Program

7
John Stevens 1905 - 1907

• Reported to Roosevelt
• Improved Living Conditions and Morale
• Supported Gorgass Sanitation Program
• Campaigned for a Lock Canal
• Extensive System of RR

8
George Goethals 1907 - 1914

• Widened Locks
• Oversaw Major Projects
• Gatun Dam
• Culebra Cut
• System of locks, spillways and powerhouses

9
Racism in the Canal Zone

• Workers
• 10 White Americans
• 90 Foreign or Black American
• Segregation
• Gold vs Silver

10
Statistics

• Total Cost to U.S. was 352,000,000
• Including French era was 639,000,000
• The Cost in Human Life
• U.S. era 5,609 (4,500 were black workers)
• French era over 20,000
• The Project used approximately 12 Million pounds
  of dynamite a year
• The Total Soil Excavated From the Canal Would
  Build a Pyramid 4,200 Feet High

11
Conclusion

• Opening Day August 15, 1914
• Teddy Roosevelt visits the Panama Canal in 1906