The History of the Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is renowned as being one of the greatest construction feats in modern times, this is because it is an artificial 48 mile waterway that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The project costs ended at $350 million in 1913, if you calculate for current inflation that equates to $8.6 billion. Over 25,000 workers perished in the construction of the canal and 14,000 ships use the canal every year.

The idea for this construction feat can be dated back all the way to the 16th century with King Charles V of Spain. It was recognised back then that having a canal running through central America would be extremely beneficial for trade and military uses. For example, with the canal now built it saves a total of 7,800 miles on a sea trip from New York to San Francisco.

France attempted a similar feat only years before the beginning of the construction of the Panama Canal in Egypt in 1880, sadly the project was to be abandoned because of several major obstacles. The size of the challenge was difficult enough without factoring in the challenges of incessant rains, heavy landslides and no means of defending themselves against diseases such as yellow fever and malaria. Funding was pulled from the project in 1888.

The project of the Panama Canal officially began May 4th 1904, this is after President Theodore Roosevelt purchased the assets from the failed French project in Egypt for $40 million in 1902. Sadly, for the Americans they encountered immediate problems with the French assets being in need for repair and after only one year, the project manager John Wallace resigned his position. John Stevens, a railroad expert took over as project leader and brought with him new ideas to make the project more efficient in regards to speeding up work.

Around the same time of the change in management the project had its first major break with a chief sanitary officer Dr. William Gorgas believing that mosquitos carried deadly diseases. Gorgas immediately set out to wipe out all the mosquitos in the area. After his efforts, the last reported case of yellow fever was in November 1905 and no other cases arose in the project, malaria cases also dropped dramatically.

During the project, US President Theodore Roosevelt visited the construction site in November 1906. At this point the project was on track to be completed on time. However, the project suffered a setback when John Stevens the project manager resigned his position only a few months after Roosevelts visit. President Roosevelt named Lieutenant Colonel George Washington Goethals in charge of all administrative duties to see out the project.

The project started drawing to a close in 1913 with a few set backs along the way. The Panama Canal officially opened on August 15th, 1914, although the planned grand ceremony was downgraded due to the outbreak of WWI.

There is currently an expansion project being undertaken on the Panama Canal that is estimated to be worth around $5.25 billion. This is so that the canal can handle the large cargo vessels of the modern shipping industry.

This project took many years and overcame countless obstacles along the way. This is a testament to human engineering and determination to complete such a project of such a scale with the tools and techniques they had at their disposal over 100 years ago.

Do you think there is a greater feat of human construction since the creation of the Panama Canal? Please let Fairport know in the comments.