The Purpose Of The Panama Canal

A Miracle in Human Engineering “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed,” a quote by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Panama Canal was one of President Roosevelt’s most renowned accomplishments. Everyone believed it could not be accomplished, especially since the French had just failed at the attempt themselves. In 1880, the French tried for nine years to build the canal, but with thousands of lives lost due to sickness and dangers of construction they discontinued their work. In 1902, Roosevelt was curious to see if the United States could complete the task, so the US senate voted in favor of the Panama Canal. However, the Columbian congress, who were in control of Panama, did not show favor. To get his way
The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty only gave one stipulation of an annual fee of $250,000. Roosevelt’s dream for the purpose of the Panama Canal was to make traveling and shipping more convenient and economically sound. Prior to the Panama Canal ships coming from New York to California had to sail through Cape Horn at the bottom of South America. This journey would take on average 12,000 miles which is 67 days, but after the Panama Canal it would only take approximately 4,000 miles. Even today the Panama Canal is used for the travel of US military vessels, and was especially helpful during the Vietnam
President Roosevelt traveled to Panama to oversee the progress. He was the first president to leave the US and visit another country. By 1907, 500,000 cubic yards of dirt and rock were removed from the future Panama Canal. Unfortunately, with progress comes setbacks, and right at the beginning of progress head engineer John Stevens resigned. This left President Roosevelt to frantically find a new replacement. The second setback, which caused crucial complications, was a landslide that filled 500,000 cubic yards of debris back into the dam. Next there was an accidental dynamite explosion that killed twenty-three people and injured forty-four. Roosevelt and his team did not stop there. They brought in more workers every day from American, Panama, and even Jamaica. Over 1,000 workers and their families lived in the Panama Canal working zone. In 1909, the progress picked back up with the construction of locks. The locks were built along the Panama Canal to assist vessels in traveling over the mountain, which the canal was built between. There are a total of three locks: a three chambered one in the Gatun Dam, a one chambered one in the Pedro Miguel Dam, and a two chambered one in the Miraflores Dam. In 1913 after another devastating landslide, the locks were finally finished. Engineers began filling small sections of the finished canal with water from the Atlantic Ocean. By 1915, the Panama Canal was fully filled