The Panama Canal

Vaco Nunez de Balboa, the Spanish explorer Vaco Nunez de Balboa, the Spanish explorer who discovered the Pacific Ocean in 1513, who discovered the Pacific Ocean in 1513, first thought of such a waterway then. In first thought of such a waterway then. In the late 1800s, Frenchmen tried to build a the late 1800s, Frenchmen tried to build a canal and failed because they attempted to canal and failed because they attempted to dig it out at sea level. There is an 85-foot dig it out at sea level. There is an 85-foot difference between the levels of the ocean difference between the levels of the ocean

and the highest part of the land.and the highest part of the land.

Why Is It Why Is It NeededNeeded??

• A trip from San Francisco to New York, around South America, was a journey of 13,000 or more miles.

• Using the Panama Canal cut this journey to only 5,000 miles.

• This saves fuel and time. A ship could make two trips for the old price of one.

• In 1904, Americans began the 10-year, $300 million construction that brought to reality a vision of raising and lowering ships in a series of closed off beds of water called locks.

• There are three locks spanning the canal. A ship enters a lock, metal gates close behind it, and water funnels in or out to change the water level to that of the body of water the ship will enter. Each lock fills with as much as 52 million gallons of water within 10 minutes to raise or lower a ship.

How it WorksHow it Works

• It has three sets of locks.

• Ships can travel in both directions because the locks were built in pairs.

• Except when the ships are in Lake Gatun, they are pulled by trains with tow lines attached.

Building of the LocksBuilding of the Locks

The French TryThe French Try

The French got the first crack at digging a trench from the Atlantic Ocean to the

Pacific in 1878 when a committee of the Geographical Society of Paris signed a

treaty with Colombia (of which Panama was then a province) to build a canal

from Limon Bay to Panama City, closely following the Panama Railroad.

Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal in 1869, insisted on a sea level

canal requiring a massive 7,720-meter long tunnel through the Continental

Divide at Culebra. The builders also had no idea how to cope with the frequent

horrific outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever.

Problems with the French Plan

Swampland was a breeding ground for mosquitoes that carried malaria and yellow

fever.

1905 Mosquito Fumigation Car1905 Mosquito Fumigation Car

The U.S tries to buy the rights to the canal. When Colombia refused to sell the rights, President Roosevelt

threw U.S. power behind a Panamanian uprising and supported

Panama's 1903 declaration of independence.

The U.S. Comes into the Picture

Roosevelt instigated a treaty with Panama Roosevelt instigated a treaty with Panama that gave the United States the right to that gave the United States the right to build the canal and created a 10-mile build the canal and created a 10-mile

wide Canal Zone of what amounted to wide Canal Zone of what amounted to sovereign American territory sovereign American territory surrounding the waterway.surrounding the waterway.

Workers lined up at Workers lined up at the “Pay Car”the “Pay Car”

Inside the “Pay Car”Inside the “Pay Car”

Construction ProblemsConstruction Problems

• Loose rocks that caused landslides.

• Heavy rains that would create muddy conditions for weeks on end, cause mudslides, and flooding of the Chagres River.

• Mountains that had to be carved out by explosives and manual labor.

TodayToday:

• It takes about eight hours to transit the 51 miles of the canal.

• There is a railroad that parallels the canal.

• Each day about 40 ocean vessels transit the canal.

Canal Back in Canal Back in Panamanian HandsPanamanian Hands

On September 7, 1977, American President Jimmy Carter and Republic of Panama military leader Omar Torrijos Herrera signed an important treaty transferring

control of the Canal Zone to Panama effective December 31, 1999

Costs:Costs:

The American expenditures from 1904 to 1914 totaled $352,000,000.Together the French and

American expenditures totaled $639,000,000. It took 34 years from the initial effort in 1880 to

actually open the Canal in 1914. It is estimated that over 80,000 people took part in the

construction and that over 30,000 French and American lives were lost.

Tolls

• Least expensive toll ever paid - 36¢, by Richard Halliburton in 1928 (He weighed 150 lbs.) who swam across the Canal in a 10-day period.

• The record for the most expensive toll paid was on November 2, 2004 by Radiance of the Seas – the fee was nearly $213,000.

Let’s ReviewLet’s Review:Who started to build the canal first?

FranceName some of the problems encountered by the French and the Americans in Panama.Malaria, yellow fever and design problems

Let’s ReviewLet’s Review:

How many miles are saved by the canal in a trip from New York to San Francisco?

8,000