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start of the canal
In 1850 the french attempts to dig thought finally start to work this all happened all thanks to the builder of the Suez Canal in Egypt Ferdinand de Lesseps. -
End of the French turn
The french start to evacuate thanks to Malaria ,yellow fever and other tropical sickness in 1880 and the tropical sickness conspired against the de Lesseps campaign and after 9 years and a loss of approximately 20,000 lives, the French attempt went bankrupt -
America stepped in
In spite of such setbacks, American interest in a canal continued unabated. The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1901 abrogated the earlier Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and licensed the United States to build and manage its own canal. -
America starts
In 1904 the construction on the panama canal starts. President Roosevelt appointed John Findley Wallace, First Chief Engineer. Wallace finds conditions in Panama in chaos. The tools and the locomotives are all messed up with and the buildings are in abandoned and sad. -
Americas steps forward
In 1905 Roosevelt brings in John F. Stevens as a replacement for Wallace, as Chief Engineer. Stevens is one of the best railroad makers in the United States. And before they can start working Steven notests the workers will need housing, water, and sewers, safety, and recreation. Improved living conditions offer the workers incentive to see the project through to the end. Then on August 1, he stopped the cuts and in one year 1,250 homes were made -
The Work Continues
In 1907 Lt. Col. David DuBose Gaillard is set to engineer in charge of the Central Division, responsible for a 31 mile section from the upper locks at Pedro Miguel to the Gatun Dam. He continues on from where the French had left off, “breaking the back of the isthmus” and cuts a canal through the continental divide at Culebra Cut which is later renamed in his honor. -
The Final Count Down
In 1909 we start to work on the locks. The lock are 80 feet high and 100 feet wide. The floor of the canal is 13 feet deep and the walls are made out of concrete -
Half Way There
In 1912 work is completed on the Gatun Dam to create the Panama Canal’s main water supply. The Gatun Dam on the Chagres River are built using tons of spoil from Culebra Cut. Tons of concrete is poured to complete the spillway -
Locks Are Done
In 1913 work on the locks completed. Two steam shovels meet nose to nose in the bottom of Culebra Cut on May 10. President Woodrow Wilson pushes a button in Washington, D.C., to send a signal through the telegraph to blow up the center of the dike, finally mingling Atlantic with Pacific waters. -
Panama Canal Done
In 1914 the Panama Canal opened to traffic on August 15 when SS Ancon completes the first transit.The Panama Canal, a 52 mile long waterway, is completed at a cost of $352 million, remarkably under budget and under schedule.
