The Panama Canal

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The Panama Canal

Regardless of previous failed attempts by other organizations, the United States was able toovercome the numerous dangers present at the isthmus between North and South America, and
build what remains today one of the greatest engineering marvels of the modern world. The
successful completion of the Panama Canal in 1914 proved to be a vital link for the entire world.
Many unsuccessful attempts were made at building such a canal. Columbus had searched tirelessly
for a passage to the treasure-filled Indies, and repeated sailors since that time have tried the same.
Emperor Napoleon III of France once suggested the idea of building a canal in France's land across
the sea, but this idea never progressed into firm plans.
No major progress, with the exception of ideas and suggestions, was made until the 19th
century, when a French individual, Ferdinand de Lesseps, felt it was time for a French-owned canal
at Panama. Lesseps was the most important foreigner involved with Egypt's Suez Canal, and his
great success at Suez made him over-confident that a canal at Panama would be just the same. As he
proceeded to convince his countrymen of his plans, the stock for his new company, the Compagnie
Universelle du Canal Interoceanique, was sold with unsettling results. The company had only
managed to raise 8% of the original funding that Lesseps had hoped for: 30 million francs of his
requested 400 million francs.
Work began in 1882 along the route of the 1855 Panama Railroad, and Lesseps was in his
seventies. From that point on, the company and the canal were plagued by troubles, most being
financial. Several times, Lesseps was forced to go back to his countrymen to gather funds, often as
loans and one time as a lottery. There were also serious, unexpected setbacks in the actual
excavation of the canal zone. Diseases such as yellow fever and malaria put many of the workers in
the hospitals ...