Panama Canal

The US was not the first country to try to create a passage through the Panama area. People as far back as Columbus have searched for a such passage. French Emperor Napoleon III had toyed with the idea of building a canal on France's land across the sea but never really started a major push for it.

The first major attempt to build a canal came from a Frenchman named Ferdinand de Lesseps. He was very confident he could accomplish in making the passage from previous canal projects. He sold stock in his company the Compagnie Universalle du Canal Interoceanique to finance the endeavor. However he only netted eight percent of what he was going to need to finance the canal project. He ended up with 40 million francs instead of the 400 million that he hoped for. Work began in 1882 along th

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The canal had to be dug out of the largest mountain in the path. The Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty was ratified by the new Panamanian government in 1903, and by the senate in early 1904. In 1889 Lesseps' company liquidated to pay back investors and banks. All told 96 million cubic yards of dirt were removed from the Cut. He was used to working within the framework of the government so he knew how to get what he needed quickly. Stevens wanted a lock canal, and this in turn got Roosevelt to decide on the lock canal. Amazingly only 8 fatalities occurred from the heavy explosives. However this was not an easy task because of drainage ditches dug by the French that were in essence mosquito hotels. The only ships that cannot go through the canal are oil tankers for they are over 50 feet too wide.

Goethals was probably the best engineer of them all. Buying the company for 40 million dollars was easy but a treaty with Colombia was next to impossible. From this point on the army was in control of the canal and was not going to relingquish control of it. The US was in charge of the canal till the end of the year 1999. The Pacific locks were moved inland for military purposes and the supports had begun to sink at the first location. Soon after his return a yellow-fever epidemic was running rampant and fearing for his family went back to the us and talked to Taft.

Common topics in this essay:
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Approximate Word count = 1340
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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