Panama Canal History
The French initially began work on the canal in 1880. The picture above is a plaza in Panama City dedicated to those men. Their initial plan called for a sea level canal to be created. From the outset, malaria and yellow fever plagued the construction. At the turn of the century, the French had given up their dreams of a canal and in 1902, they sold their rights and material for the canal to the Americans for forty million dollars.
President Theodore Roosevelt has just taken office following the assassination of William McKinley and viewed the canal as vital to American defense. The Americans abandoned the idea of a sea level canal and adopted a lock canal design. Concurrently the work of Dr. Walter Reed lead to the identification of the mosquito as the cause of malaria and yellow fever. With these two issues resolved, serious work began on the canal and by 1914, the first self-propelled ocean going vessel made its way from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
For those interested in learning more about canal history, The Panama Canal Authority has a written history of the canal.
George Goethals, Chief Engineer and first Governor of the Panama Canal Zone wrote that "The real builder of the Panama Canal was Theodore Roosevelt." Watch the video on the right to hear an actual recording of Theodore Roosevelt.
