The building of the Panama Canal was the greatest engineering achievement ever undertaken in its day. At a cost of some $380 million, it was also the most expensive. On October 10, 1913, US president, Woodrow Wilson, pressed an electric button in the White House - some 4,000 miles away from Panama - setting off an impulse connected to dynamite that blew a small dyke which released a flood of water through a rift in the mountains. A dream that had continued for some 400 years finally became reality. When the
[L3 301 / Panama Canal was opened] to commerce on August 15, 1914, the motto on its official seal read: "The Land Divided, the World United".
In 1905, President Roosevelt directly employed one of America's most outstanding engineers, [L3 803 / John Frank Stevens], as chief engineer of the Isthmian Canal Commission (SEE FACTS IN FACTS & FIGURES SECTION).
RIDDING THE AREA OF DISEASE:
Priority was given to turning the Canal Zone into a healthy area for people to work in. [L3 804 / Dr William Crawford Gorgas], a sanitation officer who had worked in Havana, Cuba, during the [G 15 / Spanish-American War] of 1898, was contracted to undertake the enormous task of ridding the area of yellow fever and malaria (SEE TRIUMPHS AND SCANDALS SECTION). On arriving in Panama, Gorgas referred to the area "as one of the most disease-ridden places he had ever seen." In two years, however, he managed to co
mpletely eradicate yellow fever and control malaria. He also installed highly developed sanitation facilities - a sewage system was put in and clean water was made available - and built hospitals with isolation units.
GEORGE GOETHALS TAKES OVER FROM STEVENS:
[L3 805 / Colonel George Goethals] replaced John Stevens on Roosevelt's orders after the latter resigned. He took over in 1907 (not without praising the brilliant work of Stevens first) and through thorough organization, dogged determination and outstanding leadership, managed to finish the construction of the canal a year before schedule.
Following the appointment of Goethals, construction was completed entirely by the US government under army supervision (as opposed to private contractors). A civil government was set up in the Canal Zone under the supervision of Goethals which included a police force, fire companies, courts, a postal system and customs and revenue services. Workers were employed from as far away as the West Indies and Europe, and depending on their nationality, were either paid in silver or gold coin. This form of payment c
ontinued for many years amid vehement protests and was only changed after serious labor disputes.
The equipment used to build the canal included gigantic track shifters and pile drivers, steam shovels and locomotives, dredges, steamboats and tugs, and a completely re-organized rail system. Construction was organized according to three geographic units - the Atlantic Division, the Central Division and the Pacific Division - and competition between them was fierce. Always trying to outdo one another, work progressed rapidly despite enormous setbacks such as torrential rainstorms, floods and on one occasio
n, an earthquake. Together they dynamited, drilled and moved millions of cubic yards of earth and rock; in some places [L3 302 / mountains were virtually moved]. Earth taken from places where the canal was built was used to make breakwaters for the new port of Balboa and Gatun Dam which was 1.5 miles long, half a mile wide at the base and 100 feet wide at the top.
BUILDING OF THE LOCKS:
The building of the actual locks themselves began in 1909 and was only completed four years later. Built in pairs to allow two lanes of traffic, they were the biggest engineering structures in the world at that time. The chambers were made from wooden frames filled with concrete and were connected by enormous passageways where the water ran through. Through 70 holes, water from Miraflores and Gatun Lakes filled and emptied the chambers, gently lifting and lowering the vessels that passed through the canal.
Equally large [L3 303 / steel sliding gates] controlled the flow of water in and out of the chamber which ran on roller bearings and were also raised and lowered accordingly. The water moved from one chamber to another through the force of gravity. When the level was correct for ships to pass through, a rising stem-gate valve shut off the flow of water, and the gates then opened. This entire operation of the canal was engineered to be [L3 304 / overseen by one man] on a single set of controls.
GATUN LAKE IS BUILT:
Unbelievably large quantities of water are required to keep the canal operational - approximately 52 million gallons of water are released into the sea per transit. Gatun Lake (SEE TRIUMPHS AND SCANDALS) was constructed particularly for the purpose of providing water. Built between the Pedro Miguel and Gatun Locks, it is 163 square miles in area and maintained at 85 feet above sea level by water from Lake Alajuela (formerly Madden Lake).
Madden Dam, the barrier forming Lake Alajuela, controls the level of Gatun Lake through its spillway and Gatun Dam holds back Gatun Lake. Both dams are also used to generate electricity throughout the entire Canal Zone. On the Pacific side of the Continental Divide, water levels are maintained by Miraflores Lake which in turn is controlled by the Miraflores Spillway.
Rainfall and river measurements are broadcasted through hydrologic telemeters -microwave radio transmitters controlled from 11 unmanned remote stations. In the past the lakes were filled by water from the surrounding rainforests, but in recent years water levels have dropped substantially because of consistent felling of trees. This has started causing great concern as the operation of the canal may well be jeopardized.
OPERATIONS:
Picture a ship passing into the canal from the Pacific side: the ship is currently at sea-level until it moves into the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel Locks. Together they raise the ship 85 feet above sea level where it then passes through the Gaillard Cut (eight miles long) and the 24-mile-long Gatun Lake. After Gatun Lake, the ship will pass through the three levels of Gatun locks and then move out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Despite the operations of the canal being overseen by one person at each set of locks, there are many other key positions which are essential to the process running smoothly. No large vessel can ever pass through the canal under its own navigation. The ship negotiates the route under its own power, but it has to be positioned correctly while proceeding through lock chambers. This is done by electric locomotives (the number depends on the size of the ship), nicknamed 'mules,' that move up and down the sides
of the lock chambers on special single tracks. At the same time a 'canal pilot' has to board the ship and is responsible for communicating with lockmasters to ensure safe passage through the canal. Cables, used to hold the vessel in the center of the lock by the mules, have to be at full tension constantly. They consist of one-inch thick steel chords and possess a tensile strength of about 78,000 pounds.
