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: [M 004 / "A Land Divided, the World United"].
In 1905, President Roosevelt directly employed one of America's most outstanding engineers, [L3 803 / John Frank Stevens], as chairman and chief engineer of the newly-formed Isthmian Canal Commission (SEE FACTS IN F&F SECTION).
