The Panama Canal

On December 31st, 1999, The Untied States of America willingly gave up the Panama Canal after 85 years of controlling it.  The Panama Canal was 51 feet long, with $3.1 billion in infrastructure and bases.  The Canal links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.  The need of the canal, however, faded with time.  In World War II, the U.S,. stationed 65,000 troops in the Canal to guard it. But, by the end of the 20th century, the Panama Canal was no longer necessary for America's economical and strategic interests.  Many vessels and aircrafts couldn't fit through the Canals' locks.

The Canal's construction started in 1879.

In the next 20 years, it is estimated that from somewhere between 16,000 and 22,000 workers died from yellow fever, malaria, typhoid, snake bites and accidents.  Rain averaging 200 inches per year washed away much of the work.  The Canal was finished in the face of medical, political and technological obstacles.  The Isthmus of Panama was located in Columbia, and when the U.S. proposed to build a canal, they rejected the proposal.

"You could no more make an agreement with them than you could nail current jelly to the wall."
-Theodore Rosevelt.

By 1913, the number of workers was 44,000.  25,000 and more worked as canal diggers.  200 trainloads of dirt had to be dug and hauled away every day.  In Decemeber of 1908, 22 tons of dynamite had exploded unexpectedly, killing 23 workers. During the construction, William Gorgas, an army physician, oversaw the building of the Canal, and the draining of the swamps.  His intention was to reduce the number of deaths by getting rid of the mosquitoes, which were the cause of yellow fever and malaria. It took $387 million dollars over the course of 10 years to build the Canal.

"The Panama Canal was a declaration of America's coming of age in the world." -Digital History.