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On This Day: Panama Canal workers begin construction
AUGUST 24, 1909: Construction of the Panama Canal began with the removal of the first 240million cubic yards of earth and the pouring in concrete on this day in 1909.
The 50-mile-long American-built waterway would go on to connect the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and is considered one of the wonders of the modern world.
Yet it required five years of backbreaking toil and exposure to tropical diseases – killing 5,600 men - before it could be opened.
When it did, on August 15, 1914, it saved ships from the dangerous trip around South America and cut 10 days off the journey from the U.S. east coast to the west.
Today, 245 ships a week travel along the canal, which cost the U.S. government $400million to build, worth around $7billion in today’s money.
The French abandoned their mission to build a canal through the Panama Isthmus – the narrowest point in the Americas – in 1902.
They had suffered endless series of setbacks – including tropical diseases, engineering shortfalls and financial problems – during their 22-year-long effort.
In all, an estimated 27,000 workers from around the world died - mostly of malaria and yellow fever - during that time.
The U.S. took over in 1904, after sending warships to back Panama’s secession from Colombia and buying the permanent ownership of a 10-mile wide strip of land for $10million and a promise to pay $250,000 annually.
They also paid France $40million for its work to date.
Among the first thing the U.S. experts did was try to eradicate tropical diseases in the area and bring in superior equipment.
[On This Day: Queen Elizabeth II opens the new London Bridge]
In 1906, American engineers decided on the construction of an ascending lock canal rather than the sea-level channel that had been attempted by the French.
It would rise 85ft to the middle of the Isthmus, where both the largest dam (Gatun Dam) and the largest man-made lake (Gatun Lake) at the time would be created.
From this 15-mile-long lake, the canal would connect to the Pacific through the mountains at the Gaillard Cut.
The waterway was formally opened on August 15, 1914, with the passage of the cargo ship SS Ancon.
Over time, however, it became apparent that the 110ft-wide canal was too narrow.
A British Pathe newsreel, which filmed HMS Hood – then the largest military ship in the world - passing with ‘only inches to spare’, illustrates this.
Many modern container ships are too wide to pass through – and goods are often transferred to special, narrower vessels for goods to be transported along the channel.
The Panama Canal Zone and the idea that it would remain a permanent U.S. enclave became a source of resentment in Latin America.
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter agreed to hand the waterway and surrounding land over to Panama on December 31, 1999.
It now brings in about $1billion a year - equivalent to 6% of the national economy – to the Central American nation and provides 10,000 jobs.
But Panama is battling to maintain its share of global shipping traffic.
Nicaragua has launched plans for a $40billion, Chinese-built canal that would be wide enough to handle modern mega-freighters.
[On This Day: Brazilian president commits suicide]
At the same time, Egypt is spending $4billion building a second waterway to run parallel to the Suez Canal so that it can handle more goods heading from China to the U.S. seaboard.
In response, the Panama Canal Authority is spending $5.3billion to add a third set of locks that will nearly triple its capacity by allowing 15,000-container ships to pass.
