Download (land route) Isthmus of Panama, 1850

“The voyage (to California) by way of Cape Horn will
occupy on an average, five or six months, while by
the Isthmus route, the trip is accomplished in as
many weeks!”
-- Gregory’s Guide for California Travelers via the (land
route) Isthmus of Panama, 1850
Goals for Latin America
• 1901 Theodore Roosevelt became President
• He wanted to build a canal across Central America
• He was determined to keep European powers from
interfering in the affairs of Latin American
countries
• The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty granted the United
States the sole right to construct, control and defend
a Central American canal
• Said that canal was to remain free and open to ships
from all nations on equal terms
History of the Canal
• Big Stick Policy (U.S.
intervention in Latin America)
• 1903 Panama revolts from
Colombia. U.S.A. recognizes
independence.
• Construction took seven years
to complete.
• Originally the U.S. was planning on building a
canal in Nicaragua because it was close to sea-level
and it would follow Lake Nicaragua & San Juan
River
• In 1902 the House of Representatives voted 308 to
2 to build in Nicaragua
• Ferdinand De Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal
in Egypt, organized a French company to build a
canal in Panama
• Disease and delays bankrupted the company
• After the House of Representatives voted to build
a Nicaraguan Canal, the French company went
bankrupt & offered to sell its assets to the United
States
• Teddy Roosevelt wanted to accept the deal but
Congress still wanted to build in Nicaragua
• In May 1902 a
volcano exploded
killing 30,000
people & the U.S.
became
concerned with
the destructive
power of
volcanoes
Problems
• Mosquitoes
carried yellow
fever and
malaria.
• The land was
tough to break
through.
How Did the Americans
Control the Mosquitoes?
Thousands of sanitary workers
scoured the Canal Zone looking for
water sources where mosquitoes
could breed.
By spraying a thin film of oil on the
water’s surface, they smothered
any mosquito larvae that might be
living there.
Using techniques that William
Gorgas developed in Havana
where he battled yellow fever after
the Spanish-American War,
workers fumigated buildings,
removed standing water, installed
door and window screens, and cut
grass.
TR comes to
watch the
construction.
•From the Atlantic Ocean the Panama Canal runs south
for ten miles (17 km) and then eastward to the Pacific
Ocean.
•The total soil excavated from the canal would build a
pyramid 4,200 feet (1,280 meters) high.
•During the construction engineers working on the project
earned from $225 to $600 per month. Physicians earned
from $150 to $300.
•The project consumed as much as twelve million pounds
of dynamite per year.
•Gatun Lake, the highest part of the canal, is about 85
feet (26 meters) above sea level.
•The Commissary Department provided food for the entire
work force and baked as many as six million loaves of
bread, 650,000 rolls, and 114,000 pounds of cake per year.
•It took nine hours and forty minutes for the passage of the
first ship through the canal. The average is 8-10 hours.
•When the canal opened tolls were set at $1.20 per ton for
freight and $1.50 per ton for passengers. A freighter carrying
a cargo of 4,500 tons paid a toll of $5,400.
•When the Panama Canal opened to traffic, the United
States had spent $352 million.