The building of the Panama Canal took 34 years from the initial effort in 1880 to actually opening the canal in 1914. The building of the canal is considered one of the greatest engineering feats in history.

To sail from Atlantic to
Pacific, ships navigated around Cape Horn, the treacherous southern extremity of South America.
A New York to San Francisco journey measured some
13,000 miles and took months.

Describe two reasons why the President Roosevelt wanted to build a canal through Panama?
American builders faced difficult problems that threatened to derail the project such as tropical diseases like Malaria and Yellow Fever .

Using the first step of the AHPPA describe the problem that the political cartoon is showing?
What are three consequences from the problem shown in the political cartoon?

Using the second step of the AHPPA , gather evidence to support how tropical diseases were a problem during the construction of the
Panama Canal?
List three ways you think would help combat these tropical diseases?

Dr. William Gorgas, was hired to eradicate yellow fever , like he had in Havana years before. He was able to accomplish his goal by killing the mosquitoes that carried the diseases. Workers:
1. Drained swamps, swept drainage ditches, paved roads and installed plumbing.
2. Sprayed pesticides by the ton.
3. Entire towns rose from the jungle, complete with housing, schools, churches, commissaries, and social halls.

U.S President Theodore Roosevelt
Visiting the canal construction site.
It is estimated that over 80,000 persons took part in the construction and that over
30,000 lives were lost in both
French and American efforts.

1909 Lock Construction
The American expenditures from 1904 to 1914 totaled
$352,000,000, far more than the cost of anything built by the United States Government up to that time. In today’s money it would cost $ 7,448,028,707.72

At the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side, workers poured enough concrete to build a wall 8' wide, 12' high, and 133 miles long. They built culverts the size of railroad tunnels to channel water from Gatun Lake into the locks.

By August 15, 1914 the Panama Canal was officially opened by the passing of the SS Ancon.

Map of the Panama Canal
Figure 3: A map showing the route of the completed canal. A series of "locks" are used to control the water level within the canal.

 Mr. Henry
 North Syracuse Junior High
 mhenry@nscsd.org