The Building of the Panama Canal And Construction Technique
The
Building of the Panama Canal And Construction Technique
Abstract
This research paper looks into details the building
of the Panama Canal, one of the most
ancient canals in the world. The paper starts by providing a brief
history about the building of the Panama
Canal and then reviews various challenges and obstacles that were experienced
during the construction of the Panama
Canal. Factors that led to the building of the canal are also reviewed.
The
Building of the Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is ship canal situated in Panama.
The canal links the Atlantic Ocean with
the Pacific Ocean through the Caribbean Sea. It is approximately 81.8
kilometers (51 miles) long (McCullough
27). The building of the Panama Canal was started in 1882 by the French government and successfully completed in 1914
by the United States government after a forceful takeover in 1903. The canal was officially
opened in late 1914.
Operations at the canal started immediately after the official opening, with
the first ship sailing through it on December 4, 1914 (McCullough 61). The site for building the
Panama Canal was identified by European colonists in Central America who drew various
construction plans and schemes for the canal.
Bennett
asserts that the construction of the Panama Canal was inspired and aroused
by the successful completion of the Suez
Canal in 1868 by the French government (39). In 1971, the Columbian government gave the French government
a concession to burrow and excavate a Surname 2
canal across the Isthmus. The building process of the canal was
spearheaded by Ferdinand de Lesseps, who
was also the leader of the Suez Canal during its construction.
According to
Bennett, most investors were impressed by the leadership, fortitude and commitment of Ferdinand de Lesseps, thus they
were certain that after successfully completing
the Suez Canal, Ferdinand would be able to complete the Panama Canal
successfully as well (55). This led to a
massive investment of more than four million U.S. dollars into the project.
In 1819, the
Spanish government consented to build of a canal. Various research studies and surveys were carried out to determine the
best location for building the canal. The existence of a narrow land-bridge between North and
South America provided a unique opportunity to
create a waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific
Ocean. According to Cameron, the first
attempt to build a canal on this land-bridge by the colonists from France
had failed (84). Panama, Nicaragua and
Isthmus were selected as the most suitable routes for a canal. In 1975, it was decided that the canal should
be located at Panama. Moreover, German scientist Alexander von Humboldt revived the interest
of building the shipway by suggesting that the
canal should be constructed at Panama.
The
construction involved use of a huge labor force of more than twenty thousand
men. Ninety percent of these workers
were drawn from afro-Caribbean and West Indies. According to McCullough, the building of the Panama Canal
also attracted the best engineers from France
(130). However, the high death rate made it practically impossible to
retain most of the engineers. Most of
the engineers left or died shortly after contracting diseases.
Due to
increased financial constraints, infections by tropical diseases and
political interferences, the building
process was temporarily stopped between 1887 and 1889. In 1891, the construction process resumed and by the
beginning of 1903, only forty percent of the work had Surname 3 been completed. More than two hundred and
thirty million U.S. dollars had also been spent on the project (Cameron 103). In 1889, the
French company constructing the canal collapsed due to unidentified reasons. After the collapse of
the first French company, a new company called
Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama was founded in 1895 to conclude
the building process.
The new company started by excavating Culebra and
building locks at Panama. A great amount
of excavation was carried out at Culebra Cut to pave way for building of the
Panama Canal. By the end of the building process, a total
of sixty million cubic meters of material was
excavated from the construction site. Out of this, approximately fifteen
million cubic meters were excavated from
the Culebra Cut. The Gaillard Cut was also lowered from sixty-five meters to fifty-nine meters above sea level (ASL).
The width of the Cut was also narrowed (Noel & Carlos 91). A channel was also drenched
between panama bay and Balboa port to facilitate transpiration of sand and other building
materials in and out of the construction site.
Additionally, the new company revised the plan of the canal and
eventually decided to construct a
sea-level canal, and not a lock-based canal that was initially proposed. In this
second phase of the building process,
lower labor force was employed. For example, Cameron claims that only three thousand six hundred laborers
were employed in the project as of June 1899
(173). Furthermore, the new French company deployed heavy machinery and
divided the construction work into three
divisions; namely the Atlantic Division, the Pacific Division and the Central Division.
Factors
that led to the Building of the Panama Canal
The building of the Panama Canal was fuelled by
commercial pressure from prominent
American investors such as JP Morgan and Teddy Roosevelt. According to
McCullough, the Surname 4 Panama Canal
provided considerable trade benefits such as cost savings to traders situated
along the American coast (195). The building
of the canal also led to increased economic growth and development, and generated numerous economic
benefits to America. McCullough also cites
technological development and the discovery of gold in California in
1851 as major factors that stimulated
the need for waterways and motivated the building of the Nicaragua and Panama Canals (207).
Challenges
faced during the Building of Panama Canal
Various challenges such as political interference,
lack of professional expertise, improper
planning and outbreak of diseases were faced during the building of the
Panama Canal. During the construction
period, thousands of workers died from infections caused by tropical
diseases such as malaria, yellow fever
and cold feet (Isthmian Canal Commission, U.S. Health Department 147). The death tolls were high
because there were no known prevention and
treatment methods for the diseases. The total number of deaths recorded
between 1883 and 1890 was estimated to
be twenty-two thousands (Isthmian Canal Commission, U.S. Health Department 227). The working environment also
increased the exposure of the workers to
hazardous conditions that increased their chances of contracting
tropical diseases. Housing of workers
was also a significant problem at the initial stages of the construction due to
lack of habitable buildings in the
region.
The building
of the Panama Canal was also challenged with lack of engineering expertise. Although an international
engineering congress was convened in Paris in 1879, most of the delegates were not engineers. For
example, out of the one hundred and forty delegates, only forty were engineers. Even Ferdinand who
was the leader of the congress was not a Surname 5 professional engineer. The
congress was largely composed of politicians (Cameron 255). This led to increased political interferences.
Similarly, the building of the Panama Canal
also led to the separation of Panama from
Columbia, and consequently creation of the state of Panama. According to
Cameron, the separation of Panama from
Columbia was illegal and involved various outrageous political interventions such as supporting the
pro-autonomy movements in Panama by the U.S.
government (271). According to Bennett, former U.S. President Roosevelt
promised that the United States Navy
would provide support to the rebel movements if they revolted against the Columbian government (186). In late 1903,
Panama became independent and returned favors to former President Roosevelt by allowing the
United States to control the Panama Canal Zone as from February 1904 at a cost of ten million
U.S. dollars (McCullough 218). The zone finally
became a territory of the U.S. Moreover, more than one hundred U.S.
legislators were found guilty for
involvement in the mismanagement and frauds that led to the collapse of the
first French company. In 1899, the U.S.
government constituted the Isthmian Canal Commission which reportedly recommended that a canal
should be constructed through Nicaragua if France was not willing to sell out
the Panama Canal to America. Consequently, the new French company was forced to sell the facility to
America in 1904.
The Panama
region also had a mountainous and rocky terrain that hampered the progress of building activities. Landslides also led
to suspension of the building process between 1910 and 1911 (McCullough 304). Additionally, the
presence of rivers such as Chagres River also
posed considerable challenges to the building of the Panama Canal. The
rivers often flooded, thus interfering
with construction activities. Surname 6
Lastly, poor planning and inadequate budgeting also affected the
building process. For example, the initial estimated budget for the entire
project was estimated to be two hundred and
forty million U.S. dollars by engineers on February 14, 1880 (Bennett
361). However, six days later, Ferdinand
revised the estimated costs one hundred and thirty million U.S. dollars,
and finally to 120 million U.S. dollar a
month later. Similarly, the estimated completion period for the project was eight years. However,
Ferdinand reduced the period to six years.
Present
Expansion Activities at the Panama Canal
The
Panama Canal has been under expansion since September 2007. The budget for
the expansion is estimated to be five
billon U.S. dollars, and it is scheduled to end by December 2014 (Ward & Bruce 29). The expansion
project aims at improving the capability of the canal to handle more ships.
Conclusion
Despite
the numerous challenges that were faced during the building period, the
Panama Canal was successfully completed.
Moreover, most people also believed that construction of a sea-level canal was impractical by then. The
Panama Canal project also formed a suitable ground for research studies in the engineering
field. In addition, the Panama Canal has been acting as a guideline for many building and construction
projects. For example, knowledge gained from the building of the canal has been used in
construction of railways, roads and ports. The Panama Canal also led to increased shipping and
trade activities at the coast, thus leading to economic growth and development in the United States
of America.
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Reference
Bennett,
Ira E. History of the Panama Canal: Its construction and builders. Washington,
D.C: Historical Publishing Company,
2010. Print.
Cameron,
Ian. The impossible dream: The Building of the Panama Canal. London: Hodder and
Stoughton Press, 2009. Print.
Isthmian
Canal Commission, U.S. Health Department. Population and deaths from various diseases in the city of Panama, by months and
years from November 1883 to August
1906;
number of employees and Deaths from diseases among employees of the French Canal Companies, by months and years from
January 1881 to April 1904. Washington,
D.C.:
G.P.O, 2008. Print.
McCullough,
David G. The path between the seas: The creation of the Panama Canal,
1870-1914. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007. Print
Noel,
Maurer A., & Carlos, Yu. The big ditch: How America took, built, ran, and
ultimately gave away the Panama Canal.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011. Print.
Ward,
Thomas, & Bruce, Ostbo I. Ports 2010: Building on the Past, Respecting the
Future : Proceedings of the Ports 2010
Conference, April 25-28, 2010, Jacksonville, Florida.
Reston:
American Society of Civil Engineers, 2010. Print.
About Author:
I am Thomas Britto here to share my experiences in the civil engineering field to all my readers.Today many students are struggling to buy books at high prices. So I decided to start a blog and share my experience and knowledge with all my readers.
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