Engineering the Panama Canal

From the late eighteenth century until the end of the nineteenth century Britain was unchallenged as the premier mercantile and maritime nation. With enormous financial resources and a growing territorial empire based around naval power, it inevitably took an interest in the possibility of a transport link across Central America as a financial investment and trade route. At the start of the century, Thomas Telford was called upon to advise on the Darien Canal scheme. Although this came to nothing, leading British engineers and capitalists continued to look at rail and canal schemes. Finally, at the end of the century, the consortium of Cutbill, Son & De Lungo and James Perry worked at Culebra on the disastrous French enterprise. This paper summarises British engineering involvement, drawing on the ICE archives, and considers how many of the ideas were more than `castles in the air'.

Following the success of the Suez Canal, Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique incorporated under French law on March 3, 1881, for the purpose of building a canal through Panama—the first attempt at construction of a waterway to cross the Panamanian isthmus. Within eight years, on February 4, 1889, the company was declared bankrupt and dissolved. Five years later, a second French company was created which continued nominal work until the United States took control of the project in 1904. The French effort at Panama, regarded as a failure, was relegated to being a footnote in the history of the construction of the canal. This paper chronicles the efforts, challenges, and ultimate downfall of the French endeavor at the Panama Canal. It calls attention to the achievements and lessons learned from the French experience, which later benefitted the American enterprise at the same location.

During the early 20th century, strategic control of the oceans was essential to all of the great industrial powers of the world. In 1904, United States President Theodore Roosevelt would commit the brains of American engineering and the brawn of America's industrial machine to build a canal of unprecedented scope and challenge. The Panama Canal's successful construction was the result of the convergence of extraordinary men, machines, and methods. In the decades preceding the Panama Canal's construction, tremendous advancements were realized in every discipline of engineering. In the realm of heavy civil construction, these collective engineering advancements provided the construction technology that made the Panama Canal possible. This paper highlights how the right men, the right machines, and the right methods all came together in 1904 to build a project of unprecedented scope and challenges.

Without the efforts of Morison and Bunau-Varilla, it can be justifiably stated that the world would be celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the opening of the Nicaragua Canal in 2014. This paper gives a status report of engineering boards and political leaders who were in support of a Nicaragua Canal up to March 3, 1899, when the Isthmian Canal Commission was formed. It describes how these two men, through their actions, influenced the decision made by the United States Congress and President Theodore Roosevelt on June 28, 1902 to build a canal at Panama.

When the United States took over title of the French canal franchise in Panama in 1903, it approached the project with vigor and confidence, treating it as an enormous railroad engineering project. A large part of the eventual success of the United States in building a canal at Panama came from avoiding the mistakes of the French, whose leadership had proven too inflexible. From the outset, the Americans employed third-party oversight and a knack for innovative solutions on a broad number of challenges which, like the French, they did not foresee. By 1907, the various excavation problems led American engineer John Frank Stevens to redesign the project, using a series of three locks at either end to lift ships 85 feet and transit across man-made Gatun Lake. In 1908, control of the project passed to four Army Corps of Engineers officers and a Navy civil engineer. They completed the project in August 1914, excavating 225 million cubic yards of material at a cost of $22 million below budget, despite battling landslides for the previous 10 months. The project was the jewel of an emerging American empire, and its contributions to world health and sea-born commerce were without precedent.

Joseph Pennell, one of the greatest lithographers and print-makers in the United States in the first quarter of the 20^th century, saw in the work of the engineers of his time the pursuit of both utility and beauty. He also understood that the process of creating structures results in a series of fleeting scenes, each with a beauty and vitality that is best captured on the construction site. He called his efforts to capture these scenes "The Wonder of Work," and those efforts took him to the sites of some of the most spectacular projects in what some call "The Golden Age of American Engineering." Pennell traveled to Panama in 1912 to create images of the Panama Canal under construction—the greatest engineering work of his time. The 28 lithographs he produced there are some of the greatest images ever created of a project under construction.

The Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) discusses Akira Aoyama's achievements and contributions to the Panama Canal Project 100 years ago. Akira started his professional career as a land surveyor on the project. His knowledge, effort, and dedication to his work earned the trust, respect and cooperation from his colleagues. His achievements have significantly contributed to mankind and to civil engineering progress. The JSCE also recognizes the cooperation and collaboration of the ASCE-JSCE in this paper. The JSCE believes that the cooperation between the two societies will not only strengthen their tie, but also produce more positive outcomes for their members, the progress of civil engineering, and even to society.

The paper describes the main decisions leading to the construction of Gatun Dam, cited as the world's largest when completed. A brief summary of the dam's construction is subsequently presented as extracted from documents of the era. A description of the dam's post-construction performance is then given. Its uneventful history contrasts sharply with its controversial origins. Developments in engineering in the 20^th century have highlighted issues unknown to the designers and builders of the dam. These have motivated a detailed risk analysis of the structure, given that hydrologic and seismic demands now known are greater than previously believed. This evaluation process generated plans for remediation so that it can reliably carry out its function as the Panama Canal begins its second century of operation. The case also highlights, in a single structure, how much engineering practices have developed in this period.

The Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE)—a world's fair held in San Francisco between February 20 and December 4, 1915—attracted 18,876,438 attendees. Its purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal as well as an opportunity to showcase the San Francisco recovery from the 1906 earthquake. Panama Canal papers were published in the Transactions of the International Engineering Congress, September 20-25, 1915. The canal transactions had two volumes by Neal Publishing of San Francisco in 1916. Volume 1 presented papers 1-13 (527 pp.) and volume 2 contained papers 14-25 (483 pp.), totaling 1010 pp. All papers were written by Panama Canal engineers, employees, or consultants. This paper summarizes several papers and covers highlights of the PPIE (Planning, Construction, Exhibits, Buildings, Landscaping, Commemorations, etc.). Completed on time and on budget with large attendance, some people said the 1915 world's fair was the most successful ever held.