The Establishment of the Panama Canal.
American Style.
Welcome aboard the USS Oregon. This monster ship was used to travel over 14,000 miles on a 60-day journey. While the crew was on their journey to Cuba, Americans were being convinced of the importance of building the canal, this helped them gain the upper hand and support. Before the United States tried building the canal, Ferdinand de Lesseps attempted to, however was not prepared for the terrain and workers’ demands. Workers' wanted more money for the conditions in which they were working. Due to the cost of the project and the payment to workers', the attempt was officially bankrupt.
Roosevelt was pushed into office after the assassination of McKinley. Roosevelt believed they needed a strong presence with Latin America, The United States congress passed the spooner act, which approved of the purchase and the construction of the canal. Of course, the Colombian government denied the act, when hearing there were rebels in panama, the U.S supported them in wanting to become separate from the Colombian government.
Roosevelt and Panama signed a Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty that gave the united states a permanent lease on the land and the right to construct that canal. However, the united states promised to pay for the cost and agreed to defend the area for them. From there, is where
the beginning of the construction takes place. 40,000 workers and 10 years of work.
Mosquitos were a big problem for workers on the canal, many suffered from yellow fever. However, they immdeiately stepped in to save the other french workers by eleminating
the mosquitoes and other tropical diseases. 5,000 workers died from sickness. The constant rainfall was also another problem they faced, the rain would over flood the dam 20 miles up the canal. The dam did its job for the most part, but still caused some problems for workers and the pace they were trying to reach.
