The Panama Canal
Among the great peaceful endeavors
of mankind that have contributed significantlyto progress in the world,
the construction of the Canal stands as an awe-inspiring achievement.
The unparalled engineering triumph was made possible by an international
work force under the leadership of American visionaries, that made the centuries-old
dream of uniting the two great oceans a reality.
In 1534, Charles I of Spain ordered the first survey of a proposed
canal route through the Isthmus of Panama. More than three centuries passed
before the first construction was started. The French labored 20 years, beginning
in 1880, but disease and financial problems defeated them.
In 1903, Panama and the United States signed a treaty by which the
United States undertook to construct an interoceanic ship canal across the
Isthmus of Panama. The following year, the United States purchased from the
French Canal Company its rights and properties for $40 million and began construction.
The monumental project was completed in ten years at a cost of about $387
million. Since 1903 the United States has invested about $3 billion in the
Canal enterprise, approximately two-thirds of which has been recovered.
The building of the Panama Canal
involved three main problems-engineering, sanitation and organization. Its
successful completion was due principally to the engineering and administrative
skills of such men as John F. Stevens and Col. George W. Goethals, and to
the solution of extensive health problems by Col. William C. Gorgas.
The engineering problems involved digging through the Continental Divide;
constructing the largest earth dam ever built up to that time; designing and
building the most massive canal locks ever envisioned; constructing the largest
gates ever swung; and solving environmental problems of enormous proportions.
Now more than 75 years after the first official ocean-to-ocean transit
of the waterway, the United States and Panama have embarked on a partnership
for the management, operation and defense of the Panama Canal.
The Vital Link for World Trade
The Panama Canal, with its uinque
location at the narrowest point between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, has
had a rar-reaching effect on world economic and comercial developments throughout
most of the 20the century. By providing a shorter, relatively inexpensive
passageway between these two great bodies of water, the Canal has influenced
world trade patterns, spurred growth in developed countries, and has been
a primary impetus for economic expansion in many remote areas of the world.
For example, a vessel laden with coal saling from the east coast of the United
States to Japan via the Panama Canal saves about 3,000 miles versus the shortest
alternative all-water route, and for a vessel laden with bananas sailing from
Ecuador to Europe the distance saved is about 5,000 miles.
By far, most of the traffic through the Canal moves between the east
coast of the United States and the Far East, while movements between Europe
and the west coast of the United States and Canada comprise the second major
trade route at the waterway. Other regions and countries, however such as
the neighboring countries of Central and South America, are proportionately
more dependent on this vital artery to promote their economic development
and expand trade.
Since the Canal first opened on August
15, 1914, the waterway has provided a quality transit service to more
than700,000 vessels. Despite the increase in the number and size of transiting
vessels in recent years, the total time spent by a vessel at the Panama Canal
still remains at slightly less than 24 hours. This remarkable level of performance
can be attributed to the team of professionals trained to provide rapid transit
service and to the rimely implementaion of improvements designed to interface
with traffic demand. Some $10 million dollars is spent each year on training
rograms to prepare Panamanians for the operation and maintenance of the Canal.
Today, Panamanians comprise more than 8 persent of the Canal's seasoned work
force, and occupy positionss in high-skilled areas vital to the Canal organization.
Of the thousands of vessels transiting the Canal each year, about 23
percent of the total ocean-going transits are by PANAMAX-size vessels, the
largest vessels the waterway can accommodate. An optional transit reservation
system is available upon request to provide a guaranteed priority transit,
The natue of improvements to the Canal keenly reeflect the ever increasing
role of PANAMAMAX vessels in the movement of world commerce. Use of the all-water
routes through the Panama Canal, will continue to be an important, cost-effective
transportaion mode for a significant segment of world trade.
Maintenance
As with any operation of the magnitude
and complexity of the Panama Canal, round-the-clock maintenance is critical
to its effectiveness and efficiency. Approximately $450 million is spent each
year for the overall operation of the Panama Canal, of which nearly $100 million
is committed to maintaining and improving the waterway. Regular dredging of
the main channel virtually assures a year-round maximum draft of 39.5 feet
even during dry periods. Because the Panama Canal Commission recognizes and
emphasizes the requirement for good maintenance, regular overhauls of miter
gates, chambers, culverts and valves are scheduled to keep the Locks in top
operating conditon.
The Physical Features of the Panama
Canal
The Panama Canal is 50 miles long
from deep water in the Atlantic to deep water in the Pacific. It was cut through
one of the narrowest and lowest saddles from the long, mountainous Isthmus
that joins the North and South Amercan continents. The orignal elevation was
312 feet above sea level where it crosses the Continental Divide in the rugged
mountian range.
The canal runs from northwest to southeast with the Atlantic entrance
being 33.5 miles north and 27 miles west of the Pacific entrance. Air distance
between the two entrances is 43 miles.
It requires about 9 hours for an average ship to transit the Canal.
During this brief time, the passengers aboard have an opportunity to see one
of the modern wonders of the world in operstion, its Principal physical features
are the two terminal ports, short sections of the channel at either end at
the sea level, and the three sets of twin locks, Gatun Lake, and Gaillard
Cut.
A ship that transits the Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific enters
the channel form Limon Bay at the Cristobal breakwater.
This sea-level section of the Canal channel on the Atlantic side is
6 and a half miles long and 500 feet wide and runs through a mangrove swamp
that is only a few feet above sea level in most places.
A ship is raised or lowered 85 feet in a continuous flight of three
steps at Gatun Locks. Each lock chamber is 110 feet wide and 1,000 feet long.
The length of Gatun Locks, including approach walls, is one and a half miles.
Gatun Lake and Dam
Gatun Lake, through which the ships travel for 23 and a half miles
from Gatun Locks to the north end of Gaillard Cut, covers an area of 163.38
square miles and was formed bya earthen dam across the Chagres River adjacent
to Gatun Locks. The two wings of the dam and the spillway have an aggregate
length of about one and a half miles. The dam is nearly a half mile wide at
the base, sloping to a width of 100 feet at the crest, which is 105 feet above
sea level, or 20 feet above the normal level fo Gatun Lake.
GailIard Cut
Because of its history, its
unusual geology and the fact that it slices through the Continental Divide,
Gaillard Cut holds special interest for ship passengers transiting the Canal.
During the Canal construction period it was called Culebra Cut, but was
renamed for Col. David DuBose Gaillard, the engineer who was in charge of
this section of the Canal work.
This portion of the channel is about eight miles long and was carved
through rock and shale for most of the distance. It was here that the principal
excavation was required and here that the devastating slides occurred during
construction and soon afer trhe Canal was opened.
The ships enter the Cut where the Chagres River flows into the Canal
channel at Gamboa. More than any other section of th Canal, Gaillard Cut
gives the impression of the waterway as an enormous ditch. A short distance
before the ship reaches Pedro Miguel Locks it passes Gold Hill on the left,
the highest promontory along the channel. It rises 587 feet above sea level.
Contractor's Hill, seen on the west bank opposite Gold Hill, originally
had an altitude of 410 feet, this was reduced to 370 feet to stabalize the
hill in 1954. The channel in Gaillard Cut was originallyexcavated to a width
of 300 feet. During the 1930's and 1940's, the straight section imediately
north of Gold Hill was widened to 500 feet to provide a passing secton for
large ships, and during the period 1957 - 1971, the remaining portions of
the Cut were also widened to 500 feet.
The Pacific-bound ship enters Pedro Miguel Locks at the south end
of Gaillard Cut. Here is is lowered 31 feet in one step to Miraflores Lake,
a small artifial body of water a mile wide that separates the two sets of
Pacific locks. The length of Pedro Miguel Locks if 5/6 of a mile.
The transiting ship is lowered the remaining two steps to sea level
at Miraflores Locks, which are slightly over a mile in length. The lock
gates at Miraflores are the talest of any in the system because of the extreme
tidal variation in the Pacific Ocean.