WorldTravelReynolds

5:30 am sunrise  waiting to enter the Panama Canal

Tomorrow will be a great adventure. This is why we are here. For 3 years we have attempted to take a Panama Canal cruise traveling from the West Coast to the East Coast through 3 locks and a 40-mile trek. Of course, it goes both directions, but this is our path on this trip. Our earlier plans to stay in Panama City were spoiled when Covid hit in March 2020 so now we finally get a chance to see it. It will take us about 8 hours to completely get through it and can’t wait for the adventure. Tomorrow I’ll write all about the trip. Today, I’ll give you some history on the canal. It was very interesting. What I didn’t know is that the Unites States was very involved, not for profit, but as a means to get the trade to the United States.

The Bridge of the Americas

The discovery and exploration of Peru by the Europeans looking for gold and silver trade routes through the isthmus of Panama started the thinking of how do we get from one side of the ocean to the other? The only path for ocean moving vessels was to travel down under Antarctica and back up the south American route. This took too long. 

Unique sculptures just before we went into the entrance to the canal

In 1848 a carpenter named James Wilson Marshall from New Jersey found gold in Panama. Three months later, the word spread, and the east coast population decreased by 300,000 people that moved to California between 1848 and 1855. 1/3 of those rushed to the west in 1849 alone after hearing about the so called gold rush. They were called the 49rs. Now you know how the San Francisco 49rs. got their name!

In 1855 a railway was built to dig for gold and try to move goods around the area. This heightened the interest to build some sort of interoceanic canal. In 1879 the French attempts at constructing a canal went bankrupt after 9 years and 200,000 lives were lost to disease.  Sometime after 1879, a Frenchman named Philip v. Varillo and Teddy Roosevelt partnered up to discuss plans to build the canal. They took the surveys ordered by U.S. Grant in 1869 of different geographical locations to include Panama and Nicaragua, and determined they wanted Panama to be the location of the canal.

Everyone anxiously waiting while the sun is rising

They developed a plan to sway the U.S. Congress to build the canal in Panama by purchasing 91 stamps from Nicaragua that have volcanoes on the face. Since the stamps are supposed to indicate something they are proud of, they convinced congress that the Nicaraguans were proud of the volcanos. This won them over as they don’t think volcanoes were a good match for this huge endeavor. Construction was approved, began, and completed by 1914. 

Skyline view of Panama City

The United States was not in the project for profit. They wanted a means to boost their economy by getting the goods delivered faster.