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This part of the world is where my early life took place. Until I was about 18, I called Panama home. What changed all this was the death of my dad when I was 16, a sudden and very disastrous event in our family's life. My mom all of a sudden found herself not only without a husband and father, but also found that in the Panama Canal operation she was no longer authorized quarters like we had, and because of her job as a travel person in personnel, all she was authorized was an apartment in an old four family quarters in Balboa. We were told we had to move within two weeks of my dad's passing. What a mess that was!
I left home at the end of that summer (1951) and returned to school in the States. My brother followed me. Within three years my mother also decided to move to the States even though all her family was in Panama, including her mother.
I have always felt that Panama was my home. I have enjoyed more than I can say, the trips I have gotten to make through the Panama Canal over the past nine years. I enjoy talking to the passengers about the Canal and about Panama. I am proud of the job the Panamanians are doing in running the Panama Canal. |
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| The Panama Canal across the Isthmus of Panama |
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Since its construction was completed in 1914, the Panama Canal has been considered one of the world's masterpieces in construction. It travels in a North/South direction across the Isthmus of Panama, cutting a 50 mile swath through this country.
A major building effort took place on the Isthmus of Panama in 1850 with the early effort by a group from the United States to build a railroad across the Isthmus through the jungle. It was finished in 1855. This early construction enabled the building of the Canal, and was used by both the French and the U.S. in later efforts. Without this railroad, the building of the Panama Canal would have been much harder, and some form of railroad transportation would have had to have been done if the existing Panama Railroad had not been there.
The French Canal Company made a gallant effort to build a Canal across the Isthmus under an agreement with the Colombian government in the late 1800's, but that effort failed miserably costing more than 25,000 lives. The French unfortunately were ahead of their time. Diseases which killed their effort had not yet been conquered. Other factors also affected them.
Panama then revolted from Colombia in 1903 with some help from the United States to become an independent nation and some 15 days after this revolt took place, a treaty between the two countries to construct the Canal was signed. The U.S. paid the French Canal Company a total of $40 million for the rights to the canal effort and for the equipment and materials that the French had left in Panama.
The agreement with Panama to build the Canal was a major item of contention between the U.S. and Panama almost from its onset, since it was signed by a Frenchman in behalf of Panama and Panama did not agree to the terms. The Panamanian government however did not oppose the building of the Canal and this was carried out by the United States who finished the Canal in 1914. Panama's objection to the terms of the treaty to build the Canal ultimately resulted in the Canal being turned over to Panama on December 31, 1999.
The Canal is now the sole property of Panama and is run under the government by the Panama Canal Authority whose acronym in Panama is ACP.
This section will go on to the major elements of the history of the Panama Canal and those things that made it what it is today.
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