Richard L. Holt

I have chosen to include in my web site but a few of the thousands of photos available on the construction days on the Panama Canal.  I thought these might be of interest because they are sometimes difficult to find on the normal web sites.  Hope you enjoy them.  Right click on any that you like and store them in your computer system.  You can buy a complete set of the construction photos from the Panama Canal Society in Florida. The contact there is Paul Glassburn.  All these photos are public property or taken by my wife Cheryl, so you can use them as you wish.

Click on the thumbnails to get a good view of the subject material in the photos.

Once John Stevens felt that he had a good handle on the problems of the diseases that had killed so many before the U.S. effort, then he concentrated on the plan for building the canal.  He ordered his engineers to come up with a plan that would best utilize the natural resources available, and those were the tremendous rain in  Panama, and the Chagres River that had provided a means of access across the Isthmus for centuries.

The plan they came up with was a simple plan that had been presented by an outstanding French engineer at the International Convention in Paris in 1849.  Build a canal with locks, a man-made lake, and use the natural resources of the plentiful water to operate this whole thing.

In addition to the construction of the Canal itself with its three sets of Locks, there was also a concerted effort to construct towns throughout the Canal Zone which had all the necessary facilities to sustain a work force.  The labor force was divided into skilled and unskilled, and designated with the names "Gold Roll" for the skilled, and "Silver Roll" for the unskilled.  The Silver Roll also included many Panamanians that were hired to maintain the towns and facilities.  They were also a major part of the work force on the Locks themselves as well as crews on the tugboats, dredges, and line handlers on the ships transiting the Canal.

Schools, hospitals, dispensaries, sports facilities, support facilities such as offices and warehouses, shipyards, machine shops, transportation centers, repair facilities were but some of the many buildings required.  In addition, the U.S. military constructed their bases throughout the Canal Zone.  Fort Clayton alone, adjacent to Miraflores Locks house more than 12,000 military people at any given time.  Air Force facilities were constructed at Howard Air Force Base and Albrook Field.  Navy facilities were built on both coasts, Rodman in Balboa Harbor, and Coco Solo in Colon Bay.

Housing also was a major construction effort.  Family housing took first priority, and then single housing for the unmarried.  The housing consisted of multi-family quarters as well as cottages.

All of these photos are public record and you are welcome to copy any you wish for your files.  Just right click and choose Save Photo As to keep in your files, or just click on Copy.