THE CANAL
The Muse has been really inspired and has quickly cranked out another episode about our recent vacation. This posting covers our actual time at the canal. The pictures will give some idea of the enormity of this monument to engineering. It was the largest concrete structure ever constructed until the Hoover Dam, a.k.a Boulder Dam, was built about 20 years later. In the last posting we mentioned that the canal runs basically north and south; also interestingly when entering from the north one goes west to east. Here is Mrs.T's story:
When Dan first said he would like to see the Panama Canal I was not too enthused. I thought when you have seen one canal you have seen then all. (She was probably thinking of the lock on the Muskingum River in our town of Philo. –dt) They are basically a ditch full of water with gates. But I was wrong. While on the ship we saw a movie made for NOVA about the making of the canal. ("A Man, A Plan, A Canal: Panama" narrated by noted historian David McCullough who wrote a book on the subject. –dt) We also attended the first of a series of lectures about the canal, but alas, I slept though most of this (That was a really bad lecture and we did not attend any others. –dt.). The first thing about the canal is it is very big. There are three locks to take you uppity, up, up. Then you go across a large lake. There are three more locks and you go downitty, down, down. Getting across is pretty simple now if you have a ton of cash to pay the toll. But when you consider that the toll saves literally 8,000 miles and lots of expensive travel time maybe it is not so outrageous. (and avoid Cape Horn –dt)
The much simplified history goes something like this:
When the Spaniards were conquering the New World they needed a way to get their loot from the West Coast of South America to the East Coast. They discussed building a canal across Panama but nothing came of it. Three hundred years later the French thought they would do it. After all they had built the Suez Canal. Of course building a canal through a rocky mountainous jungle was not the same as building a canal across the desert but they could deal with the differences. Well, not exactly!
The French canal venture was a private company with political connections. They had a lot of investors and they kept running out of money. They did a lot of surveys to determine the best route. Where there is now a lake was then a river valley. The plan was to connect the cut on the eastern side to the river. Then they would enlarge and dredge the river to make it more navigable. There were two problems. The first was that tropical diseases such as malaria and yellow fever killed about 75% of their workforce within their first six months on the job. At this time no one knew the connection between mosquitoes and the illnesses. In spite of this, work commenced on the eastern cut. The cut through the mountains was a lot harder than they expected. Money was running short. The French then discovered a fatal flaw in their plan. The area was subject to sudden unpredictable tropical storms, or should I say deluges. The height of the river would rise 10 or 20 feet within a couple of hours. This made planning a sea level connection to the cut impossible because no one knew what the water level would be, not to mention the actual location of the river which shifted as the water rose. Finally after several years the French effort went bust. The investors lost everything and many adventuresome builders lost their lives.
The Americans took over the effort. President Teddy Roosevelt was the front man for the effort. (an example of his 'big stick' –dt) The first fortunate thing was that someone discovered the link between the mosquitoes and malaria and yellow fever. (including Dr. Walter Reed –dt) Do you remember them burying the 'yellow fever' victims in the basement in Arsenic and Old Lace? The company made a tremendous effort to eradicate mosquitoes. They also installed window screens on the worker housing. This did not solve the disease problem but it helped a lot. (They also used bigger equipment, much of it built in Ohio. –dt)
In a revised plan instead of using the river the Americans decided to build a lake on top of the river. (one of the largest manmade lakes in the world –dt) By spreading out the space the change in water level would be a lot less. Surrounded by huge dams the lake is about 90 feet higher than the oceans on either side. That is why when you enter the canal from either side you go up to the lake. Then on the other side you go down to the ocean. In fact the sea level of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are within a few inches of each other. I can't remember which one is higher or why.
The canal has been reconditioned a couple of times but it still uses the same general route. The Canal is very big but then so are the ships. When our ship went through the canal was just inches from its sides. I understand that most of these ships were built just small enough to fit through the canal. (Panamax ships –dt) To pass through the canal you need a reservation made months in advance. You pay a huge toll; the one for our ship was around $360,000. They said the smallest toll was $.76 for someone who swam through. In spite of the high fees ships were lined up for their turns. Mostly we saw the big ships, which go through during the day, two side by side. At night small boats go through in bunches. (The canal also runs one direction during the day and the other during the night. –dt) (A parallel system of locks is currently under construction and should be operational in 2015 to accommodate larger ships. –dt)
Our ship like most was guided through the locks by large gleaming silver electric locomotives, which are called "mules". You remember "I got a mule and her name is Sal, Fifteen years on the Erie Canal…."? (http://www.eriecanalvillage.net/pages/song.html , one of many on the web. –dt) So from the decks and through our stateroom window we watched the whole process. We were lifted up through three locks, steamed across the lake and were lowered down three locks. In one day we traveled from the Atlantic to the Pacific, although it is about a century old it was still amazing. And then we headed for home.
Here are some pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157643066387424/
On the Pacific side of the canal we stopped in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and southern Mexico. Perhaps Rebecca will be writing about some of the other excursions during our return to the condo.
See many of you soon.
Dan and Rebecca
www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com
