From Bethlehem to the Panama Canal
Lehigh students, faculty and alumni played a significant role in the construction of the Panama Canal.
The McClintic-Marshall Company, founded by Lehigh alumni Howard H. McClintic 1888 and Charles D. Marshall 1888, was the world's largest independent steel fabricating firm before its acquisition by Bethlehem Steel Corp. in 1931. The firm manufactured all the locks of the Panama Canal. An "inspection dispute" involving some of the steel plates caused a sample of the steel plating to be tested in Fritz Lab's Riehle Machine to settle a disagreement with the U.S. government.
The Bucyrus Company which manufactured the huge dredges that dug the Culebra Cut of the canal was headed by Lehigh men: President William Coleman (1895) and Chief Engineer Walter Ferris (1895).
The Atlas Portland Cement Company of the Lehigh Valley, which supplied five million barrels of portland cement for the locks, had as general superintendent H.J. Seaman (1879), a Lehigh man.
Upon graduation in 1907, Philip O. Macqueen went to work on the Panama Canal. He followed Asa Packer's example as benefactor and established a fund to benefit Lehigh's civil engineers - the Macqueen Fund.