Panama Canal

The Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through Central America, was one of the greatest engineering accomplishments of the 19th and 20th centuries. Such a waterway was first conceived of as far back as the early 16th century, with Europeans looking for a way to more easily transport extracted wealth from their colonies. In 1881, a French corporation led by the developer of the Suez Canal began construction of a canal in Panama, though that effort went bankrupt in 1889. After initially considering a canal located in Nicaragua, The United States took over the Panama Canal project in 1903, following Panama’s declaration of independence from Columbia. On display is an 1889 report that was created when the U.S. was still assessing different locations for a potential canal. This work is bound with other documents relating to the canal published between 1839 and 1917. Lehigh University is connected to the Panama Canal through the McClintic-Marshall Company, founded by alumni Howard H. McClintic, 1888, and Charles D. Marshall, 1888, which manufactured the steel locks used in the canal. Many other Lehigh alumni were involved in the Panama Canal project including the manufacture of the dredges that dug the canal and the cement that was used in the locks.

Charles Rogers (1856-1917). Intelligence Report of the Panama Canal. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1889.

Lehigh University Catalog Record: https://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/asa/Record/10686017

A version of this text has been digitized and is available through Hathitrust.