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land in panama
roosevelt knew that if he made a canal in the isthmus of panama that it would make shipping and getting our ships to plases they needed to be faster. roosevelt offered columbia 10 million in cash and 250,000 yearly in rent to build a canal through panama. columbians opposed this because they didnt think the money was enough so they asked for more money. -
revolt in panama
panamanians didnt like columbian rule. roosevelt said that he would help them gain their independence. so on november 3 1903 gunboats were in the harbor to support the rebbels. Marines were in colón preventing colombian troops from getting to panama city. many americans didnt like what roosevelt did saying that it was his "gunbaot diplomacy". -
republic of panama
roosevelt respected panamas independence. a frenchman sighned a treaty giving the U.S. permaneant use and control of a 10 mile wide zone across the isthmus of panama. but the U.S. still had to pay $10 million plus $250,000 a year in rent. -
"Make the dirt fly!"
on march 3 1904 the project started. roosevelt told the workers to "Make dirt fly!". but roosevelt was so ready that he didnt realize that if you were digging that much dirt that you needed a place to put it. he didnt have a good enough railroad system so he brought in engineer John stevens. John Stevens made good tracks he even made tracks that you could move to make it easyer around the dig site. -
dangers in the workzone
in building te canal thier were three main goals; workers had to cut through the mountains, dam a river, and deal with the giant locks. the hardest task was digging the Gaillard cut, it was a 9 mile ditch through the mountains. their were alot of dangers in the workzone. their were constant mudslides. most of the equiptment flooded because of the rain. the track would break and the dirt would fly everywear. but the yellow feaver was most dangerous. -
end to yellow feaver
William C. Gorgas figured out that yellow feaver was spread by mosquitoes. so he and the help of others went around spraying housands and putting oil on ponds and puddles to kill the breeding grounds. they even screened in the sick so that yellow feaver didnt spread. by Nov 11, 1906 yellow feaver was reduced by 95%, Gorgases work payed off. -
open
the canal was finished 6 months ahead of schedule. the panama canal opened on aug 15 1914. the atlantic and the pasific were joined. -
summary
time lapserosevelt wanted to build a canal through panama to make the atlantic and the pacific join. roosevelt offered money to the columbians but they didnt think it was enough. so we joinde on the rebels side and made panama independent. the building was very dangerous. they worst thing was yellow feaver, William gorgas nearly wiped it out by killing the moquitoes. and the mudslides and rain were also dangerous. the canal was openes on aug 15 1914.
