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California: Part 2
Kelsey Taylor
History 141
Panama Canal
50 mile shortcut to the pacific that changes history
begun in the 1880s- remarkable ingenuity
Panama was the most difficult and dangerous place at that
time
canal isnt just merely a trench all at sea level, ts a series
of locks that raise and lower the ships to the appropriate
levels
locks are like a giant water elevator or water steps which lift
ships a total of 85 feet
Suez canal creation was cause for great jubilation 10 years
earlier
Ferdinand Lessups: the engineer of the Suez canal, wanted to
take on the panama project as well
Gaudin Delepinay: says a canal dug at sea level is doomed
comes up with and describes a plan with locks but the people
dont believe him, their trust is with Lessups
Panama Canal
1st step- cutting a path out of the jungle vegetation by hand,
calculated the amount of excavation that needed to done then
started digging
many engineers died of smallpox, typhoid, snake bites, food
poisoning, malaria, yellow fever yet still others followed, all for
the glory of France
DeLessups was doubted as to whether he was a canal or grave
digger
French engineers were taught to solve problems by computation
not improvisation
money ran out, the size of the task was too great
French did about 1/3 of the job, considered the pioneers
Roosevelt became the president of the United States and had
many aspirations, including taking over the Panama Canal
project
Theodore Stevens came to FDR with a new lock system that seemed
like it might work for his new project
simple gravity would be the force at work with this new
idea
Panama Canal
the project initially intended for ships became the biggest
railroad undertakings of all time
Dam at the Chagras River made the biggest manmade river in the
world
yellow fever was eradicated
Roosevelt went to Panama to check on the progress and it was
the 1st time a president had left the country while still in
office
Stevens quit and Roosevelt then appointed a man who couldnt
quit, Colonel Washington Goethals
workmen came from Barbados but got paid well
more explosive power was used blasting through Panama than all
the wars the U.S. had fought up till then
the massive amounts of rain made the mountains start to
slide
Panama Canal
locks were constructed in 36 foot sections
end to end, the locks were 1,000 feet long and 110 feet
wide
in 1913, when the last concrete was being poured, whole towns
were being taken apart like stage sets
the Canal would provide its own power
Panama became an attraction site for tourists
grand opening: August 15, 1914- finished ahead of schedule and
it cost less than estimated
complete 50 mile crossing takes approximately 9 hours
Canal remains one of the busiest sea lanes in the world
as of January 1, 2000 the canal belongs to Panama
guaranteed to stay an open waterway to all nations
U.S. has the right to protect and defend that neutrality
Los Angeles Aquaduct
Mulholland envisioned a city like Dublin which was where he
grew up
Los Angeles never really had a reason to be there: no minerals,
no metals or forests
also lacked water, had been an area of perpetual drought
1878- Mulholland arrived from Ireland
found work as a ditch digger in the towns delapitated water
system
climbed the ranks and found himself superintendent of the LA
water system
the huge growing city had sucked dry the tiny Los Angeles
River, its only source of water
Los Angeles Aquaduct
tried to make Los Angeles live within is means but growth
sabotaged everything he did
knew the city would either have to stop growing or he would
have to find a new source of water
was told of the Owens River which was 200 miles away
Mulholland set out there and was impressed by the valley and
knew that water could sustain LA for the next century
became an empire builder- set out to move the whole river to
Los Angeles
problem was that the farmers owned it- Mulholland quietly
bought water rights so farmers wouldnt fully know what was going
on
Los Angeles Aquaduct
new river route would pass through San Fernando valley
after all the land was bought, the citizens then had to decide
if they wanted to pay for the aqueduct to be built
voted 10:1 to pay for Mulhollands river
with the law and the president on his side, he set out to build
his aqueduct
Mulholland set out to engineering a project the world had never
seen
Los Angeles Aqueduct
took 5 years to build
struggles included: no water, extreme heat and cold
aqueduct carrie 4 times more water than Los Angeles could
use
that water created the contemporary LA
aqueduct ended up irrigating San Fernando valley as well
L.A. was the most productive farm country in America
Mulholland became the highest paid public employee in
Californa