Panama Canal Exhibit Proposal

THE ISTHMUS THAT CHANGED

THE WORLD

THE PANAMA CANAL

CONCEPTION TO COMPLETION

Brittany Austin

HIST 635

Final Project

BASIC EXHIBIT LAYOUT

How did they do it? Video Screen Remembering the

Workers

Fin

ish

ed

Ma

ste

rpie

ce

U

.S. A

cq

uis

itio

n

An Ingenious Idea! Gift Shop

Bench Seating

Museum Entrance

Examples

of

machinery

used

AN INGENIOUS IDEA… PANEL 1

Map Depicting Two Potential Ship Routes

A: “The voyage (to California) by way of

Cape Horn will occupy on an average,

five or six months, while by the Isthmus

route, the trip is accomplished in as

many weeks!”

-- Gregory’s Guide for California

Travelers via the Isthmus of Panama,

1850

AN INGENIOUS IDEA… PANEL 2

1750 map showing El Camino Real between

Porto Bello and Panamá and El Camino a

Cruces.

Since the end of the 15th

century, explorers searched

for a Northwest Passage

through Northern America.

When the Spanish acquired

Panama, they found a road

that had been used by native

people, later paved it, and it

became known as the El

Camino Real. This road was

used for traveling back and

forth across the isthmus until

railroad technology was

readily available. The

Panama Railway lasted from

1850-1855.

"The railroad company are so

far conscious of the debility

engendered by a residence on

the Isthmus, that they refuse to

employ those laborers who,

having gone to a healthier

climate to recruit, return to

seek employment. It is found

that such are unprofitable

servants, and yield at once to

the enervating and sickening

climate. The enterprise

requires all the vigor of un-

weakened sinews, and of pure,

wholesome blood.

-“Panama in 1855" by Robert

Tomes

AN INGENIOUS IDEA… PANEL 2

CONTINUED

When engineers

developed how to

build canals in the

late 1800’s, a private

French company

began digging in

Panama. The

company could not

afford to fund the

project, due to poor

engineering skills,

disease, and

necessary

technology, and

therefore abandoned

it, selling the rights

and equipment to the

United States.

AN INGENIOUS IDEA… PANEL 3

Co

lom

bia

Controlled Panama at the time of U.S. inquiry. Signed Hay-Herran treaty selling land to United States. Colombia’s government did not approve it.

Pa

na

ma

Wanted independence from Colombia. U.S. offered their help and so a battle ensued. The U.S. Navy helped win independence for the country in 1903.

Un

ite

d S

tate

s

Purchased the land needed from the newly independent country of Panama through the 1903 Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty. Theodore Roosevelt’s actions were questioned.

BUT…who owned the

land needed ?

UNITED STATES ACQUISITION PANEL 1

Members of the Isthmian Canal Commission (Above)

Letter written by civil engineer George S. Morison to President Theodore Roosevelt explaining his preference for Panama over

Nicaragua (Right)

UNITED STATES ACQUISITION PANEL 2

President Theodore Roosevelt in Panama

(above)

The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, 1903

(right)

“While not possessing any

single feature better than

that of some other route . . .

the Panama route has

many less bad features

than any of the others.”

—George S. Morison,

engineer and Isthmian

Canal Commission

member, 1903

UNITED STATES ACQUISITION PANEL 3

President Theodore Roosevelt in Panama

President Theodore Roosevelt

shovels dirt from the Panama Canal

onto Colombia, in this cartoon by

W.A. Rogers from the New York

Herald, December 1903.

HOW DID THEY DO IT? PANEL 1

The United States gained workers, equipment, and

buildings—none of which were in working order or

organized. The French were mostly unsuccessful due to

the diseases that were spread to the workers. One

Frenchman remarked “If you try to build this canal there will

not be trees enough on the isthmus to make crosses for the

graves of your laborers”. Under the newly elected engineer

John Frank Stevens, many improvements to equipment,

sanitation, and organizing workers were made. The terrain

made it quite difficult to dig the canal

Culebra Cut

This diagram prepared in 1923 illustrates the elevations through which the canal

cuts across the isthmus.

HOW DID THEY DO IT? PANEL 2

A MASSIVE UNDERTAKING

•Thousands of workers from nearly 50 countries

•Over 60,000,000 pounds of dynamite to break up the rock, which was taken away

by as many as 160 trains a day

•Landslides were frequent and dangerous

•Four dams were constructed to create the lakes that form key parts of the canal

•The locks were built out of concrete, which required the excavation of more than 5

million cubic yards of dirt and rock

HOW DID THEY DO IT? PANEL 2

VIDEO SCREEN

This is a video I found on YouTube. I would want something similar, however I’d

have it produced exclusively for the exhibit and provide a more complete picture

of the project.

REMEMBERING THE WORKERS PANEL 1

American workers were skilled workers who came

to work in Panama were paid in gold. However,

most of the workers were unskilled and were paid

in silver. Workers came from fifty different

countries. They worked 10 hour days seven days a

week, and were provided generous pay and shelter

for their work. There was recreation provided for

the workers when they had time.

REMEMBERING THE WORKERS PANEL 2

REMEMBERING THE WORKERS PANEL 2

CONTINUED

REMEMBERING THE WORKERS PANEL 3

Letter to Carter from Gorgas

Results of Sanitation efforts

(middle)

French canal workers’

cemetery (right)

Cycle of how yellow fever

spreads (left)

FINISHED MASTERPIECE PANEL 1

President Theodore Roosevelt said, “I

took the Canal Zone and let Congress

debate; and while the debate goes on,

the canal does also.” So the

construction did, even though his

decisions regarding it are still debated.

Construction was completed and

opened on August 15, 1914. The

Panama Canal was returned to control

by Panama in 1999.

FINISHED MASTERPIECE PANEL 2

RESOURCES

Ruiz, Bruce C. Historic Panamá La Conquista & Exploración

http://bruceruiz.net/PanamaHistory/panama_history.htm. History Ring. (accessed

July 8, 2011).

http://www.eclipse.co.uk/~sl5763/panama.htm. (accessed July 9, 2011).

The Smithsonian Institute. Make the Dirt Fly. http://www.sil.si.edu/Exhibitions/

Make-the-Dirt-Fly/. (accessed July 8, 2011).

Ulrich Keller, ed. The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs, New

York, 1984.