Massive freighter enters a lock in the Panama Canal (Taylor) |
PANAMA CANAL ZONE, PANAMA —Travel tip: If you
really want to see the Panama Canal and how it
operates, do it by land and sea rather than on a trans-canal cruise.
With a land/sea tour,
travelers see the canal from the inside- out as well as the outside-in,
discover the history, tour the manmade Gatun Lake ,
visit Panamanian craftsmen, scoot across the top of a rain forest and see the
country up close and personal for about half the price of a cruise.
Some ships only have an 18-inch clearance on each side of a lock (Taylor) |
Collette Vacations
offers one of the best travel packages going to this "land between the
seas" where the 100 year old waterway connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean . You might just say that touring Panama through
the countryside is a "lock."
The world's 50 mile shortcut (Taylor) |
The fifty mile Panama
Canal project began in 1881 with French teams attempting to link the oceans,
but a high mortality rate, largely due to malaria, and engineering problems
halted construction until 1904 when the United States took up the challenge.
As one of the largest
and most difficult engineering projects in history, the canal eventually opened
a decade later in 1914 allowing ships to reduce transit time between the
Atlantic and Pacific coasts as well as avoiding the hazardous route around Cape
Horn at the tip of South America .
Curiosity seeker on Lake Gatun (Taylor) |
There are only six
locks for ships to negotiate, three at each end of the canal before exiting
into the manmade Gatun
Lake which was created to
reduce the amount of excavation work. Though both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean are on relatively the same level, the lake
sits about 85-feet above sea level, thus making the locks necessary.
While the canal has
served its purpose magnificently for more than a century, the need for wider
locks became necessary to accommodate modern-day shipping that is even larger.
As a consequence, Post-Panamax ships have been making transits through an
expanded canal and a third set of locks which began operation only about a year
ago.
Where the old canal links with the new (Taylor) |
Since its opening in
1914, when approximately 1,000 ships went through the canal, more than 850,000
vessels had cleared the locks by 2013 through one of man's finest architectural
achievements.
Today, more than
15,000 ships transit the canal annually.
The canal can now handle modern day ships that are longer and wider (Taylor) |
As early as 1534,
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, ordered a survey across the
Isthmus of Panama to determine if it would be possible to bypass the lower tip
of South America . Not only would that be a
major trade advantage but a huge military factor over the Portuguese as well.
Fast forward nearly
four centuries later, and there was interest by some Americans to run the canal
through Nicaragua rather
than Panama .
Panama is new to tourism (Taylor) |
By 1903 Panama declared its independence from Columbia , and as part of the recognition of the new
country, a treaty was signed granting the United
States rights to build the canal and indefinitely
administer the Panama Canal Zone . In the
process, the language of the treaty was misinterpreted as granting the U.S. a "99
year lease" on the project.
Though contentious
for many months, in 1903, the Republic
of Panama became a U.S.
protectorate until 1939.
Freighters can carry huge loads to waiting railways (Taylor) |
Once convinced that Panama was a better location than Nicaragua ,
President Theodore Roosevelt stated at the time "I took the Isthmus,
started the canal and then left Congress not to debate the canal, but to debate
me."
Using the abandoned French equipment and excavations,
including the Panama Railroad, work resumed primarily in the area known as the Culebra Cut .
Culebra Cut is now filled in to make Lake Gatun (Taylor) |
Lake Gatun was artificially created by closing off the
mouth of the Chagres River , lowering the walls of Culebra
Cut and dredging approach culverts. Large military bases were also
constructed to defend the project.
Among
the key factors in the success of the canal was the administration of John
Frank Stevens, a self-educated engineer, who had the vision to bypass
bureaucratic red-tape and send requests directly to the Roosevelt
administration in Washington .
Monument to Goethals (Taylor) |
Stevens
recognized the need for proper housing, cafeterias, hotels, water systems and
repair shops to aide the thousands of workers on the project.
Unlike
the French approach, Stevens had the imagination to cut through the mountains
and dam the Chagres
River .
When
Stevens resigned as chief engineer in 1907, he was replaced by Major George
Washington Goethals of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who
completed the project.
To
this day the names Stevens and Goethals are as revered in Panama as any
beloved leader in the history of any other country.
Cemetery honors the Panamanian soldiers and workers who died working on the canal (Taylor) |
In
October, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson sent a signal from the White House via
telegraph to Panama .
That signal triggered the explosion which flooded the Culebra Cut and created Lake Gatun . In that historic moment, the Caribbean Sea
united with the Pacific Ocean .
And on August 15, 1914, the freighter Ancon became the first
ship to transit the new Panama Canal . During
the ten year of construction, some 5,600 workers lost their lives.
The Miraflores Locks building is also a museum telling the history of the canal (Taylor) |
For
travelers interested in not only seeing the locks of the Panama Canal, but
searching for wildlife on Lake Gatun, browsing the historic museum in the
Miraflores Locks building on the Pacific Ocean side of the canal and immersing
yourself into the wonders of the Panama Canal, the only way to do it is by land
and water.
Panamanians will greet you with a smile (Taylor) |
Tourism
is new to Panama .
The infrastructure is there for travelers to savor with all the comforts of
home, but the people themselves are still going through the learning curve of
how best to adapt to their new role in the world. It is that gentleness and
kindness of spirit that makes Panama
unique and gives it its charm.
For visitors, that translates to stepping into the past to tour a land that
time forgot while traveling to a place you will long remember.
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