Mrs. Ruland's Advanced Placement United States History Class

Unit 10 — America Comes of Age, 1865-1920

The little country of Panama was discovered by Columbus on his third trip to America in 1502. Some writers maintain that Columbus saw the possibilities of a canal across the Isthmus, but it is more likely that Balboa, the first to cross the Isthmus, was the first Spaniard to ponder on a canal. It is possible the Spaniards in their heyday would have given concrete consideration to a canal had it not been for the rebuke from the Pope, who is said to have quoted scripture, "What God had joined together let no man put asunder." As time went on many people meditated on the great value of a canal but no one did anything concrete until the French actually began work on a canal on New Year's Day, 1880. Although they failed, they did do much toward the reduction of Culebra Cut. They expended over $300,000,000 in their ill-fated efforts. The mastermind behind the construction was Monsieur De Lesseps who had so successfully engineered the Suez Canal.

Panama is located between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on the narrowest part of the Isthmus joining North and South America. To get a true picture of the location of the canal zone, it must be remembered that South America lies eastward from North America and the Isthmus connecting them lies almost east and west! The canal lies practically due south of Pittsburgh, Penn. Because of the route deemed best for the canal, it was cut from the Atlantic southeast to the Pacific. So the Pacific entrance is farther east than the Atlantic.

Colon and Cristobal, two cities whose names honor Columbus, are on the Atlantic entrance of the canal while Balboa and Panama are the Pacific terminals. Cristobal and Balboa are American cities, and Colon and Panama are Panamanian.

The canal is cut across the isthmus in an area where it is about fifty miles wide. The canal zone itself extends five miles on either side of the canal.

Rainfall is very heavy in the isthmus averaging from seven to twelve feet annually. The climate, especially in the valleys, is very hot while higher up in the mountains it is more temperate. In size, it is comparable to Indiana.

Panama, sometimes called New Granada, had been, since Latin America threw off the yoke of Spain, a part of Columbia. By virtue of the Monroe Doctrine, the U. S. had asserted a vague but protective interest in Latin American affairs. In 1846 the interest became more concrete when a treaty was made covering the construction of the railroad across the Isthmus. In 1850 the Clayton Bulwer treaty was made with England, which also had an interest in the area because of nearby territorial holdings. By this treaty, it was agreed that any projected canal should be neutral. After the long trip to the Oregon in 1898, the necessity of a canal in defense of the U. S. was recognized not only by the government, but by the people.

An effort was made to make a treaty with Columbia satisfactory to both countries. When the treaty failed ratification by the Columbian government, a revolution was staged by Panama, seeking her independence. The U. S. played an important part in this revolution. Marines were landed who then prevented Columbian troops from advancing across the Isthmus to engage in combat with the Panamanians. In four days the Revolution was complete ad Panama was a Republic. The U. S. completed the Hay-Banau Varilla Treaty with Panama; the terms gave the U. S. control over a ten mile wide canal zone in return for a cash payment of $10,000,000 and an annuity of $250,000 to begin on the ninth anniversary of the treaty ratification. There was much hostile criticism of President Theodore Roosevelt for his haste in recognizing Panama, but he was not apologetic declaring frankly, "I took Panama and let Congress debate it later."

The Americans brought to the task of building the canal a commendable spirit. The canal was to be constructed, not in the hope of making money, but rather to bring the two coasts closer together for commerce and defense.

When the U. S. first thought of building a canal across the Isthmus, it was realized we were faced with a double problem; the task of cutting across a mountain range and joining one ocean to another was gigantic, but an obstacle fully as gigantic was to make the health conditions in the area such that the workers did not become ill and die. The chief deterrent to French success had been the high death rate. It was common knowledge that the French paid their laborers every Saturday because they might not be alive to collect their money if paid biweekly or monthly. They had no idea of what caused malaria or yellow fever. Even in the hospitals the deadly work of the mosquito was unwittingly aided; bed posts were set in cups of water (to drown spiders, ants, and such that annoyed patients) thus affording breeding places for mosquitoes.

The Americans, because of work done just after the Spanish-American War, were aware of the need of a new approach. Colonel William C. Gorgas, who had cleaned up Havana, was placed in charge of sanitation in the Canal Zone. After his first tour of inspection, Gorgas sent to the U. S. for all equipment necessary to build reservoirs, lay water mains, install running water, sewer connections, wire screening for every house and to pave the streets. While the Panama Commission in charge of construction hesitated to send any such magnitude of supplies to Gorgas, the Colonel went on with tasks at hand for which he had supplies. Physicians inspected every house, ordered flower vases, ant guards, wash tubs overturned. Covers for cisterns and rain barrels were supplied. They sprayed insecticides, fumigated, measured windows for screens, provided nets for patients suffering with fever cases so they could not infect more mosquitoes. Patrolmen cruised the streets with oil cans strapped to their backs, squirting a colorful film on every puddle. They plodded behind the water carts, oiling the ruts and hoof prints. Other squads carried "tampers" with which they smashed every fragment of crockery or coconut shells which might catch a few drops of rain and provide a breeding place for mosquitoes.

In the first year, the exterminators used one hundred twenty tons of insect powder, thirty-three tons of sulphur, two million six hundred thousand gallons of kerosene. The "stegomyia" mosquito became as scarce as snow in Panama. The work of Gorgas was criticized by the engineers in charge of canal construction. They seemed to think it more important to clean up garbage dumps, but Gorgas had the support of President Roosevelt and kept on with his work on sanitation. Swamp lands were drained, some swamp lands were filled, some they ditched with concrete. Sleeping nets were given out to the natives. Insect eating spiders, lizards, frogs, fish were propagated, then released by the barrelful to eat the mosquito. Although six thousand six hundred thirty-nine canal workers died during the building of the canal, over two-thirds died during the first three years when the transition from "pest hole" to "tropical paradise" was taking place. Deaths from malaria dropped from 7.45 per thousand in 1906 to none in 1914. The Panama Canal Zone was a more healthful place to live than New York City. It was estimated that it had cost the U. S. Government $10 to kill each mosquito, but the final results proved it had been money well spent.

The number of workers was reckoned to be at its peak in 1913 when 56,654 persons were on the payroll, of these about one-tenth were American citizens. Blacks from Martinique, Barbados, Jamaica, and Guadeloupe totaled some 25,000 while a similar number of white workers came from southern Europe--Spain, Italy, and Greece. Considering the health conditions of the migrant workers, the number of deaths of some 6,600 out of 56,000 is very low. It is interesting to note that pay was entirely in gold and silver. Paper could blow away and become germ infested.

Return to Unit Syllabus Return to Unit Notes

mruland@comcast.net

Report any Broken Links

Last updated December 26, 2002

© Marcella Ruland 1998-2011, All rights reserved