The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914

The French were feeling invincible after completing the Suez Canal. They thought they could complete the same success in Panama. Little did they know that the jungle is very different from the desert. The leader of the effort was strongly opinionated and forced the matter of a Panama canal regardless of the potential merits of Nicaragua. There was a strong desire by the general public to invest in the canal and the initial team probably sold themselves short in paying to drum up business and not taking in enough capital.

The French effort eventually failed. Yellow Fever and Malaria killed off many workers. (Mosquitos were not fully understood to be the carriers.) The terrain was much more difficult than anticipated. Progress was slow. The shenanigans to get funding also came back to light. The effort eventually went belly up.

The United States had initially been strongly in favor of a Nicaragua. After the French fiasco, there was little desire to restart work on a canal. Teddy Roosevelt changed that. This time Panama actually won on merit.  However, there was a (false) sense that Columbia was trying to extort the US. There had been a fomenting Panama secession movement. The US felt no problem supporting this (even as they and Columbia were allies.) The United States ended up with a fairly one-sided treaty with Panama. Columbia lost valuable territory. And Panama had its independence and a nice source of income.

The US picked up the French assets and resumed canal construction. Effort were made to eradicate disease carrying mosquitoes in order to preserve the health of workers. Workers, black and white were brought in from all over, with the type of jobs restricted. Health care was excellent for the times, though black workers died at a much higher rate than white ones. 

Construction included lots of digging. Locks were essentially horizontal skyscrapers. The Chagres River was dammed to create artificial lakes. It rains a lot in Panama and the ground was not always the most stable. Eventually the canal was finished and opened to traffic. The United States kept ownership of the canal zone for decades before finally transferring it Panama.