panama canal

The Panama Canal Panama Canal is a waterway that cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and links the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. It ranks as one of the greatest engineering achievements in the world. Thousands of laborers worked on it for about 10 years, using steam shovels and dredges to cut through jungles, hills, and swamps. They had to conquer many difficulties along the way. One of the problems they had to overcome was …

…San Francisco to less than 5,200 miles. Previously, ships making this trip had to travel around South America, which was a distance of more than 13,000 miles. The United States built the Panama Canal at a cost of about $380 million, but only after the French had tried and run out of money. It took some time and a lot of money, but the U.S. finished the canal. Bibliography A Man A Plan A Canal Panama. NOVA, 1987