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Panama Canal Culebra Cut milestone | Civil Engineering Source | ASCE

By 1888, the French conceded the impact of the unsuitable soil and changed course to build the canal with temporary locks as an interim plan until sea level could be reached. However, a combination of the soils underestimation, disease, labor strife, and financial difficulties led to the collapse of the French effort by the end of the year. In 1894, a second French company was formed for the project, but would not further the canal-building significantly.

The United States took over the project in 1904. At that time, the French had lowered the 210-foot summit by less than 20 feet. The American effort was a lock-based canal, which would require the removal of an additional 150 feet of material, not as deep as the French proposal, but substantially wider. On May 20, 1913, after years of excavating and blasting through the continental divide, steam shovels #222 and #230 met and faced one another on the bottom of the Cut, at 40 feet above sea level.

In total, the French excavated almost 19 million cubic yards of material and the Americans over 100 million cubic yards. It would be another year before the canal was formally opened on Aug. 15, 1914, with the passage of the cargo ship S.S. Ancon. However, the breakthrough at Culebra culminated decades of planning and construction, and it proved a milestone in turning the idea of the Panama Canal into reality.

People have been talking about a canal at Nicaragua and/or Tehuantepec since the arrival of the Europeans in the Americas, and not done much.

• By modern standards the Panama Canal is fairly small. Panamax ships are considerably smaller than the big bulk and container ships of today.*
• The issues that have limited the Panama Canal's throughput could make an alternative economically viable.

• 965' length.
• 106' width
• 39.5' draft

• 1,300' length.
• 254' width
• 66' draft
• 223' height (there is a bridge)