Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” In the early 1900s, Teddy Roosevelt led the way that left a trail still traveled today. This trail is one of America’s greatest achievements. The Panama Canal , built during the 1900s, allowed for more efficient trading and easier warship travel. In 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Nurez de Balboa became the first European to discover the Isthmus of Panama was just a slim land bridge separating the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In 1534, after no such passage across the Isthmus had been found Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, ordered a survey to determine if one could be built, but the surveyors eventually decided that construction
…show more content…
He was a conservationist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, nation's youngest president, and the hero of the Spanish-American War. If you were to ask Roosevelt which achievement was the most valuable, he would reply: “The Canal.” In 1901, sailors between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans suffered the time consuming, dreadful route “round the horn” at the southern tip of South America. S-shaped Isthmus of Panama instead would remove 3,000 miles from from the East Coast to Asia and 5,000 miles from Ecuador to Europe. The New York-San Francisco route would be 7872 miles less than the original around the horn trip. The Panama Canal shortens sea voyages between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A ship sailing between New York City and San Francisco saves approximately seven thousand eight hundred miles by using the canal rather than traveling around South America. The route with the construction of the canal passageway decreased milage used by ships. The route became 13,600 miles without the canal and around 5,00 with the canal in place. The French made an attempt, wasting ten years, 300 million dollars later and 20,00 lives in a failed attempt to show off their past success with the Suez Canal. Resuming the job of the canal called for moving a quarter of a billion cubic yards of jungle, building a fifteen mile bridge of water, and defeating malaria and yellow fever. Malaria and yellow fever were two of the main illnesses faced while
He was a conservationist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, nation's youngest president, and the hero of the Spanish-American War. If you were to ask Roosevelt which achievement was the most valuable, he would reply: “The Canal.” In 1901, sailors between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans suffered the time consuming, dreadful route “round the horn” at the southern tip of South America. S-shaped Isthmus of Panama instead would remove 3,000 miles from from the East Coast to Asia and 5,000 miles from Ecuador to Europe. The New York-San Francisco route would be 7872 miles less than the original around the horn trip. The Panama Canal shortens sea voyages between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A ship sailing between New York City and San Francisco saves approximately seven thousand eight hundred miles by using the canal rather than traveling around South America. The route with the construction of the canal passageway decreased milage used by ships. The route became 13,600 miles without the canal and around 5,00 with the canal in place. The French made an attempt, wasting ten years, 300 million dollars later and 20,00 lives in a failed attempt to show off their past success with the Suez Canal. Resuming the job of the canal called for moving a quarter of a billion cubic yards of jungle, building a fifteen mile bridge of water, and defeating malaria and yellow fever. Malaria and yellow fever were two of the main illnesses faced while