Panama Canal Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===French construction attempts, 1881–1899=== [[File:Ferdinand de Lesseps by Nadar.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Ferdinand de Lesseps]], the French originator of the [[Suez Canal]] and the Panama Canal]] The first attempt to construct a canal through what was then Colombia's province of Panama began on January 1, 1881. The project was inspired by the diplomat [[Ferdinand de Lesseps]], who was able to raise considerable funds in [[French Third Republic|France]] as a result of the huge profits generated by his successful construction of the [[Suez Canal]].{{sfn |McCullough |1977 |p=125}} Although the Panama Canal needed to be only 40 percent as long as the Suez Canal, it was much more of an engineering challenge because of the combination of tropical rain forests, debilitating climate, the need for canal locks, and the lack of any ancient route to follow. Lesseps wanted a sea-level canal (like the Suez), but he visited the site only a few times, during the dry season which lasts only four months of the year.{{sfn |McCullough |1977 |pp=103–123}} His men were unprepared for the rainy season, during which the [[Chagres River]], where the canal started, became a raging torrent, rising up to {{cvt|10|m|ft}}. The dense jungle was alive with venomous snakes, insects, and spiders, but the worst challenges were [[yellow fever]], [[malaria]], and other tropical diseases, which killed thousands of workers; by 1884, the death rate was over 200 per month.{{sfn|Cadbury|2003|pages=201–204}} Public health measures were ineffective because the role of the mosquito as a [[Vector (epidemiology)|disease vector]] was then unknown. Conditions were downplayed in France to avoid recruitment problems,<ref name="French" /> but the high mortality rate made it difficult to maintain an experienced workforce. [[File:1886 bas obispo.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Excavator at work in Bas Obispo, 1886]] Workers had to continually widen the main cut through the mountain at Culebra and reduce the angles of the slopes to minimize landslides into the canal.<ref>{{Cite book|last= Rocco |first= Fiammetta |title= The Miraculous Fever-Tree |year= 2003 |publisher= HarperCollins |isbn= 0-00-653235-7 |page= 192}}</ref> [[Steam shovel]]s were used in the construction of the canal, purchased from Bay City Industrial Works, a business owned by [[William L. Clements]] in [[Bay City, Michigan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/3000|title=The Panama Canal: Explorers, pirates, scientists and engineers – University of Michigan News|date=April 18, 2007|work=umich.edu|access-date=April 20, 2016|archive-date=July 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701003956/http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/3000|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Bucket chain excavators]] manufactured by both [[Alphonse Couvreux]] and Wehyer & Richemond and Buette were also used.<ref name="Haddock">{{cite book|author=Keith Haddock|title=Giant Earthmovers : An Illustrated History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyX4X1B_hLsC&pg=PA174|publisher=MotorBooks International|isbn=978-1-61060-586-1|pages=173–174}}</ref> Other mechanical and electrical equipment was limited in capabilities, and steel equipment rusted rapidly in the rainy climate.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pancanal.com/eng/history/history/index.html |title=Read our history: The French Canal Construction |publisher=Panama Canal Authority |access-date=2007-09-03 |archive-date=December 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215060157/http://www.pancanal.com/eng/history/history/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In France, Lesseps kept the investment and supply of workers flowing long after it was obvious that the targets were not being met, but eventually the money ran out. The French effort went bankrupt in 1889 after reportedly spending US$287,000,000; an estimated 22,000 men died from disease and accidents, and the savings of 800,000 investors were lost.<ref name="French">{{Cite book |chapter-url=http://www.czbrats.com/Builders/FRCanal/failure.htm |chapter=The French Failure |title=America's Triumph in Panama |first=Ralph E. |last=Avery |publisher=L.W. Walter Company |location=Chicago, IL |year=1913 |access-date=January 10, 2022 |archive-date=July 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728050134/http://www.czbrats.com/Builders/FRCanal/failure.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Cadbury|2003|p=262}} Work was suspended on May 15, and in the ensuing scandal, known as the [[Panama scandals|Panama affair]], some of those deemed responsible were prosecuted, including [[Gustave Eiffel]].{{sfn |McCullough |1977 |p=224}} Lesseps and his son Charles were found guilty of misappropriation of funds and sentenced to five years' imprisonment. This sentence was later overturned, and the father, at age 88, was never imprisoned.<ref name="French" /> In 1894, a second French company, the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama, was created to take over the project. A minimal workforce of a few thousand people was employed primarily to comply with the terms of the Colombian Panama Canal concession, to run the [[Panama Railroad]], and to maintain the existing excavation and equipment in salable condition. The company sought a buyer for these assets, with an asking price of US$109,000,000. In the meantime, they continued with enough activity to maintain their franchise. [[Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla|Phillipe Bunau-Varilla]], the French manager of the New Panama Canal Company, eventually managed to persuade Lesseps that a lock-and-lake canal was more realistic than a sea-level canal.{{sfn|Cadbury|2003|p=261}}The Comité Technique, a high level technical committee, was formed by the Compagnie Nouvelle to review the studies and work—that already finished and that still ongoing—and come up with the best plan for completing the canal. The committee arrived on the Isthmus in February 1896 and went immediately, quietly and efficiently about their work of devising the best possible canal plan, which they presented on November 16, 1898. Many aspects of the plan were similar in principle to the canal that was finally built by the Americans in 1914.<ref>Panama Canal Official Site – History – https://www.pancanal.com/eng/history/history/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910235443/https://www.pancanal.com/eng/history/history/ |date=September 10, 2021 }} select chapter The French Canal Construction – accessed 9/11/2021</ref> It was a lock canal with two high level lakes to lift ships up and over the Continental Divide. Double locks would be 738 feet long and about 30 feet deep ({{cvt|738|x|30|ft|m|0|disp=out}}); one chamber of each pair would be {{convert|82|ft|m}} wide, the other {{cvt|59|ft|m}}. There would be eight sets of locks, two at Bohio Soldado and two at Obispo on the Atlantic side; one at Paraiso, two at Pedro Miguel, and one at Miraflores on the Pacific. Artificial lakes would be formed by damming the Chagres River at Bohio and Alhajuela, providing both flood control and electric power. 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