The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs

By Edward D. McDonald

Book Overview

In 1889 the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoc anique declared bankruptcy. The French firm's optimistic and ill-planned attempt to construct a canal across the Isthmus of Panama had resulted in the death of 22,000 workers (most from yellow fever, typhoid fever, and malaria); the complete loss of one and a half billion francs for the company's 800,000 shareholders; and the bitter failure of Chief Engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps -- the man responsible for the Suez Canal. On August 15, 1914, the S.S. Ancon took nine hours and forty minutes to traverse the lock-and-lake waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. What occurred in the quarter century between 1889 and 1914 is a larger-than-life true story of adventure, revolution, ordeal, and accomplishment: the building of the Panama Canal -- perhaps the greatest engineering marvel of the early twentieth century.In 164 magnificent historic photographs and a well-researched text, noted photohistorian Ulrich Keller tells the compelling story of this hitherto unparalleled technological achievement. Selected from an archive of over 10,000 images amassed by Ernest Hallen (Official Photographer of the Isthmian Canal Commission), these historic prints document the Canal's construction and its way of life: 450 miles of railroad; housing for 60,000 based on a caste system; the exotic settings; tremendous hardships and health risks; leisure activities; the Canal Zone's internal government, administration and policing; dredging operations, including spectacular movements of earth and water; unheard-of engineering feats and disastrous failures; and finally, victory Photographers, historians, engineers, and tudents of industry and technology will immediately recognize this volume as an important primary source of industrial archaeology. Photography enthusiasts and lovers of true adventure will delight in the vibrant, you-are-there sensation imparted by the photos and Ulrich Keller's exceptionally informed text and meticulous captions. The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs takes the reader back to a different era, and one of the proudest episodes in what the author calls "the 'heroic' age of industry." This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486244083
• ISBN13: 9780486244082
• Release Date: February 1984
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.3" x 0.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Photographs of the Panama Canal

The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs by Ulrich Keller is a most fascinating compilation of photographs recording man's greatest engineering achievement in construction during the 20th Century. The photographs are even more special to me because it shows scenes that my Barbadian grandfather and uncle would have seen during their laboring to construct the Panama Canal. That uncle died of malaria at the Canal...

The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs

This book a must for anyone visiting the Panama Canal. Buy it before your visit to acquaint yourself with the history of this amazing project. Then take it along on your trip. Everyone around you will be itching to have a look at this book as you view the canal.

Magnificient Recapturing of History

I lived in Panama for 17 years and have written 3 books on Panama. How how I wish I had this beautifully spectacular book years ago. What an inspiraton it would have been during those dreary hours of writer's block. Each of these magnificient pictures are indeed worth a thousand words -- and there are so many pictures in this book! The United States "helped" Panama separate from Colombia in 1903, the following year the great...

The building of the Panama Canal in historic photograph

Wealth of information! This book eloquently navigates through Panama's Canal history; merging dynamic cultural and socio-political elements that contributed to this technological marvel. As a lifetime resident of the Canal Zone I taught I knew the definitive version of the Canals creation, however these photographs of the mundane to the sublime still concedes a wealth of information.

This got me hooked on McCollough

After reading this I searched out and read the three other books by the same author.This was a really exciting narrative. David really knows how to tell a story, just enough detail to keep you in the real world, not so much as to slow down the story. In particular, I liked the history behind malaria and its cure, this could have been a book by itself. Did you know they used to place hospital bedposts in buckets of water...