Panama & Los Angeles:The Waterworks That Made

America the West

Andrew Lelja

History 141

71154

Panama Canal

• In 1534, King Charles V of Spain surveyed a route through Panama to make it easier for trips to travel from Spain to Peru.

• The French had began construction on the Gaillard Cut in 1881 but they underestimate the massive project, and financial and hygienic difficulties eventually halted the project in 1889.

• In 1904, Roosevelt bought out the French’s involvement in the project for 40 million dollars.

Panama Canal

• The United States learned from France’s mistakes and made accommodations for all the workers and were prepared to take on one of the most monumental tasks in human history.

• U.S. construction on the canal began in 1904.

• This was one of the most difficult and complex projects that had ever been attempted.

Panama Canal

• 27,000 workers died in the construction of the canal, but only 5,600 died under the U.S. phase of the project.

• Advances in hygiene decreased the death rate compared to that of the French construction.

• John Frank Stevens was the chief engineer, and he made living conditions re

• He left the project in 1907, and George Washington Golphos came in to head and finish the job.

• Ellicott Dredges built a special cutter dredge for the canal.

• Golphos finish the project ahead of schedule, and The Panama Canal was complete in 1914.

• The completion of the canal made the time cut in half for a ship traveling from New York to San Francisco.

Panama Canal• The total cost was 352 million dollars on the U.S

side, and 639 million dollars for the French.• Once the canal was finished, the annual traffic

was 1,000 ships, but in 2008 the annual traffic rate exceeded 14,000 ships.

• Since 1999, Panama has held control of the canal, but the U.S. still protects it militarily.

Los Angeles Aqueduct

• William Mulholland was a self-made engineer and became the director of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP)

• Mulholland designed the Los Angeles Aqueduct which delivers water from the Owens River in the Easter Sierra Nevada’s to Los Angeles.

• Mulholland and the LA Mayor tricked land owners and farmers into selling their rights to the water to LA by making them think they were supporting local irrigation project.

Los Angeles Aqueduct• Construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct began in

1908 with a budget of 24.5 million dollars with over 5,000 workers.

• The project consisted of 223 miles of steel pipe, 120 miles of railroad tracks, 2 hydroelectric plants, 170 miles of power lines, 240 miles of telephone line, an 500 miles of roads.

• LA was now growing 11 times faster per year than New York, and its rapid growth attracted people and immigrants from all over.

Los Angeles Aqueduct• One of the main reasons LA needed water was for farming,

but before long the land was being cheaply sold to build residential communities.

• Movie productions brought even more fame and money to the city.

• LA became known as the “Water Vampire” and protests broke out.

• Land owners and farmers in the Owens Valley had their land destroyed because of the aqueduct, and it changed the landscape of the valley forever.

• After a short time, the Owens Valley wasn’t providing enough water for LA, so they looked further north to Mono Lake, and east to the Colorado River.

• Mulholland constructed the St. Francis Dam and reservoir, which was a success as first but eventually failed and broke becoming the worst manmade disaster in California history.

• Mulholland resigned from his position after this.

Los Angeles Aqueduct

• Once Mulholland was gone, more efficient and responsible planning were used to secure additional water sources.

• A lot of environmental damage had been done to the Owens Valley and Mono Lake.

• Careful management of California water sources is a must to keep LA and southern California afloat in the future.