The completion of the interoceanic Panama Canal in 1914 by the United States was a change to the face of the planet – the splitting of the American continents. As early as Columbus, there was a desire for a short path between the North and American continents. In the sixteenth century after realizing riches of Peru and Ecuador, the Spanish officially suggested a route close to that of the present canal but abandoned interest. Many ideas were proposed especially in the nineteenth century how to create a shortcut from the Atlantic to Pacific oceans. In 1817 the German scientist Alexander von Humboldt revived interest in the project and in 1819 the Spanish government formally authorized construction and created a company to build it. In 1876 an international company was organized and obtained a concession from Colombia to build it but failed. In 1879 a French company organized by Ferdinand de Lesseps who was successful in completing in 1869 the Suez Canal, a sea level canal, proposed to build a sea level canal across the isthmus of Panama. De Lesseps was not an engineer but the success of the Suez Canal motivated him to try the Panama locale. Work began in 1882 along the route of the Panama Railroad (1855). Lesseps and the company he organized were plagued by troubles. Finances being only one of the troubles another being the volcanic area of the Culebra Mountains – the Culebra Cut was attempted but landslides and lack of debris removal became a major concern. But the French managed to lower the peak by 102 feet by 1899. French machinery, such as steam shovels and dredges, proved to be inadequate along with debilitating diseases caused the French failure. The length of the canal is approximately 51 miles across the spine of the Culebra Mountains and there is a tidal range of 20 feet at Pacific side to one foot on the Atlantic side of the isthmus. By1899 the French abandoned work due to the shear difficulty of building a sea-level canal and disease and for several years there were negotiations by several entities for the resumption of canal building. In 1894, a new French company was formed but eventually the United States bought out this French company. Regarding this specific manuscript which delineates the steps necessary for the completion of the Panama Canal project, the author Gabriel Moreno Campo (1849-1905) was a Spanish engineer who worked on many rail, port and canal projects in a number of countries. He personally presented his plan to complete the canal to Maurice Hutin for deliberation at the Canal Council. Hutin was an engineer and director general of the New French Canal Company in 1894. In the lithograph made by a C. Ferreiro of Madrid, an interesting plan is made to tunnel through the Culebra Mountain. When the United States took over the canal building in 1903, the sea level plan was abandoned to become a lock, dam, and lake concept. It was the United States equipment (the Bucyrus steam shovels and dredges) that proved to be much stronger than the French equipment and up to the task of cutting through the Culebra mountains to make the famous Culebra Cut. The Bucyrus Company was headed by Lehigh alumni. The cement used in the Panama Canal building came from the Lehigh Valley and the steel gates for the five sets of locks were manufactured by the company of Lehigh alumni McClintic and Marshall (LU CE 1888) in Pennsylvania.

Late 1892

First date in manuscript

November 18, 1893

Manuscript presented to Maurice Hutin, Director General of the New Panama Cana Company

1894

Manuscript awarded a gold medal by the Academia de Inventores of Paris