Ferdinand de Lesseps' Panama Canal project fell into bankruptcy after seven years and spending a billion francs with little progress, as they were unable to control a disease epidemic or address the region's unsuitable landscape for a sea-level canal. The United States later took over the project, first focusing on eliminating mosquitos to curb yellow fever and malaria, then entrusting the army to finish the canal using a lock system like the abandoned French plan, constructing a dam to create Lake Gatun for water supplies and allowing ships to cross the isthmus at a higher elevation.

1. a major factor in ferdinand de lesseps
downfall
unable to stem the epidemic the
entrepreneur agreed to review his
project
backed by gustav fl he adopted the
solution of a canal with locks
better suited to the landscape of the
region but the turnaround changed
nothing
after seven years a billion francs had
been squandered
with very little to show
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on february the 4th 1889 the company
went bankrupt
when the panama scandal broke 85 000
small investors were left penniless
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now 88 years old the illustrious
delicips was found guilty
and only his advanced aged spared him a
five-year prison term
while the french licked their wounds the
americans began their move to gain the
upper hand in the region
theodore roosevelt wanted the canal
regarding it as the centerpiece of a
future world empire
the united states thus redeemed the
french concession making the area around
the canal
u.s territory the first priority of
roosevelt's men was to tackle the health
issues
in 1903 before continuing the
construction work
more than a year was spent killing all
the mosquitoes in panama
because in the meantime it had been
discovered that yellow fever and malaria
were carried by mosquitos
the u.s president then entrusted his
army with the mission of finishing one
of the largest engineering projects of
all time
confronted with the same geological
difficulties as their predecessors
the americans took up the aborted french
idea of building a canal
with locks
to supply them with water they created a
dam on the rio chagas
flooding a good part of the area and
producing a huge artificial lake
lake gatun
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located 26 metres above sea level it
allowed the isthmus to be crossed
without having to excavate the mountain
access was by two sets of locks each of
a size to match the scale of the project