Theodore Roosevelt appointed Colonel George Washington Goethals as Chief Engineer from 1907 to 1912 to finish building the Panama Canal ahead of schedule. Dr. William Gorgas was the Chief Sanitary Officer whose job was to protect workers from mosquito-borne illnesses. Building the canal required engineering skills to prevent disease outbreaks, develop the railway system to move soil, and engineer a series of locks to move ships along the non-sea level canal.

1. Panama Canal
& Los Angeles
Colin Evans

2. Panama Canal
Ferdinand de Lesseps, the hero of the Suez Canal, attempted to build a
sea-level Panama Canal but his workers were hit by waves of disease
Theodore Roosevelt used his “greatest good for the greatest number”
mantra to justify his approval for water projects like the Owens Valley
Aqueduct and the Panama Canal
Phillipe Bunau-Varilla was a french engineer who lobbied the United
States to choose his particular site for the Panama Canal

3. John Stevens was the Chief Engineer appointed by Theodore Roosevelt to
head the Panama Canal project from 1905 to 1907
Colonel George Washington Goethals was appointed by Theodore
Roosevelt to be the Chief Engineer of the Panama Canal project from
1907 to 1912, finishing the project 2 years ahead of schedule
Dr. William Gorgas was the Chief Sanitary Officer on the Panama
Canal Project and whose job was to protect workers from mosquito-borne
illnesses during the project

4. Why Was It Necessary?
In order to ship goods by sea
from coast to coast, ships
had to travel around South
America
By building a canal
through Central America,
shipping costs and
shipping times decreased
dramatically

5. Engineering Skills
First had to prevent the
outbreak of disease in the
tropical environment
redeveloped the Panama
railway system to help
move soil from the
excavation sites
because the canal wasn’t at
sea-level, builders had to
engineer a series of locks to
move ships along the canal

6. Owens Valley Aqueduct!
Los Angeles was growing at a rate too fast for the current water supply
to maintain
William Mulholland, Superintendent of the Los Angeles water system,
couldn’t stop the population growth of Los Angeles
decided that the only way to provide water for the growing
population was to acquire new sources of water
discovered the Owens Valley River 200 miles to the North of the city
secretly bought the majority of the water rights
meanwhile, wealthy Los Angeles businessman purchased large
plots of land in the San Fernando Valley

7. with no formal engineering training, Mulholland began building the
Owens Valley Aqueduct
dealt with the harsh working conditions of the desert
Aqueduct was an engineering marvel completed in 5 years ahead of
schedule and under budget
He was later made the highest paid public employee in the state of
California
to this day, Los Angeles still uses Mulholland’s aqueduct to get its
water supply

8. Engineering Skills
used the geography
of the Owens and
San Fernando
Valleys to his
advantage
had to deal with the
intense heat during
the days and cold
during the nights
providing water for
his workers was also
a demanding task

9. Who Benefited?
the city of Los Angeles had
acquired a water source
that provided 4 times more
water than it could use
property owners in the San
Fernando Valley were able
to irrigate their newly
acquired land
Farmers in the Owens
Valley were forced by lack
of water out of business