The document summarizes two major water infrastructure projects in the early 20th century - the Panama Canal and the Los Angeles Aqueduct. The Panama Canal, completed in 1914, is a 50-mile shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans that raises ships 85 feet through a series of locks and man-made lakes. The Los Angeles Aqueduct, finished in 1913, is a 223-mile system of steel pipes that transports water from the Owens River in the Eastern Sierra Mountains to Los Angeles, providing a reliable water source for the growing city but devastating the Owens Valley ecosystem. Both projects required massive labor forces and engineering feats to overcome geographical challenges.

1. Panama & Los Angeles:The Waterworks that made the American West Tammy Williams

2. Panama Canal America gave up the canal because it had little economic impact on the U.S. 50 mile short cut from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean Raises the ships 85 feet to the next level into a man-made lake. Ships actually go up and over Panama The French started to build the canal in 1879, because of many hardships, such as disease and lack of funds, the project came to a halt. Theodore Roosevelt became President of the United States after the assassination of President McKinley. Roosevelt hired John Stevens to build the canal. He stopped workers – said that they needed to build homes and make the place more suitable to live in. He believed that the worker needed to be happy first.

3. Panama Canal Stevens realized that the French had the right idea. If built like congress wanted, it would have failed. John Stevens quit one day – it is still a mystery today. Roosevelt assigned General George Washington Goethals to complete the job. Most of the workers were from Barbados; they were paid ten cents an hour. What they excavated in one day, took the French one month. There was a work force of 50,000 men, only 10% were Americans. Americans got paid in gold and all others got paid in silver. The Americans got the better jobs. The canal opened on August 14, 1914. It opened early and below budget. On December 31, 1999, the Panama Canal became neutral to all countries, but it will be the United States to defend that neutrality. It functions well because there is an infinite supply of water from the rain forest. Roosevelt died in 1919, he never saw the canal

4. Los Angeles Aqueduct The L.A. Aqueduct comprises the Owen Valley aqueduct and a Second L.A. Aqueduct. The project began in 1905 and was finished in 1913. William Mulholland was an engineer and LADWP director, he designed the aqueduct that delivers the water from the Owens River in the Eastern Sierra Mountains into the city of Los Angeles. It required more than 2,000 workers and the digging of 164 tunnels. The aqueduct uses gravity to carry the water. The aqueduct ended the development of Owen Valley as a farming community and devastated the ecosystem of Owens Lake.

5. Los Angeles Aqueduct Mulholland and Harrison Gray Otis have been criticized for using deceptive tactics to obtain Bureau of Reclamation rights to the Owens river’s flow. The aqueduct consisted of 223 miles of 12-foot diameter steel pipe. A second Owen Valley Aqueduct was completed in 1970. The second aqueduct starts at the Haiwee Reservoir, just south of Owens Lake, running parallel to the first aqueduct.. It carries water 137 miles and merges near the Antelope Valley community of Warm springs.