Why Panama canal was dug so shallow to make use of liftpump and other costly items ? Was it foolishness or ?

Question

Panama canal was dug shalowly, such that they needed constant water level by trapping water and then using lock gate, lift pump etc. etc. The engineers could easily avoid it by digging deeper in which width could have been more. Did they do it to increase initial and maintainance cost utilizing the foolishness or dishonesty of the Panama government ?

Answer 1

Well the Panama Canal was built that way because building a sea level canal was going to be too expensive at that time. Therefore the US Corps of Engineers adopted a model by a French engineer named De Lepinay that modeled a lock type canal and an artificial lake for the Panama Canal.

For reference the Panamanian Government had no say in the building of the Panama Canal. Panama signed a treaty with the US in 1903 that gave the US sovereignty over an area 5 miles to each side of the Panama Canal that came to be called "The Canal Zone". The project was funded by the US Government - therefor the US taxpayers funded the project.

There were various engineers that ran the project, but the man that finished, and lasted the longest was G.W. Goethals. You can read about the story behind the Panama Canal in some books (THE PATH BETWEEN THE SEAS - David McCullough), and at www.pancanal.com

Answer 2

The locks used to raise ships are actually much more cost effective than digging the width of the pennisula at sea level. Essentually you would have a narrow channel though the higher elevations that is thousands of feet deep through solid rock. Even today, this is simply not practical. If you research the tons of rock and earth that were moved, you need to understand this is just a fraction of the earth that would have been moved by cutting completely through at sea level.

The higher walls would have been prone to rock slides and would have actually resulted in more maintenance and a less safe passage for ships. Also, understand that the engineers made use of natural waterways that existed prior to construction. Ships make use of a natural lake and minimized the use of locks and man-made canals. This construction technique also saved valuable time to get the canal operational sooner.

As someone mentioned, the Panama canal was engineered, built, and operated by the USA government for many years. I don't recall what year it was exactly that it was turned over to Panama. They profited, but it was indirectly. American commerce and national security were the biggest beneficiaries.

It really was costly in terms of lives and construction, but quite simply your idea would have increased costs 100 times over and taken many more years to complete.

Answer 3

I read about the building of the Panama Canal sometime ago. I think it was essentially a US funded and led project. It was a massive engineering feat by any standards given the geography. Many, many died constructing it, mainly to tropical diseases.

Answer 4

they did not have the technology then that we have now.....but if they did not have the locks....the water would have flowed too fast ALL the time in such a narrow area......you can try for more info by going to ask.com and typing in Panama Canal.

Answer 5

they could have dug it deeper... but why?

it is only a somewhat recent development that we have ships that are big enough to make this a detriment

at the time it was plent deep enough

it saved a lot of money to not make it so big, when there was no reason too