The Panama Canal

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THE PANAMA CANAL

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[Illustration: The 5 Points of Authority]

The 5 Points of Authority in this Book

1. All of the chapters in this book pertaining to the actual construction of the Canal were read and corrected by Colonel George W. Goethals, Chairman and Chief Engineer of the Isthmian Canal Commission.

2. All of the illustrations were made from photographs taken by Mr. Ernest Hallen, the official photographer of the Commission.

3. The book contains the beautiful, colored Bird's-eye View of the Canal Zone, made under the direction of the National Geographic Society, as well as the black-and-white official map of the Canal.

4. The extensive index was prepared by Mr. G. Thomas Ritchie, of the staff of the Library of Congress.

5. The final proofs were revised by Mr. Howard E. Sherman, of the Government Printing Office, to conform with the typographical style of the United States Government.

"The American Government,"

by the same author, was read by millions of Americans, and still holds the record as the world's best seller among all works of its kind.

* * * * *

[Illustration: ATLANTIC OCEAN PACIFIC OCEAN

Courtesy, National Geographic Magazine, Washington, D. C.

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE PANAMA CANAL

Copyright, 1913, by the J. N. Matthews Co., Buffalo, N. Y.]

THE PANAMA CANAL

by

FREDERIC J. HASKIN

Author of "The American Government," etc.

[Illustration: logo]

Illustrated from photographs taken by

ERNEST ALLEN

Official Photographer of the Isthmian Canal Commission

Garden City New York Doubleday, Page & Company 1913

Copyright, 1913, by Doubleday, Page & Company

All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian

Press of J. J. Little & Ives Co. New York

PREFACE

The primary purpose of this book is to tell the layman the story of the Panama Canal. It is written, therefore, in the simplest manner possible, considering the technical character of the great engineering feat itself, and the involved complexities of the diplomatic history attaching to its inception and undertaking. The temptation to turn aside into the pleasant paths of the romantic history of ancient Panama has been resisted; there is no attempt to dispose of political problems that incidentally concern the canal; in short, the book is confined to the story of the canal itself, and the things that are directly and vitally connected with it.

Colonel Goethals was good enough to read and correct the chapters relating to the construction of the canal, and, when shown a list of the chapters proposed, he asked that the one headed "The Man at the Helm" be omitted. The author felt that to bow to his wishes in that matter would be to fail to tell the whole story of the canal, and so Colonel Goethals did not read that chapter.