Panama: Crossroads of Empires · Episode 9 of 24 · 21 min
Conquering the Jungle: How a Doctor Nobody Believed Won the Panama Canal
The French were beaten by Panama's jungle; the Americans won in ten years, first through medicine. Dr. William Gorgas's war on mosquitoes nearly got him fired before Roosevelt backed him. John Stevens built infrastructure and pushed a lock canal, and George Goethals finished it. The episode notes the sanitation was racially unequal.
Who's who
- William Crawford Gorgas+1 more episodeChief Sanitary Officer who fought yellow fever and malaria
- Theodore Roosevelt+14 more episodesPresident who backed Gorgas and approved the lock canal
- John Frank StevensChief Engineer 1905-07; rebuilt infrastructure and won the lock-canal decision
- George Washington GoethalsArmy engineer who completed the canal, 1907-1914
- George W. DavisCanal Zone governor who dismissed Gorgas's mosquito theory
- John G. WalkerCanal commission chairman who sought Gorgas's removal
- Walter Reed+2 more episodesScientist whose vector discoveries Gorgas applied
- Carlos Finlay+2 more episodesScientist whose vector discoveries Gorgas applied
Where it happens
- Canal Zone, Panama+5 more episodesTerritory where sanitation and construction were carried out
- Gatún Dam, PanamaCreated the largest artificial lake on Earth
- Gatún Locks, Panama+1 more episodeLargest concrete structures built to that time
Timeline
- 1904U.S. takes over; Gorgas named Chief Sanitary Officer
- Early 1905Yellow-fever outbreak; Roosevelt overrules calls to replace Gorgas
- End of 1905Yellow fever eradicated from the Zone
- June 29, 1906Lock-canal bill becomes law
- 1907Stevens resigns; Goethals takes command
- 1907-1914Goethals builds the Gatún Dam and Locks
Still debated
The lock decision is credited to Stevens persuading a wavering Roosevelt, but Congress and an engineers' commission also took part. Yellow fever was eradicated while malaria was only sharply reduced. Sanitation was racially unequal, and the Sunday Court operated within Gold/Silver segregation.
← PreviousHow the U.S. Manufactured Panama in 1903 — a Treaty No Panamanian SignedNext →The Panama Canal Opens: World War One and the Gold vs. Silver Color Line
Connected episodes in other series
Thirty Years LateThe Physician to Soldier Pipeline · Episode 3Also features Carlos Finlay, Theodore Roosevelt
Yellow Fever: The Disease That Forced Washington Into Public HealthThe U.S. Public Health Service · Episode 11Also features Carlos Finlay, Walter Reed
The 1922 Deal That Split a River That Didn't Have Enough WaterCalifornia and Water · Episode 3Also features Theodore Roosevelt
The Suppression BargainFire Returns to My Backyard · Episode 4Also features Theodore Roosevelt