Category: Science/Technology

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The Panama Canal: 500 Lives per Mile

The original Panama Canal still operates a century later. Kajmeister photo.

A grand vision. Incredible hubris. Stupidity and poor planning. Thousands of lives lost. A miracle of modern science and engineering. A doorway between oceans. The Panama Canal was–and is–all of these things.

Yesterday, I wrote my A to Z post about the country of Panama. But I mentioned the serendipity of being in Panama while it was time to write about Panama. And the first thing anyone usually thinks about Panama is The Canal.

Knowing I was planning this trip through the canal, Nan, one of my chickleball friends, recommended an excellent history of the canal: David McCullough’s The Pathway through the Seas. It earned a Pulitzer Prize 50 years ago, and for good reason. I had to speed-read the last of the 600 pages, just finishing it it in time–phew! otherwise, we would have been stuck in the locks. Spoiler: they did it. It was cray-cray. Herein, I will give you the speed version, 2000 words instead of 600 pages, the How, Why, and What the Canal was all about.

Before the Canal, there was a 50-mi (roughly) stretch of mountains and jungles. There was a railroad, but railroads can’t carry ships, and the Chagres River limited what ships could traverse it. Photo from mapsland.
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P is for Panama

The country of Panama, on the isthmus situated between Costa Rica and Colombia.

Fast Facts

  • Named for: Possibly “butterflies” or “bannaba”=distant place or “place of many fish,” both in indigenous tongue.
  • Capital: Panama City
  • Long/Lat: 8.6 N/79.3 W, only 6 hours or 3000 miles SE of Castro Valley. Very close to the equator.
  • Population: 4.3 million, 65 Castro Valleys
  • Size: 29,000 sq mi, or 1600 Castro Valleys
  • Avg temp in April: 90 F/32 C (humidity 85%/ CV usually around 70%)
  • Median household income: $7,800
  • Ethnicity: 65% mestizo (mixed), 12% indigenous, 10% Black, 7% white.
  • Main industries: Trade, commerce, shrimp, copper, hydropower

Sometimes there is serendipity; the stars align. Things can be helped along by choice, but happy accidents may begin the process. Today is the day to write a post on “P” and today, as it happens, we are going through the Panama Canal. The A to Z challenge meets the travel blogs! Due to this exciting circumstance, I will write two posts. Today, I will cover the country of Panama in the same fashion as before, A through O. Tomorrow we will talk about the reason for the trip: going through the Canal.

The Most Ancient History of Panama

Today, let’s focus on early pre-Canal history. Really early, 200 million years ago: Pangaea.

Pangaea, Pinterest graphic.

If long-lived intelligent beings were to look through a telescope at this part of Earth, they might ask, Can’t they make up their minds? First, it’s all land, then it’s all sea, then land, then sea, then land… In other words: Pangaea, the Central American Seaway (CAS), the isthmus, the canal, then all the bridges. Humans want all the ways to go, sometimes through the water and sometimes on the roads.

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Pushing the Boundaries of Dinosaur Knowledge

Kajmeister’s calendar is ready and waiting!!!!

In honor of World Dinosaur Day, I’ve decided to inaugurate the first ever annual World Dinosaur Day post. I’ll start by reminding you, dear reader, that I have written a book all about paleontology, The A to Z Dinosaurs, full of fun little tidbits about these magnificent reptiles. With that sponsor’s message out of the way, let’s talk about some of the latest dinosaur research. I’m going to call it DRAMA, INDUSTRY, MAGIC! That is, drama among the paleontologists, industrialists helping out their scientific friends, and magical new technology uncovering hidden secrets.

World Dinosaur Day was designated as such by cartoonist Joe Wos back in 2016. Wos is a well-known illustrator who helped found a small cartoon museum in Pittsburgh, had a website, was noted as a visiting cartoonist to the Schulz museum here in Northern California–the guy does a lot of things. Lots of ideas. Lots of projects. Museum now closed; website gone; lots of 404 links. He’s available for speaking events but has not, according to his personal site, said much about dinosaurs. However, his Dinosaur Day idea caught on, and museums and educators have enjoyed pitching a tent on it, even if Joe seems to have wandered away. Thanks anyway, Joe Wos! Who wouldn’t want another excuse to celebrate dinosaurs?

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