The Path Between the Seas

The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 by David McCullough, Simon & Schuster, 1978. 

The Railroad and the French

This book describes the building of the Panama Canal. Before anyone started building a canal, the Americans built a railroad across the isthmus. Then came the aborted French efforts of the 1870s to build a canal. The French removed a great deal of mountain earth, but ran out of money before they could complete the earth removal, much less start the construction of the canal.

Earth Removal

Some decades later, the Americans completed the earth removal, and then built the canal.

Nicaragua or Panama?

The book discusses the debate on whether the canal should be built in Nicaragua or Panama. A canal through Nicaragua would need to be three times as long as one through Panama. Also, Panama already had a railroad. The French and the Americans both decided on Panama.

Locks

It was also debated whether it should be a sea level canal or use locks. Locks won. 

Tropical Diseases

Tropical diseases, such as yellow fever and malaria, were a major cause of death among construction workers. The Americans were able to minimize the infections by removing almost all pools of standing water that harbored mosquitoes.

Engineer

The first man in charge of the construction was John Frank Stevens, Jr. who had been an engineer for the Great Northern railroad. He was recommended by his employer, James J. Hill.

Labor

Most of the manual labor was performed by black men from the West Indies.

Stealing Panama from Columbia

The United States politically and militarily engineered a secession of the Panama province of Columbia to create the separate nation of Panama.