The Panama Canal

 

Written on the back, "Gatun Locks Panama Canal" Construction of the canal started in 1904 and was finished ten years later in 1914, so if nothing else, we know this picture was taken after that.  The Gatun Locks are on the Atlantic side of the isthmus, near the city of Colon, and right off of Limon Bay.  This view is looking north towards Gatun Lake.  The men standing on the boat on the left side of the print are wearing hats worn by members of the U.S. Navy, though it's quite possible that sailors of other nations, as well as sailors of the merchant marine, might have also worn them.  

Views of the World, Culebra Cut, Panama

Again, Panama?  I'm beginning to think that Views of the World is staying in the Americas and places where the United States were heavily involved.  Be patient.  It will take awhile, but Europe, Asia, and even Africa are ahead.

Anyway, the Culebra Cut really was a big deal when these cards were published.  The Panama Canal was one of the great engineering feats of it's era, and the Culebra Cut, the removal of a mountain, the continental divide of the Panamanian isthmus, was the big challenge of the project.  A French company had tried to cut a sea level canal in the 1880s. but the project was too big for a private concern.  The U.S. government worked on the cut, but with locks, from 1904-1913.  And it wasn't just the engineering.  It was also yellow fever that had to be dealt with.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see other cards in the series.  But, you'll have to wait awhile for a completion of the lot.

Views of the World, Colon, Panama

Was this the view from the boat?  Colon, Panama was founded in 1850, by Americans building the Panama Railroad, the precursor to the Panama Canal.  It was a pretty simple idea actually, if you wanted to get to San Francisco and the gold fields, didn't want to go cross country, or around the horn, you got off the boat in Panama, went across the isthmus and caught another boat for S.F.  The American builders called the new community Aspinwal, after American businessman William Henry Aspinwal.  The local workers preferred Colon, after Christopher Columbus, Colon in Spanish.  Originally the town was on Manzanillo Island, completely surrounded by Manzanillo Bay, Limon Bay, and the Folks River.  Since the return of the Panama Canal, which replaced the railroad, communities on the mainland have been incorporated into Colon.

Click on Views of the World to see other postcards in the set.