If Only They Could Have Known… France Tackles the Panama Canal…

August 22, 2022 by  
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Today I happened upon a Frank Leslie’s Illustrated newspaper from February 14, 1880. On the front cover was a riveting image of Ferdinand Marie, Comte de Lesseps with his engineers in Panama right before the hard work to build the canal was to begin (see below). As I scanned the faces of the 23 men who joined him, I saw serious contemplation, enthusiasm, apprehension and perhaps a bit of excitement. What I didn’t see was horror, which is what seems to me was in the very near future.  Even glancing through this quick summary from Wiki …

” After two years of surveys, work on the canal began in 1882. However, the technical difficulties of operating in the wet tropics dogged the project. Particularly disastrous were recurrent landslides into the excavations from the bordering water-saturated hills, and the death toll from malaria and yellow fever. In the end, insufficient financial capital and financial corruption ended the project. The Panama Canal Company declared itself bankrupt in December 1888 and entered liquidation in February 1889.”

… I walked away shuddering at the thought of what must have been a fearsome scene. It seems fitting that these brave men are enshrined on the cover of a Leslie’s. Hopefully, I won’t be the only one who pauses to take notice…andexplore.

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