1. The Panama Canal &
Los Angeles Aqueduct
Brooke Soto
M. Arguello

2. Panama Canal
• 50 mile shortcut to Pacific Ocean
• One of the largest civil engineering projects in history
• The canal was constructed in two stages: 1st 1881-1888 by
French, 2nd 1904-1914 by America.
• America ended up taking over the project, thanks to
President Roosevelt, who paid French $40 million for rights
to the project.
• The canal was completed in 1914.

3. Panama Canal
• Unfortunately, due to working
conditions, many attracted diseases
such as yellow fever & malaria.
• Ridding the canals of these diseases
took three years.
• After 300 tons of sulphur, 120 tons
of insecticide, and 700,000 gallons of
kerosene, the infected mosquitos
were defeated.
• The French had lost around 20,000
people due to disease, while
Americans lost around 7,000.

4. Panama Canal
• The chief engineer for the project was John
Frank Stevens.
• He improved the working conditions &
persuaded Roosevelt to build a lock canal
instead of a sea-level canal.
• Americans seemed to have done a better job
than the French, for the canal was built ahead of
schedule, it was cheaper than expected, working
conditions were improved, and the morale was
higher.
• The canal cost about $639 million to construct.
• Unfortunately, with each entry or exit, 26 million
tons of fresh water is lost into the ocean.

5. Panama Canal
• The canal has three sets of locks: Miraflores
(steps), Pedrio Miguel (1 step), & Gatun (3
steps).
• The hollow gates are 7 feet thick and 82 feet
high.
• Each gate weighs about 730 tons.
• The master wheel weighs 34,000 pounds.
• Water moves by gravity, there are no pumps
to help it.
• By use of the canal, it saves about 8,000 miles
around the tip of South America.

6. Los Angeles Aqueduct
• L.A. started out at as a place of earthquakes &
droughts.
• The water wheels that supplied water was
disintegrating.
• William Mulholland began working for the L.A.
water supply in 1878.
• 1886 he became superintendent of L.A. water.
• 1903 L.A. managed to such dry the last of the
L.A. river, which was the only source of water.
• Water was such a precious resource, people
took baths once a week.
• The water was never pure or clean, just simply
all they could get.

7. Los Angeles Aqueduct
• Mulholland built the L.A. aqueduct, which went from the Owens river through the San
Fernando Valley.
• Thousands of people worked on the building of the aqueduct with no air conditioning, no
hard hats, and no water.
• They were able to make it across in 5 years.
• November 5, 1913-celebration of completion of L.A. aqueduct
• Mulholland’s famous speech: “There it is, take it.”
• Water was abundant and started the building and construction of what it now L.A. today.
• From desert to the land of Eden!

8. Los Angeles Aqueduct
• Mulholland changed history, and L.A. named a school, dam, reservoir, & highway after him.
• L.A. ended up growing at such a fast rate of speed that water was already running low after just 10 years of building
the aqueduct.
• Drought happened to occur again, and people were so outraged they ended up blowing up the aqueduct.
• Mulholland came up with the idea for construction of the St. Francis Dam in San Franciscito Canyon.
• The dam ended up collapsing, sending a huge tidal wave of concrete over the surrounding communities.
• The dam had killed as many people as the San Francisco earthquake.
• Mulholland’s reputation was crushed and he resigned after 50 years.

9. Los Angeles Aqueduct
• L.A. kept having to find new resources for water because of how fast it
continued to grow.
• A new aqueduct was built connected to the Colorado River, then to the
Mono lake.
• People constantly worried about supply instead of conservation.
• 1976 Mono lake had fallen 40 feet, but was able to have water restored to it
thanks to activists in 1988.
• Today, L.A. uses the water that is provided, & if there is a shortage, oh well!