aug 15, 1914 - Panama Canal

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After the failure of a French construction team in the 1880s, the U.S. purchased the French assets in the canal zone for $40 million in 1902. The United States then began building a canal across a 50-mile stretch of the Panama isthmus in 1904. Chief engineer John Stevens cam up with innovative techniques and created the crucial redesign from a sea-level to a lock canal. After him, Lt. Col. George Washington Goethals, stepped up excavation efforts of a stubborn mountain range and oversaw the building of the dams and locks. The canal officially opened on August 15, 1914 and was transferred from the U.S. to Panama in 1999.

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