Beginning of Essay
The has been called the big ditch, the bridge between two continents, and the greatest shortcut in the world. When it was finally finished in 1914, the 51-mile waterway cut off over 7,900 miles of the distance between New York and San Francisco, and changed the f ....

Middle of Essay
.... Because of his experience with the Suez waterway, De Lesseps thought he was smarter than all the engineers beneath his command (Dolan). De Lesseps overrode all opposition of his sea-level canal due to his very popular reputation. He was sold on the idea of a sea-level canal and would not listen to the ideas of others such as French engineer, Adolphe Godin de Lepinary. De Lepinary's idea was to create two large lakes on either side of the mountains. In order to do this they would have to dam the Chagres River on the Atlantic side and the Rio Grande River on the pacific side (Considine). Although as time went on more than just a poor director held ba ....