2. The French Connection
• 1879 The plan of such to allow shortening global trip by 8000 miles is
shown in France.
• 1880’s French began by clearing the surface route of their proposed plan,
charting, and plotting elevations. These are the complete foundation of
technical information for all later work.
• The Leader of the French Panama Canal had finished the Suez Canal in
Egypt just 10 years prior (1869). Businessman not an engineer, had never
been to Panama!
• The route followed the Panama Railroad. Only 1/3 of the work is done
when,
• 10 years later money runs out, but not until after 20,000 workers die, ¾ in
hospital die, 22/24 original nurses die.
• Mosquitos ravage Yellow Fever and Malaria among workers from stagnant
water. The people do not know about the breeding connection.
• The Bottom Line Failure is they simply didn’t have the medical technology
and big enough equipment, they had the will to do it but plainly couldn’t.
3. What Roosevelt did to succeed where
others failed in Panama
• McKinley is assassinated, Roosevelt becomes President. His New York experience
teaches him two fleets and the need for the Canal.
• 1903 He directs USS Nashville to conduct gunboat diplomacy with the help of the
French, and Panama revolution only one day.
• John Stevens, railroad engineer, imediately takes two years to build the
infrastructure to permit life in Panama; the French failed and Wallace, the first US
engineer leader had quit.
• Stevens program eradicated Yellow Fever by 1905.
• Roosevelt makes the first Presidential visit outside the US, proving just how
important this project was.
• By 1906, he had 24,000 men working.
• Stevens quits without clear reason, so to prevent derailing the project Roosevelt
appoints an Army Engineer Goffells who cannot.
• US contracts build the locks in the US and ship the parts in.
• Oct1913 the first test of the locks and 15Aug1914 first paying customer.
• 352 Million US$ later. Estimates are 7 Billion to do it today.
4. The closest thing to a perpetual
motion machine-
• Gatoon Lake is higher in elevation than the
Atlantic and Pacific. This allows the locks to
always fill from the lake and drain into the A or P,
no pumps needed.
• Gatoon Dam electricity powers the hotel loads of
the locks.
• 2 million gallons per year used from the lake.
• The rainforests drain into Gatoon, so until
weather changes there is an endless source
(perpetual) rain.
5. Current info on Panama
• In 2000 President carter gave the canal and the canal
zone to Panama.
• Panama zone is designated for all countries to access it.
• The US retains indefinite rights to protect the entire
zone.
• 2012 completion of widening the locks will allow the
worlds biggest ships to pass thru.
• It is a beautiful place and an engineering marvel, as I
went West to East in 1999.
• Prices very 36 cents to swim it to $ 99,000 for QE2!
Saving 8000 miles steaming is it worth it?
6. LA Aqueduct
Mulholland the Man of LADWP
• From Dublin and not even an elementary education, he walks across
Panama to save the 25 dollars, lands a job at LA Water and Power.
• His self taught knowledge of the LA water system is invaluable and sets
the stage for the death of his boss to put him in charge.
• LA Mayor Eaton tells him of Owens Valley, and in Fall 1904 they make a 2
weeks wagon trip, and scope out a route.
• He sends his men to buy up property and water rights in Owens Valley and
the San Fernando Valley real estate syndicate surreptitiously. This is
blatant insider trading of property and information.
• His eye and loyalty is to grow LA and its growth.
• Given an Honorary Doctorate Degree for his accomplishments.
• He resigns after the St. Francis dam failure and 200 people are killed.
7. Sources of Water
Los Angeles Basin drier than Sahara
• No matter what growth requires more water than is available as each
source is added. The LA river as its only source in the beginning is
hopelessly exceeded and Mulholland knows it.
• Mulholland is a visionary because of his high level of knowledge about the
LA waterworks.
• He knows what he needs but it was his friend that told him of a place he
did not know of.
• He then continues to eye source after source, and operates on “the end
justifies the means…”
• Owens Valley provides Sierra’s watershed.
• Mono Lake also provides Sierra’s watershed.
• Feather River provides from Central Valley.
• Colorado River provides from Colorado Rocky Mountains.
• The bottom picture is 1850 Los Angeles, the top is 1994! It is hard to
imagine a valley with almost no water.
8. Pushback in Owens and Mono Lakes
Consequences of LA’s self-interest
• 1924 Owens Valley citizens stopped and directed the flow back into
the Owens Valley.
• The aqueduct was dynamited many times, and no one was every
found guilty.
• One person involved in the dynamite efforts later became Gov. of
CA-, according to a grand-daughter.
• 600 various enforcement personnel upheld a virtual martial law to
protect the aqueduct.
• Mono Lake conservation group led efforts to get water shared in
both valleys with LA. The preservation of these were found to be in
the public interest and not LA interest only.
• This background shows the modern dewatering effects on Owens
Valley and its ground water pumping.
9. Rapid growth / insufficient engineering
and limited quality control disaster
• 1934 Arizona Gov. deployed force to prevent diversion of the Colorado
unsuccessfully, but lead to the longest running court case.
• St. Francis Dam failed a few hours after Mulholland had looked at some small
leakage about a third from its bottom, at 235730 hrs 12Mar1928. and 180 foot
deep lake drains into Los Angeles and then into the Pacific Ocean. The water was
25 feet high 42 miles away in Santa Paula. This report also indicates a much
higher death toll estimated at 500 dead compared to the 200 in the Cadillac
Dream video. This photo was taken a someone who nearly escaped!
• Mulholland is transformed into a broken man after his intentions and integrity are
in question.
• Baldwin Reservoir Dam fails with helicopters above filming it on 14Dec1963,
causing widespread flooding !
• If these failures happened today, the density is so much higher, the death tolls
would be hundreds of times more.
• Both of these failures and the dynamiting of the aqueduct are all events
completely unknown to me. Asking 8 random people appearing old enough to
know of Baldwin Reservoir failure, not one person a heard of either failure or the
dynamiting of the aqueduct!
