QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”
       —Henry David Thoreau, from Journal, August 19, 1851

“I am free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally.”
       —W.C. Fields

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

DECEMBER 31, 1999: After 97 years under U.S. control, the Panama Canal is given over to Panama for the first time. The canal officially opened on August 15, 1914, when the steamer SS Ancon sailed through. Since then, over 922,000 ships have traversed the canal.
       Although the canal was completed in the early 20th century, the desire to create a shortcut across the narrow isthmus was burning in men’s hearts as far back as the 16th century. In the early 1500s, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V commissioned a survey of the isthmus. Although several plans for a canal were produced, none were implemented. U.S. interest in building a canal was sparked in the 19th century by the expansion of the American west and the California gold rush of 1848, since a ship sailing from New York to San Francisco would shave about 7,800 miles off its trip by cutting through Panama.
       A French company began construction on the 48-mile canal in 1880, but was plagued by tropical diseases (some 22,000 workers died) and eventually went bankrupt. It sold its project rights to the U.S. in 1902 for $40 million. In 1903, Panama declared independence from Colombia in a U.S.-backed revolution, and signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty with the Americans. By the terms of the treaty, the U.S. agreed to pay Panama $10 million for a perpetual lease, plus $250,000 annual rent. Construction on the canal commenced in 1903 and continued until 1914. Between that time, some 56,000 workers were involved in its construction; an estimated 10% lost their lives.
       In 1977, after 20 years of protests by Panamanians, president Jimmy Carter and Panama’s de facto leader Omar Torrijos signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. These treaties—narrowly ratified by the U.S. Senate—effectively abrogated the 1903 agreement and promised to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2000.
       Some interesting facts: The average toll for a ship passing through the canal is $54,000. In May 2006, the Maersk Dellys paid $249,165, the largest toll ever. American adventurer Richard Halliburton, who swam the canal in 1928, paid a mere 36 cents.

Sources: This Day In History, Wikipedia, Canal History Museum.