Is The Panama Canal The World's Most Difficult Engineering Project? | Super Structures | Progress

Deep in the jungles of Central America man has battled nature to build an engineering marvel, the Panama canal. Its epic story continues to astonish us! Its dimensions defy imagination! Its price...thousands of lives. It's the crossroads of the world's economy. Many have gone to war over it.
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[@aleratz]

A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!

[@olympicjeff6504]

Sailed Andromeda through the Panama canal in August 1999..lol. perfect 👌

[@ABeautfulMess]

My Grandfather worked at the Canal in the 40s. My mom was 4 and all she remembers is the afternoon rain and her brother being born. My Grandfather told me it was his favorite place he ever worked..Thank you for this video. I never appreciated the Canal as I should. RIP workers

[@mesquitoful]

I grew up in the Panama Canal Zone and have heard this story my whole life. I know some of these places very well. Still, this all amazes me.

[@desmondjohnson5023]

Excellent!

[@georgetaylor8591]

That is quite the accomplishment..Admire the people who planned it!!!God Bless the thousands that built it!!May they RIP knowing what they accomplished!!! 🇵🇦🇵🇦🇵🇦🇵🇦🇵🇦

[@usmale49]

Great video...thank you for uploading and sharing!!

[@ibonnecaldwell8774]

Amazing!!!

[@t5ruxlee210]

The key to a practical Panama Canal lay undiscovered by its initial French developers. That was the huge rainfall levels occurring in a nearby unexplored watershed which could easily supply a canal equipped with the huge locks required for a profitable, mostly non sealevel, total project.

[@ranger-1214]

During my Army days at Fort Sherman, when we would transit from the fort we'd have to wait for the lock to cycle then drive across it beside a set of the gates. The jungle area around Sherman had 7 old gun batteries dating back dozens of years. The Jungle Operations Training Center was open there about 1951 and trained units and air crews on survival. It was a very interesting place and the old Spanish Fort San Lorenzo at the mouth of the Chagres River was some great exploring. It dates back to 1598 and was routinely attacked by pirates. Back then you could still see remnants of the French Canal here and there but it's been almost 50 years since I was last there so by now the jungle may have finished its' reclamation.

[@MrDaiseymay]

You can bet on it ! Thanks for sharing. I think the combined death's from accidents and the deceases, was previously unknown in modern history.

[@scottgriffith7759]

I spent three weeks at Ft. Sherman attached to an infantry squad going through jungle training. On a map course we stopped for lunch next to a ravine. Myself and one of the sergeants went down into the ravine to have a look around. I found a cave next to the creek running through the ravine. I looked down into the mud and noticed huge cat tracks coming in and out of the cave. Needless to say we quickly made our way up out of there.

[@robertberry2671]

I was at Panama and lived at Coco Solo.

[@johnandersonsteel3450]

​@@MrDaiseymay😊

[@user-zh4ft1zq1x]

Wow!

[@ramongalula4565]

Greatest Engineering feat of the 20th Century.😯😯

[@vernalc2449]

VERY well done. Both the Panama Canal AND the documentary.

[@danieljstark1625]

The best history of the American constructin of the Panama Canal I ever saw. Perhaps it's petty, but I'd have liked more details/specifics about the French failure.

[@cottonlife]

Crazy how i was born near the panama canal now im learning more about the history about it good info🤙

[@1616katerst]

Hi. I’ve seen my share of Panama Canal videos but this took the time to explain more of what took and why...it’s not all about digging a ditch. Very cool. Thanks!

[@alexmontgomery255]

My family and I lived in Panama City in the early 1960’s and four years after we moved to the U.S. we went back as vacationers.

[@stevie-ray2020]

Should watch Panama's video on the more recent engineering feat of widening the Canal!

[@NikolaBabane]

Thank you for your fantastic Channels very Very interesting I ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ IT HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL GOOD NIGHT & GOOD LUCK I ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ YOUR NATION

[@surinderjitsingh8954]

Best documentary on this topic, I have always been intrigued by the water locks

[@cbroz7492]

Read Dabid McCullough book The Path Between the Seas...

[@karlmiller7500]

It's interesting that the canal was built with the passage of the Titanic in mind

[@davidkimmel4216]

What a fantastic Big Ditch. 😊🎉

[@MrDaiseymay]

FANTASTIC !. I WATCHED THE BBC DOCUMENTARY OF THIS STORY, BACK IN 1987. THEY HAD MORE ARCHIVE FILM OF THE FRENCH ATTEMPT. WHAT MADE ME CRAWL, WAS THE EMPHASIS MADE ,OF THE DENSE JUNGLE CONDITIONS, THAT WERE AMONG THE WORST IN THE WORLD FOR DANGEROUS SNAKES, SPIDER'S AND OTHER TROPICAL CREATURES. WHAT BRAVE AND DESPERATE PEOPLE THEY WERE.

[@williamhagen2792]

Great story.

[@williammorris3303]

The Panama Canal is what modern humans have to hold up against the pyramids

[@toomzp4742]

Damn.. Building that dam was genius!

[@safetymikeengland]

38:30 - that mechanical computer is amazing.

[@willyates9176]

❤ Enjoyed this very much, thank you. An enormous undertaking that cost a lot to save a lot, I guess.

[@garystewart3110]

Luke Skywalker talks about Panama in the Degoma System.

[@ph11p3540]

The only other engineering project that would overshadow the construction of the Panama Canal would be the Apollo Space program and building the International Space Station. Nearly a million people and thousands of contractors worked on these projects not just in every US state but Canada, Europe and Japan. The logistics and coordination of such projects eclypse the Panama Canal.

[@kenneth9874]

They didn't have to work under such treacherous conditions

[@alwaysskeptical7221]

I have no proof the Apollo program or ISS exist. I can see the Panama Canal.

[@dana102083]

​@@kenneth9874lol are you calling space NOT dangerous? It's inherently dangerous. At least on earth medical treatment was more available, even at the turn of the century first aid. More physical resources in Panama than the international space station.

[@kenneth9874]

@@dana102083 they were protected from the elements unlike the workers on the canal, malaria and other diseases killed thousands

[@bluesky6985]

The moon landing was a hoax

[@krisendicott2306]

Absolutely amazing the engineering involved 👏 for the time 🎉

[@anthonyprincipe6348]

9

[@williammorris3303]

This was posted 2 months ago but the production is actually quite old, proven by referring to the trade centers still standing and the canal being an american possession. With that in mind you have to look at how well this program was made. Looks as good as anything shot today

[@davidwairagu7674]

Yeah, I heard something like "...the year 2000 approaching..." This means it was shot before the year 2000! It is quite good.

[@blackflagqwerty]

​@@davidwairagu7674the end credits say MCMXCVIII - 1998!

[@kenneth9874]

Jimmy Carter was a fool

[@EldredTGlass]

This canal was built with manpower mule power and steam, my grandfather worked two hitches in the steam shops repairing steam machinery

[@fvingerhoed]

Within budget …? Amazing 😊

[@adamharris1406]

As a merchant mariner, I sailed through Panama Canal numerous times. Panama Canal is one of the greatest engineering feats of man. Panama Canal is one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

[@onlythewise1]

Americans whites did it nobody else could at the time

[@frankgalarza1572]

I was a merchant marine years ago I passed the Panama Canal that was a fantastic experience of my life.

[@John-ro9tf]

​@@frankgalarza1572 wèèè

[@Mrbfgray]

Ballpark 1 million ship trips to date. Divide total cost of canal in today's terms by 1M, say $1T/1M equals $1M per ship trip. (just order of magnitude thought experiment)

[@redd605]

And it started on may 4th the construction work , but at different sea level, will this be a problem in the future, ? with rising sea levels.?

[@williamhoffer9277]

Excellent presentation!

[@asullivan4047]

Interesting/informative/entertaining. Excellent still-motion photography job. Enabling viewers to better understand what the orator was describing. Special thanks to the special guest speakers. Contributing technical information making this historic documentary more authentic and possible…

[@richardanderson5743]

My grandfather was a dredge captain and a member of the Society of the Charges.

[@FE428Power]

My friend's father was killed in an explosion on one of the dredges 😢

[@angloaust1575]

According to reports 25.000 died Building it .not as high as the death railway Burma thailand but Inhospitable terrain in both cases!

[@rgrass2]

My father was a POW and worked on the Thia/Burma railroad [The Bridge On The River Kwai]. I went there once. They carved a railroad, using picks and shovels and manpower, through a mountain. They lost one man for every tie they laid. Almost all the prisoners [ British, Dutch, Australian, and American] suffered from Malaria and various jungle diseases. My Thai guide told me they have no way of knowing how many Thai people died but probably thousands. As badly as the Japanese treated the POWs they were much more brutal to the native population.

[@mynamedoesntmatter8652]

@@rgrass2 Having read so much about the Japanese atrocities I find the number of survivors astonishing. You didn’t say if your father survived; I pray he did. To this day the Japanese do not admit either their guilt for having committed crimes against humanity. For those who argue against the necessity for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki I can only suggest reading such books as ‘Knights of Bushido’ by Lord Russell and ‘Ghost Soldiers’ by Hampton Sides for starters, as well as any other books about the subject. When surviving veterans were given an ‘honorary’ screening of ‘B/RK’ the men got up and left the theater extremely irate and visibly upset. The filmmakers had depicted the Japanese in a more palatable, benevolent and fair manner, a far cry from the truth. Apologies for digressing from the building of the canal.

[@kiflealemayehu262]

Thank you those who made it, and left this world long ago. You have left your footage.

[@safetymikeengland]

This must have been made decades ago. It holds up well. I'm pretty sure the whole canal has been redone to accommodate bigger ships now.

[@willisrice7844]

Yes, they've added an additional lock at the three sets of locks. Lived there from 1966-1968.

[@michaelhart7569]

Yes, the twin towers of the World Trade Center are shown for a size comparison at one point, so it was probably made in the 1990's.

[@narmale]

yup, looks like 90s

[@jamesmcdonnell5617]

​@@narmaleThe Locks were identified, if butted end to end, would be the fourth (4th) tallest building in NYC, behind the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center, in that order. That means production of this documentary is Pre September 11th, 2001

[@RPRIMICI]

Made possible by the most powerful in U.S. industry due to the large scale financing and production needed in steel and concrete (to build a system of locks), powered by electricity and gasoline. The steam shovel was also a key technology requirement for excavating material. Diesel-powered hydraulic shovels did not appear until after World War Two with the availability of high pressure rubber hoses for the hydraulics. J.P. Morgan acted as a middleman for the U.S. Government to build the canal. The Panama Canal project was a project he enabled through the financial and industrial resources he commanded.

[@johnwright4395]

Went thru once, amazing accomplishments.

[@ronalddechosa3048]

My favorite place too be.. .Panama Canal💥💥💭💭⭐⭐⭐

[@lawrence5039]

(Civil/Structural--bridges and tall buildings 30 years). IMO, the Saturn Rocket and moon landing was the most astonishing piece of all around engineering I have ever studied. So much more for moon landing and take off, than to deal primarily with than gravity and hydrology of the canal...and the doors/locks design. I studied the Panama Canal, and uhh, it's just a canal. The USA did good finishing up the building of it. It should be a candidate for enlargement to handle more traffic and larger ships anytime now. JMO GGate Bridge ranks high on my list and we can't overlook the Empire State Building in light of when it was built. Amazing structure for back then. Then comes the aqueduct systems of the ancient Greeks! Above and below ground water transportation and draining.

[@MrGareth616]

I still think Mark Hamill should have narrated it as the joker

[@user-wq1rs9xl3c]

Superbly done the panama canal

[@Mrbfgray]

This type of submarine folding aircraft nearly forgotten (by me at least, thumb up for that alone), need to return to Smithsonian Air and Space. ;-)

[@RPRIMICI]

A couple year ago I heard that China was planning to build a canal through Nicaragua. I wonder if that plan is still in motion or dead in the water. It seems China wants greater control of a route from Pacific to Atlantic.

[@imxploring]

Not happening.

[@robertvanderbaan3722]

China is all about creating a fascade of importance and ability. Sadly, it hinges on stealing, and hiring external knowledge. There is no nation with the funds or ability to build such a competing function across another area. Given the only user would be China, and it's communist buddies. If they did it, it would not last long. Much like the Olympic stadiums. So, it's just another Chinese hoax.

[@BA-gn3qb]

I really Dig videos like this.

[@russellnolan9212]

I heard about a refitting for even BIGGER ships! Mark Hammil cussed quite a bit with all those "dams".

[@PeregrineNichols]

Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it. -Benjamin Franklin

[@scotto9591]

The Gorgas family hails from Mobile, Alabama. They were also connected to the University of Alabama. Their home has been converted into a museum. Coincidentally, Mobile was also the headquarters of the Army Corps of Engineers for the Canal Zone. When Pineapple Faced Manny was removed from power, immediately, everyone at the headquarters took the portraits of Manny as souvenirs. He was always so funny to walk into that building in Mobile, into the portraits of a dictator in people's offices 😂

[@claritodasargo5328]

Madam palma is goodnews caster how i wish shes done a lot in this troubled world for peace for narrating history

[@nickclopton7986]

Probably not because the Erie Canal was built about a century before it. And between that time technology and construction techniques had improved tremendously. However the difference between the two constructions of the two canals had one main difference, and that was in the Pacman Canal they were firing the Pacific Ocean, and in the Erie Canal they were not fighting an Ocean. But again the improvement in construction techniques and equipment and their improvement over the time period would most likely make them both fairly equal in the ability too build them.

[@giantgeoff]

The New York State Barge Canal System was built at the same time approximately as the Panama Canal with access to the same technology that was used to build that Canal. They also cost similar amounts of money. They were different projects and so faced different challenges. This is not the original Erie canal but an entirely new system that is still in use today.

[@kenneth9874]

The main enemy in Panama was tropical diseases

[@wilfredohosana9977]

Brilliant Supernatural wisdom built tne Panama Canal. Blessed .

[@Paopao621]

This is justt freaking amazing.

[@christopherthrawn1333]

Excellent work here

[@HypocriticYT]

Panama is a beautiful country from the oceans to Baru

[@randyjohnson6845]

I goggled up and it clearly says the American super carriers go thru the locks...10 years ago i watched a documentary on the uss carl Vinson..the lock was down for repairs and they made the long trip around south America and he said this is rare and lengthy

[@MrNoneofthisisreal]

The Panamanians added a wider, parallel route. That is the path they took. Not the original canal. R

[@terrybennett5576]

I noticed you're pressure cookers/ canned have a rubber safety plug, I have the same type. My plug shrunk allowing steam to escape. I found that if you put a bread bag wire tie under the head of the safety plug to raise/ seal the plug on the bottom it will reach jiggling temperature much sooner. You will still have the safety feature of the blow out plug.

[@Kazukii29]

14:21 my meme brain was waiting for the John Cena theme meme, with "JOHNNN STEVENNSSS!"

[@mickc6347]

I doubt we could do such build today. With the way laws unions and litigation work these days.

[@quixote5844]

Unions would demand safer working conditions, saving lots of lives sacrificed in the name of speed snd profits.

[@alosiobogileka9734]

Of the 22,000 lives lost in 8yrs to try to accomplish this project, it is a great great achievements by man compared to the millions and millions die horrible deaths in battlefields..still we don't realize ..sad.

[@raymond3803]

22,000 lost digging a ditch, but to the moon and back safely? First try? Bullshit!

[@markwriter2698]

Wonderful

[@henrysantos121]

Matatan.🤔. Ribirin HS------(".👇.") Excellent documentary very well done, God bless all my good fellas from Panama,

[@alexhayden2303]

Turkey together with the Chinese are now at work on their canal. Another immense project will be the Kra Canal, cutting through and transforming Thailand!

[@surinderjitsingh8954]

Eight months of rainy season, it's double of where I live

[@joshhoffman1975]

More than a decade ago I read the book authored by George Washington Goethals about the construction of the canal. It puts the reputation of Ferdinand de Lesseps in a rather poor condition, when contrasted with that of the American accomplishments!

[@MrPossumeyes]

I think de Lesseps did a fine job on the Suez jobby, but he was a out of his depth in Panama. My vote for Best Man goes to the doctor who sorted the big problem of disease. Of course there were many other big problems (like issues with dynamite) but keeping folks alive in hospitals, and stopping them needing to go there, was a game changer. Might have to get my hands on that book - thanks for the tip, man.

[@joshhoffman1975]

@@MrPossumeyes Great commentary, thanks. Trust me, read the book you won't regret it, Goethals outlines de Lessep's history as well, it is one of my favourite books!

[@chuckbrooks2271]

So many Caribbean men and women died building the canal, let's hear about them, my grandmother's father and her brothers, still have family there from 🇧🇧, who never got their payment in Gold..

[@lynnfisher3037]

Pacman Canal. Yes indeed.

[@tkskagen]

Could you make a video on the "Ballard Gates" between Seattle's Lake Washington and Puget Sound (enters the Puget Sound) please?

[@kevinaomi9169]

Just waw❤

[@mohammadaslam7121]

I think this grat help of mankind Great planner, implementer, and oprations

[@JhunDumsTVXj]

wow

[@saatvikmangal7994]

Not me simping over catapulting planes from submarines.

[@richarddecker9515]

Time will tell, that is as truthful as can be. The canal should have been built at sea level, all they had to do was move a lot more dirt and stone

[@frankgalarza1572]

The name Calabra Cut the correct name ,is Corte culebra for snakes many people die with poison baits.

[@kirkwilliams5740]

ENGINEERING MARVEL'S OF THE World 🌎, One of the seven wonders of the world 🌎.

[@classydarktoys5731]

Anyone who says the pyramids couldn’t have been made by man, I urge them to check this out. If we could do this from 1904-1914; digging out 50 miles of the most treacherous and unpredictable unprecedented terrain on earth with the very beginning machines of the Industrial Revolution. Building and inventing new pieces of machinery to complete tasks never seen before on earth, with little more than cranes and manpower, I have full faith that the ancient Egyptians could stack some rocks from a query into the great pyramids. Each of these two marvels are outstanding but just the fact that we did complete this canal with primitive equipment from the Industrial Revolutions beginning, while still using animals and mostly man power. I find it easy to imagine thousands of workers. Along with their now, lost to humanity primitive equipment, machines we will likely never know of but certainly existed and helped in the building the Pyramids. It is just a matter of will, strength of a nation, and the value of their culture, beliefs, and the again sheer mental fortitude to accomplish this under threat or under patriotism, if there is a will, there is a way.

[@micahjohnson-fi6bs]

I'm assuming the motors for concrete were a/c. Didn't mention tesla

[@edwardpakula7084]

Yes, I noticed that too...hyped up Edison, ignored Tesla...

[@lauriebarns9901]

One question, how is the us operation in Panama different from the French/uk/Israeli operation on Suez in 1956?

[@romeosabaldan58]

Grand Canal

[@edwardmarriott5672]

The Canal is one of the Wonders of the world … I was sad when Carer gave it away for one dollar and Now China owns …When are we ever going to learn???

[@colinwebb4844]

Amazing engineering, I'm curious how they stopped mafia involvement in the concrete

[@domingobuizon7414]

I think so b,cause panama canal is one of the largest wounderful canal in the world

[@luvzdogz]

I would imagine many of the developments, techniques, tools etc from this build were instrumental and applied to the build of Hoover Dam (about) 20 years later. I know this documentary is a couple of decades old now, and they did make mention of the dangerous work with explosives being primarily done by black Panamanians, but toward the end when they gave statistics of numbers dead, only Americans and French were mentioned. I was disappointed by that. Still, overall a very good history lesson on the canal.

[@IIJOSEPHXII]

"Two million years ago the ocean floor erupted, creating the isthmus of Panama. Eons later..." an eon is half a billion years.

[@goatrectum]

You should search “definition eon” 👀

[@dominicvonschoenberg6323]

Wasn't the rideau Canal built 82 years earlier with locks that raised ships 57 metres higher than those of the Panama Canal?

[@TheJustonemore]

Come to the northwest Passageway

[@mrt2this607]

Three hundred and fifty two Million, a "staggering" high price?... Hell, we spend more on seat buckles in military aircraft these days. One of those shovels the men used would cost that much on any gov project, especially in today's "strong" economy. Building back better one shovel at a time...

[@kenneth9874]

Ever heard of inflation?

[@godblessamerica7048]

This must be over 25 years old if they talk about the year 2000 as being in the future.

[@frederickbowdler8169]

plant trees to stabilise the banks or Panamanian willow (does this exist?)

[@Daniel-ox2zr]

Why didn't they go through nicaragua? Much less distance.

[@Sorga_myth_dewa_real]

Waw..perhaps..panama canal had one gate named with "Ferdinand De Lesseps Gate"..

[@rikardlalic7275]

I think the hardest part was to build it, actually, in Europe.

[@thehealthychefri]

Manny was on the U/S. Payroll for years! Imagine the U.S. Beat Panama in a war, LOL!

[@freddypenaso4117]

How about the Great Lakes?

[@rdsieben]

Don't forget about the expansion.

[@jocktigernuts680]

The French attempt was as much use as their Maginot line🤣

[@yousufislam8919]

Thanks America 🇧🇩🇧🇩🇧🇩