Video: '15th August 1914: The Panama Canal officially opened with the transit of SS Ancon'
(Saturday, August 15, 1914, 4:00 p.m. EST, during World War I) — The Panama Canal, an artificial 51-mile waterway cutting across the Isthmus of Panama, officially opened today with the cargo ship SS Ancon crossing the just-completed passage between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
The Ancon, owned by the U.S. War Department, departed Cristobal at 7:00 a.m. and reached Balboa, at the Pacific end, at 4:00 p.m., navigating the canal in nine hours.
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The Panama Canal significantly reduces the travel time for ships between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, allowing them to avoid the lengthy and hazardous route around the southern tip of South America via the Drake Passage or Strait of Magellan.
As one of the largest and most challenging engineering projects ever undertaken, the canal features locks at each end that lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial freshwater lake 85 feet above sea level, created by damming the Chagres River and Lake Alajuela to minimize excavation.
The locks then lower the ships at the other end, using an average of 52 million gallons of freshwater for each passage.
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The canal’s construction history involves Colombia, France, and later the United States controlling the surrounding territory. France began the project in 1881 but halted due to engineering challenges and high worker mortality, which led to a loss of investor confidence.
The U.S. took over in 1904 and completed the canal, opening it today. The United States continued to control the canal and the surrounding Panama Canal Zone until the Torrijos-Carter Treaties of 1977, which outlined the transfer of control to Panama.
After a period of joint American-Panamanian control, the Panamanian government assumed full control in 1999. Today, the canal is managed and operated by the Panama Canal Authority, a government-owned entity of Panama.
