10 Interesting Panama Canal Facts

Sunday, September 21st 2014. | Transportation


Panama Canal Facts give you the ideas about one of the main transportations in the world.  Today it is controlled by the country of Panama. Before 1999, the canal was controlled by US Army troops. If you want to know the detail info about Panama Canal, check the following post below:

Panama Canal Facts 1: saving the distance

Without the Panama Canal, the ships which travelled between San Francisco and New York have to access the long distance on the Cape Horn.  If they use the Panama Canal, they can save 7,872 miles.

Panama Canal Facts 2: concrete

Can you tell me the amount of concrete used to construct the Panama Canal? To construct the dams and locks, they had to use 4.5 million cubic yards of concrete.

Panama Canal and Ships

Panama Canal and Ships

Panama Canal Facts 3: the thickness

The thickness of the lock in Panama Canal is 7 feet.

Panama Canal Facts 4: sunrise and sunset

The Panama Canal gives you an interesting view of the sunrise and sunset. The Isthmus of Panama has a reclining S shape. It enables people to watch the sunset in Atlantic Ocean and sunrise in Pacific Ocean. Check Panama facts here.

Panama Canal Facts

Panama Canal Facts

Panama Canal Facts 5: the most transit

The most transit record in Panama Canal occurred on 29 February 1968. In one day, there were 65 ships crossing the canal.

Panama Canal Facts 6: the fastest transit

The record of the fastest transit in Panama Canal is taken by U.S. Navy hydrofoil Pegasus. The ship crossed the canal in only 2 hours and 41 minutes in June 1979.

Panama Canal Images

Panama Canal Images

Panama Canal Facts 7: the work force

92 percent of the people who worked on the Panama Canal were the Panama people. It occupied 7,300 Panama people.

Panama Canal Facts 8: dynamite

The construction of Panama Canal is not easy to do.  The people had to use dynamite to excavate the canal. There was more than 60,000,000 pounds of dynamite used in the construction.

Panama Canal Pic

Panama Canal Pic

Panama Canal Facts 9: Gatun Lake

Gatun Lake in Panama is called as the largest manmade lake at that time.  The dam was established near the Chagres Driver in Gatun.

Panama Canal Facts 10: death of workers

There were at least 5609 workers died during the construction of the canal. They died because of the health problems and accident. 350 of them were the white American people, while 80 percent of the dead workers were Black people.

Panama Canal Today

Panama Canal Today

Richard Halliburton was a funny guy. He transited in the Panama Canal by swimming on 23 August 1928. He had to pay the toll for 36 cents due to his 150 pounds weight. Are you interested reading facts about Panama Canal?


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