Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Minden Man Helped Build Panama Canal



One of the most amazing human endeavors that changed our world was the completion of the interoceanic Panama Canal in 1914 by the United States.

One of the many Americans who worked in the Panama Canal Zone was from Minden, Nebraska. An electrical engineer, George H. “Tom” Hartsough, found opportunity and eventually, an untimely death, by working abroad in American ventures in Central and South America.
Photo: At Mira Flores, Panama Canal by Juliette Passer 2014

This year marked the 100th anniversary of the official opening of the Panama Canal. The American-built waterway across the Isthmus of Panama that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans was an engineering feat, then and today still.

The 50-mile passage across the country of Panama, uses a system of locks to lift ships 85 feet above sea level. The bypass route was important to the shipping industry, trimming nearly 8,000 miles from voyages between New York and California that previously had to travel clear around the tip of South America.
 
See the December 10th, 2014 Minden Courier for full article.