Panama Canal

The building of the Panama Canal was one of the most controversial works that has ever occurred in history. Its constructing was a work of enormous proportions and hard work. This made it the work that it was, being that many did not want it and its construction was immensely difficult. however, it was built, with perseverance and endurance.
The Panama Canal is a ship canal that allowed ships to travel between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. This route, previously, had taken several days to make this type of trip. This canal allowed ships to travel in a faster route and a less dangerous route to travel between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. This canal also allowed for the route from South America across the ocean to be much shorter. Because of this trading became simpler, and travel became swifter.
The building of the Panama Canal was not only controversial, but the work that it required was extremely strenuous. This canal was incredibly long and deep, therefore, it took tough workers and true leadership. The most well known builder of the Panama Canal was President Theodore Roosevelt . Roosevelt helped lead the building of the Panama Canal by taking a swift role of leadership by pulling the pieces together and making things work out in this architectural work.
Along with the building of the Panama Canal , there were also health and death issues that came along with the construction. At this point in history, hygiene is still a large issue. Disease can spread quite quickly when men and women are packed in tight together, such as in a building of the Canal. Among the entire time while building the Panama Canal, there were 27,500 deaths that occurred in construction. Diseases, such as malaria, spread quickly through the men who were building this masterpiece. Many also died from this malaria, which added to the death toll. However, there must always be sacrifice when we desire reward.
Finally, this canal was built to simplify and make more useful, the traveling of ships and the safety and speed of trade. This goal was accomplished and at a high level as Theodore Roosevelt took complete charge and made it so that this building would not fail.. This is the type of leadership that needs to be taken in our own world today. The leadership that was demonstrated in the building of the panama Canal was absolutely extraordinary.
Haskin, Frederic Jennings. The Panama Canal. Doubleday. 1914. Harvard University.
Bennett, Ira Elbert. History of the Panama Canal: its building and construction. Historical Publishing Company. 1915. Michigan.

Trans-Continental Railroad

The Trans-Continental Railroad was one of the most famous and spectacular creations of our country's past history. Congress came together and tried to to discover a strategy for building some sort of transportation that could be used in a transcontinental fashion for the country. They eventually passed an efficient trans-continental plan known as the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862, shortly following the beiginning of the Civil War, and happily signed by President Abraham Lincoln. I will attempt to explain the monumental importance of this major construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.
There were truly only four men, known as the "Big Four" who really brought this incredible idea together. These men were Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins. These men were also all merchants. It was soon recognized by those who saw the great dedication of these men to the construction of this railroad. They used most of their own money to fund this creation, and themselves worked on it. Without these four brave men, this railroad would have never been built.
California, before the building of the railroad, sat apart of the rest of the country. There was no real way for anyone to be transported there without the railroad. This shows that this building was absolutely monumental to the linking of California to the rest of the country.
The linking of these numerous states did not just help transportation but also economy. With people not having to pay as high for the various needs of transportation, the value of the dollar went up again. This railroad was a enormous aid to the economy as well as the transportation. "By linking with the existing railway network of the Eastern United States, the road thus connected the Atlantic and Pacific coasts by rail for the first time. Opened for through traffic on May 10, 1869, with the driving of the "Last Spike" at Promontory Summit, Utah, the road established a mechanized transcontinental transportation network that revolutionized the population and economy of the American West."
Finally, the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad was a great achievement. These men and the many that supported them demonstrated bravery and dedication to this work which is what made it successful. Without this railroad, not only would there be no link for the states, but the way we see the rest of the country would be utterly different.
Blashfield, Jean F. Transcontinental Railroad, The. Compass Point Books. 2001. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Houghton, Gillian. Transcontinental Railroad: A Primary Source History of America's First Coast-To-Coast Railroad, The. The Rosen Publishing Group. 2003. New York.