The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870 – 1914
By
David McCullough
“They never achieve anything who do not believe in success.”
~ Fernando de Lesseps ~
This book is delicious! The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870 – 1914, by David McCullough, published by Simon and Schuster, New York, 1977; is a perfect read.
This book begins with the men who first dreamed of bridging the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean either through Tehuantepec, Nicaragua, or Panama. It details the various efforts and expeditions, of those who tried to determine the best place and fashion by which to unite the seas. Also, there is much space given to France’s unsuccessful effort in Panama and the fascinating Fernando de Lesseps, who found triumph in Suez, and failure in Panama; finally McCullough takes us to Panama with America at the helm, through every step of construction. Ultimately, we know how the story ends, but it is the journey which the author conducts with exact precision that keeps us turning the pages.
But The Path Between the Seas is more than a simple history of an amazing feat; it is a glorious exercise for the intellect. McCullough writes with respect for his reader:
“In the summer of 1870, the summer Selfridge returned from Darien, thirty, perhaps forty, thousand people would fill London’s Crystal Palace for a public reception that only Nelson might have been accorded in an earlier day.” (pg. 25)
Selfridge was Commander Thomas O. Selfridge, who was appointed to lead an expedition to Darien, in Panama, to survey the grounds for a possible canal, in 1870, by the Navy Department, of the United States, this we know from reading the previous pages; but as those words rushed by me, and I went on to read the next sentence, I stopped and smiled. McCullough does not reference Nelson, not even to mention Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson’s first name – how perfectly brilliant! McCullough expects his reader to bring their best efforts to this read. I continue:
“But there was no overflowing ego among them, no Burton or Speke or Stanley possessed by visions of personal destiny.” (pg.27)
Oh I see, I really will have to be fully awake for this read – how perfectly delightful to be challenged and enlightened as I read. This is not a book to be read by the pool or even in the Florida room, with others passing by and attempting to engage in conversation. The Path Between the Seas demands more of its reader, but it also delivers more than what one might expect.
McCullough manages to give life to so many now dead men, who were daring and fearless, risking their lives, reputations, and fortunes to make a dream into reality, men who might otherwise only be remembered by a select few; and to share the hardships of the jungles and the price demanded by nature for a small passage to connect the oceans.
The industry, engineering, and manpower required to build the canal is well explained and properly venerated:
“At Gatun big square bucket of concrete, nearly six tons to a bucket were swung through the air high above the locks, dropped to position, and dumped, all by means of a spectacular cableway. Eighty-five-foot steel towers stood on either side of the locks (four on each side) and the cables stretched across a span of some eight hundred feet. The towers were on tracks, so they could be moved forward as the work progressed.” (pg. 593)
Can you even begin to imagine such a feat? I remember standing on the sidelines, and watching massive ships being lifted through the locks in Panama, thinking the entire affair magnificently majestic!
McCullough states, speaking of Theodore Roosevelt: “But it can be said that the twentieth century truly began when he took the oath of office.” (pg. 247) Such a grand and absolute statement, like this book and this story – and so very enticing! I highly recommend this book, and leave it to The Path Between the Seas you to decide where the twentieth century began, and what this canal meant to the United States and rest of the world. That is all for now.
