The creation of the Panama canal is one of history's greatest achievements in engineering and a testament to human determination, smarts and willpower. Before August 15, 1914 if someone needed to travel or ship something from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean they would have to travel south all they way around the southern most tip of Chile and down through the Arctic ocean. This trip could take over a month to complete and their was a serious risk of collision with ice burgs in the Arctic sea. So in 1881 France began working on the canal but quickly ran into problems working in the water logged tropics and by 1894 the second company in charge of the canal was bankrupt and looking for a buy out. In 1903 Panama (now an independent nation) gave the rights to create and manage a canal to United States of America. After eleven years and roughly 25,000 American and French workers deceased, the 48 mile long canal was finally open for shipping traffic. Now close to 14,000 ships pass through the canal every year and an expansion is nearly complete that would widen the canal to accommodate for Larger ships and more traffic. In a day and age that relied on the movement of goods and people alike through naval shipping, having control of a major shipping lane like the Panama Canal was a huge advantage to the United State. With the creation of such an important engineering marvel, President Theodore Roosevelt embarked on a trip to the Panamanian Isthmus to oversee the progress of the building of the canal. He departed November 1906 making history by becoming the first President to travel outside the U.S. while being the Acting President.1 This fact shows just how important the Panama Canal was to America and how important it was that the U.S. did not make the same mistakes that the French had. In a letter that President Roosevelt addressed to congress December 17th 1906 he describes his observations during his visit to the canal which at