While I was in Panama City, I was able to visit the Panama Canal. It was a lot different from what I had expected. I was under the impression that the canal was just a simple cut through the land, but in fact, it’s complicated and a major feat in engineering.
The French were the first to try to create a canal through Panama, and they had my idea — to just keep digging until water could flow freely from the Atlantic to the Pacific. But they failed. So, the US took over, and the chief engineer realized they needed a system that would take into account all the mountains in the interior of the country. There were also complications with differences between the Atlantic and the Pacific, like tides and stuff. So they built locks. Here’s the description from wikipedia.
A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber whose water level can be varied.
Locks are used to make a river more easily navigable, or to allow a canal to take a reasonably direct line across country that is not level.
It was interesting seeing these locks in action. One chamber of water would drain, and another would fill, so that these huge cargo ships could be raised up to be transported through Panama’s interior, and then lowered back to sea level.
Life is Real Good :D 