Who is george goethals

Add to Cart. Best known for leading the construction of the Panama Canal, George W. Goethals — also played a key role in the decades-long reform that transformed the American military from a frontier constabulary to the expeditionary force of an ascendant world power.

George W. Meanwhile the United States had begun construction of the Panama Canal, but the Isthmian Canal Commission and the two civilian engineers who headed the project had made slow progress.

In President Theodore Roosevelt decided to place a military engineer in complete charge, picking Goethals over many other talented engineering officers. Combining administrative ability with professional skill, Goethals overcame enormous obstacles of engineering, climate, disease, and living conditions before the canal was officially opened in The most difficult part of building the canal, Goethals later wrote, was the problem caused by the "human element.

Goethals made himself accessible to all, heard complaints, visited every aspect of the project, and had an uncanny mastery of the smallest details. These locks, and the accompanying Gatun dam, were the largest engineering projects ever undertaken to that time.

The French had started the cut way back in and had made some headway over 23 years, but when the Americans took over in , it was not at all apparent that such a colossal dig would ever be successful.

But the mammoth shovels on the two sides of the cut met in May, , and just over a year later, on Aug. The Library holds the considerable A. He served in that position until completion of Canal construction in , following which he served as Governor of the Panama Canal until his resignation January 17, As Chief Engineer of the I. Aside from the task of eliminating disease, Goethals was faced by many unique problems, any one which was a stupendous work in itself.

The first of these was the cutting down to a much lower level several good sized mountains near the center of the Isthmus in order to minimize the elevation of the canal itself. The second mightiest feat was the damming of the powerful and erratic Chagres River with the Gatun Dam and the formation of Gatun Lake.

The third was the building of the huge concrete locks with filling and emptying systems and great steel gates with opening and closing devices.