Book 3, Chapter 21 Summary and Analysis

"Triumph" describes the magnificent and ingenious locks and electrical controls and the anticlimactic opening of the Panama Canal. The canal quickly becomes a smooth, quiet operation, free of all the hoopla and drama that characterize the early years. The diversion channel closes in 1910, and the water level begins inching up in the dam face. Popular interest also rises, fed by articles in magazines and Sunday supplements and almost a dozen books. The focus of attention in the final stage is the locks, the most spectacular structures in the world whose mechanisms function with the precision of a Swiss watch.

Building the locks takes four years. Each is a 1,000 X 81-foot concrete basin closed at both ends by steel gates. The walls, filled with tunnels, chambers, and passageways, are formed in the negative forms and filled with concrete, a mixture...