President Theodore Roosevelt
Favored the French canal excavations and wanted to purchase it from them. However, the U.S. Senate preferred a canal in Nicaragua. Then Momotombo, the Nicaraguan volcano erupted. He viewed the canal as a significant part of the United States’ destiny and that ii would allow the naval power to be available to each ocean.
Phillippe Bunua-Vailla
Mailed a letter to every United States Senator with the Nicaraguan postage stamp. On the postage stamp, was the Momotombo volcano erupting.
John F. Wallace
Civil engineer from Wooster University. Wallace serviced as the President of the American Society of Civil Engineers. In May 1904, he acted as Chairman and Chief Engineer of the Isthmian Canal Commission. He was unsure of the production in Panama due to malaria and yellow fever spreading throughout the region. He resigned in June of 1905.
John F. Stevens
After Wallace, a self-taught railroad engineer came along. Although, he struggled with the design of the Panama canal. He resigned in February of 1907. Created the “Minority Plan” that reduced the depth of the excavations by 70 feet to construct a locked canal. Teddy Roosevelt along with the United States Congress approved of this plan on June 29, 1906.
William Crawford Gorgas
United States Army Physician who is predominately known for reducing the transmission of yellow fever and malaria, after suffering from yellow fever himself during the Civil War. He discovered that mosquitoes carried the sicknesses.