Panama Canal - Overview of Construction - Kunkel Connection

KUNKEL INVOLVEMENT IN PANAMA CANAL CONSTRUCTION

In 1908, Walter Kunkel and his wife, Emma Keany Kunkel, and his brother, Edward F. Kunkel and his wife, Nora Cullinane Kunkel, went to Panama as engineers to help in the construction of the Panama Canal Zone. Natives of Readville, MA, Walter and Edward and their families came to the Panama Canal Zone and worked for the Isthmian Canal Commission. Walter was Supervisor of the Forge Shop and Edward was employed by the Panama Canal's Dredging Division. Walter and Edward were avid sportsmen and enjoyed fishing and hunting alligators in Panama in their spare time as well.

Edward stayed in Panama after the opening of the Panama Canal, a veteran of the Panama Canal construction days, until retiring in 1948. Edward returned to the USA for a short time in 1948, but returned to the Panama Canal Zone to live in 1950. His wife Nora stayed in Readville, MA with family, not returning to Panama. Edward died in 1962 in Panama.

Paul Anthony Kunkel, Edward's son, married Annabelle Carr and also stayed behind in Panama with his family. Paul was employed in the Panama Canal Zone as a locomotive driver and worked in the forge shop. He left Panama in the 1970's and retired to Zephyer Hills, FL. Paul died in 1984 in Kerrville, Texas, while on vacation visiting his brother Edward Kunkel. Annabelle and Paul A. Kunkel's daughter, Catherine Ann Kunkel, was born in Panama and now lives in Collegeville, Pa with her husband, Joseph Glinski, and three sons. In addition to Catherine Ann Kunkel, Paul and Annabelle also had three other children: Paul Anthony Kunkel, Jr., Patricia Jean Kunkel, and James Michael Kunkel.

Walter Kunkel and his family returned to the United States in 1913 and expanded Frank Kunkel & Sons, Inc., a steel forging company in Readville, MA, incorporated in 1883. Walter's son, Charles A. Kunkel, joined his father's company as a hammersmith at 16 years old and later became President of Frank Kunkel & Sons, Inc.

Charles married Hazel Arlene Tinkham and raised 3 children in Canton, MA. Frank Kunkel & Son, Inc. was involved in the WW II war effort and made custom parts for the defense dept and became a sub-contractor for Raytheon and General Dynamics.

In 1968, Charles A. Kunkel, President, sold the corporation and retired. An avid outdoor sportsman also, he died in 1992 in Boston, MA after nearly 25 years of retirement. He is survived today by a son, David L. Kunkel of Hauppauge, NY, and two daughers, Debra Kunkel Stango, of Lakeland, FL and Diane Kunkel Kane of Bridgewater, MA.

OVERVIEW OF PANAMA CANAL HISTORY

In the 1840s, as American settlers began pouring into Oregon and California, the United States sought a way of facilitating ocean travel to the Pacific Coast. The government therefore negotiated an agreement with New Granada (a nation composed of present-day Colombia and Panama) for transit rights from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific across the narrow Isthmus of Panama. When the discovery of gold in California in 1848 vastly increased westward migration, the United States funded the construction of the Panama Railroad. But both America and Great Britain dreamed of building a canal across either Panama or Nicaragua, with the two countries agreeing (Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 1850) that neither would seek independent rights over such a canal. The United States, however, became increasingly intent on exclusive control, particularly after the Spanish-American War (1898) brought the nation new territory in both the Caribbean and the Pacific. The British were persuaded to relinquish their claim in the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (1901).

The next question was where to locate the canal. A French company under Ferdinand de Lesseps had started construction of a sea-level canal in Panama in 1881, but the project went bankrupt after a few years. In 1901, a U.S. commission recommended that the canal go through Nicaragua rather than Panama. But representatives of the New Panama Canal Company (which had taken over the French rights in Panama) lobbied vigorously for the Panama route, and President Theodore Roosevelt settled on it when the company reduced its asking price from $109 million to $40 million. The U.S. commission then reversed itself in January 1902, and in June, Congress authorized construction of the canal through Panama.

Early the next year, Congress ratified the Hay-Herrưn Treaty, which granted the United States a strip of land ten miles wide across the isthmus for $10 million in cash and an annuity of $250,000 per year. But the senate of Colombia, hoping for a higher price, refused to approve the treaty. Shortly thereafter (November 3, 1903), a Panamanian uprising was engineered by Philippe Bunau-Varilla (a representative of the New Panama Canal Company), other canal supporters, and some local residents. The United States provided indirect support and promptly recognized the new Republic of Panama. Within a week the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed, granting the United States a renewable ninety-nine-year lease on the Canal Zone in exchange for the same payment that had been offered to New Granada. The treaty was ratified by the U.S. Senate in February 1904.

Various logistical problems, indecision about whether to build a sea-level or a lock canal, and the devastations of tropical disease delayed construction until 1906. A lock canal was decided upon, and work began on surveys and construction of the necessary facilities. Col. William Gorgas made a crucial contribution with his eradication of yellow fever and malaria. Col. G. W. Goethals of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers directed most of the actual construction, which cost well over $300 million and involved the excavation of 240 million cubic yards of earth. The canal, forty miles in length, opened to shipping in August 1914 and was formally dedicated on July 12, 1920. In 1921, the United States paid Colombia $25 million as redress for the loss of Panama; in exchange, Colombia formally recognized Panama's independence.

In the 1960s and 1970s resentment mounted in Panama over the terms of the original agreement. Negotiators, working in an increasingly hostile atmosphere involving demonstrations and sometimes violence, tried to resolve the sticking points and arrive at a new treaty. At issue were the treaty's duration, economic benefits to be accorded Panama, and the right of the United States to expand canal facilities. The matter became a campaign issue in the 1976 presidential elections.

Finally on September 7, 1977, President Jimmy Carter and Panama's chief of government, Brig. Gen. Omar Torrijos Herrera, signed two treaties in the presence of twenty-six representatives of Western Hemisphere nations. The United States agreed to turn the canal over to Panama on December 31, 1999. The treaties included provisions protecting America's interests in the canal and increasing Panama's economic benefits.

PANAMA CANAL FACTS:

The Panama Canal is a waterway across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Atlantic (by way of the Caribbean Sea) and Pacific oceans. It was built by U.S. military engineers in 1904-1914 across land leased from the Republic of Panama. The eradication of malaria and yellow fever in the area was a vital accomplishment. The canal is 51 mi (82 km) long, has six locks, and traverses two natural lakes, one of which is 85 ft (26 m) above sea level. With the development after 1950 of supertankers and other ships too large to navigate the canal, it lost some of its earlier strategic importance. The Panama Canal Zone (553 sq mi/1,432 sq km) extended 5 mi (8 km) on either side of the canal and was administered by the U.S. until 1979, when it was turned over to Panama under the terms of two U.S.-Panamanian treaties narrowly ratified (1978) by the U.S. Senate. At the end of 1999 control of the canal itself passed to Panama, with that nation guaranteeing the neutral operation of the canal.