1-630-300 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'The Conquerors', Culebra Cut, Panama Canal, Panama, 1926. The Gaillard (or Culebra) Cut, is a man-made valley cutting through the continental divide in Panama. The cut forms part of the Panama Canal, linking Lake Gatún, and thereby the Atlantic Ocean, to the Gulf of Panama and the Pacific Ocean. It is 12.6 km (7.8 miles) long from the Pedro Miguel lock on the Pacific side to the Chagres River arm of Lake Gatun, with a water level 26 m (85 ft) above sea level. Construction of the cut was one of the greatest engineering feats to have been undertaken in its time; the immense effort required to complete it was justified by the great significance of the canal to shipping, and in particular the strategic interests of the United States. From An Outline of Christianity, The Story of Our Civilisation, volume 5: Christianity Today and Tomorrow, edited by RG Parsons and AS Peake, published by the Waverley Book Club (London, 1926).