ABSTRACT
George Washington Goethals was born on June 29, 1858, in Brooklyn, New York. in 1876, he won appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers in 1880, having been graduated second in his class. He was assigned to the United States Advanced Engineering School and then, in 1882, to Cincinnati to improve the Ohio River channel for navigation. Goethals would always be remembered as the man who 'built' the Panama Canal. The first work on the Panama Canal was begun in 1881 by the Panama Canal Company, a French chartered and financed business, under the direction of de Lesseps. De Lesseps had earlier been chief engineer for the Suez Canal project. Goethals was chief engineer of the Panama Canal, which revolutionized maritime transportation and commerce. Goethals received the formal thanks of the United States Congress for 'distinguished service in constructing the Panama Canal'.
