Overcoming Obstacles

Disease

New owners

In 1902, the U.S. government bought the Panama Canal Co. As the U.S. was trying to reach agreements with Colombia about the canal, people in Panama were planning to separate from Colombia.

The U.S. agreed to support Panama. In late 1903, U.S. military ships arrived near Colón, Panama, to help defend it against Colombian troops.

The Panamians declared independence from Colombia without having to fight. And the United States was able to proceed with building the Panama Canal.

One of the biggest obstacles for the workforce was sickness. Malaria and yellow fever, spread by mosquito bites, killed more than 22,000 workers before 1889.

In 1904, the United States asked Dr. William C. Gorgas to lead the fight against the deadly diseases.

Dr. Gorgas attacked the mosquito problem in several ways: fumigating, or using fumes of certain chemicals to repel insects quarantining (KWOR-an-teening), or isolating, people who were sick.

In just one year, the number of deaths from malaria and yellow fever was greatly reduced.

One worker, Alfred E. Dottin, wrote:

“I saw mosquitoes, I say this without fear of exaggerating, by the thousands attack one man. There were days that we could only work a few hours because of the high fever racking our bodies.”

One of the ways Dr. Gorgas worked against mosquitoes was spraying oil on the grass in ditches. The oil would kill or baby mosquitoes, after they hatched from eggs laid on the surface of standing water.