Fall 2007, Vol. 39, No. 3 Looking for an Ancestor in the Panama Canal Zone, 1904–1914 By Robert Ellis The Panama Canal, ca. 1900–1914. The canal was 10 miles wide and about 50 miles long. (106-RC-129) In 10 years, between 1904 and 1914, the United States mounted and completed one of the most massive construction projects in history—the building of the Panama Canal. To create this ribbon of water between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the Isthmus Canal Commission excavated 232 million cubic feet of soil. Manpower was the key to success. It wasn’t long before the area that became known as the Panama Canal Zone—10 miles wide and about 50…