The engineering genius history forgot: John F. Stevens

He was responsible for the design, engineering and success of one of the world's most remarkable and important civil engineering projects, the Panama Canal, but few have ever heard his name.

Grade school history books and American folk lore credit three men for building the legendary Panama Canal: President Theodore Roosevelt, Colonel George W. Goethals and Colonel William C. Gorgas, all of whom were instrumental in building the canal. But it was the canal's second chief engineer, John Frank Stevens who improved the working conditions, and devised and championed the lock system and excavation plan that would successfully link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Rugged, direct and decisive, Stevens was not one for self-promotion; and by many accounts the lack of public recognition for his achievements was largely his own doing. However, Roosevelt is as much to blame for history's strange neglect of this engineering genius.

Panama Canal had been a dream since the 1500s
The Panama Canal had been the dream of the French and Spanish since the 1500s. But French efforts to build a sea-level canal proved unsuccessful and the French abandoned the project in 1889. Recognizing the growing importance of the canal for trade and military purposes, Roosevelt took up the challenge and started construction in 1904. Despite his orders to "make the dirt fly," in little over a year the project was stalled.

Roosevelt's appointed Panama Canal Commission could not agree on a plan; and there were inadequate tools and equipment, atrocious working and living conditions, and low worker morale. Then in June 1905, the chief engineer, John F. Wallace, suddenly resigned, mostly for fear of Yellow Fever, which had infected 134 people and caused 34 deaths on the canal.

Roosevelt was furious. The project seemed doomed, and with public opinion waning, Roosevelt immediately began the search for Wallace's successor. This led him to Stevens, whom railroad magnate James J. Hill and others recommended as the "best engineer in America."

Like most engineers of his time, Stevens did not have any formal engineering training, and gained his knowledge by building railroads. Born in 1853 and raised in West Gardiner, Maine, Stevens ventured west in 1873 to Minneapolis where he worked as a rodman. A few years later he left for Texas to drive spikes and later to conduct route surveys for the Sabine Pass and Northwestern Railway.

Stevens went on to work for Hill from 1889 to 1903, and to become chief engineer and general manager of the Hill-owned Great Northern Railway, considered the best engineered railroad at the time. He also became a legend for finding the lost Marias Pass through the Rocky Mountains and another pass through the Cascades, which—against his wishes—was named after him.

Stevens accepted post only if he had ‘a free hand in all matters'
When Roosevelt asked him to become the second chief engineer of the Panama Canal in 1905, Stevens, then 52, accepted on the conditions that he was to "have a free hand in all matters" and would stay only until the canal's success or failure was certain, to which Roosevelt agreed. When Stevens arrived at Colon on July 25, 1905, he found it to be even worse than Roosevelt said, yet he described his challenge as "colossal but not insurmountable."

Stevens stopped what little excavation work was being conducted and focused his workers' energies on providing for their basic needs. He built shops, housing and other buildings—some 5,000 in total. He also established commissaries so workers could afford nutritious food.

Stevens supported Gorgas' theory that mosquitoes carried Yellow Fever
Perhaps one of his most important initial decisions was to give his full support to the canal doctor, Colonel Gorgas. When others considered Gorgas a crackpot for his theory that mosquitoes were the carriers of Yellow Fever, Stevens chose to give him everything he needed to eradicate the mosquitoes. By the end of that year, there were no more cases of Yellow Fever and the Canal Zone was a model of health and sanitation.

With renewed health and morale, workers flocked to the project and Stevens turned his attention to the canal. At first he had planned to build a sea-level canal, which was what Roosevelt and official Washington had envisioned as well. But after Stevens traversed the nearly 50-mile length of the Canal Zone, he concluded that this plan would require a very deep cut that would produce uncontrollable landslides given the region's complex topography. The other obstacles were the variations in the oceans' tides and the dramatic shifts in the volume of the Chagres River, which has been described as running from a trickle to a torrent with the seasonal rains.

Stevens' new plan for canal involved locks with high-level lake in the middle
Stevens devised a new plan that involved locks at each end of the canal and a massive earthen dam that would create the large, high-level Gatun Lake in between. Other engineers who had viewed the isthmus agreed that a sea-level canal was unrealistic. While Stevens was able to convince Roosevelt to adopt his plan, he had to spend months lobbying Congress to accept his new approach. At this point, Roosevelt would credit Stevens as the one "mainly responsible for the success of this mighty engineering feat."

Even with the right plan, Stevens faced major construction challenges, which were really about transportation and excavation. The canal was to run a similar route as the antiquated Panama Railroad, so Stevens modernized it to serve as a conveyor belt system to remove the excavated material. He assembled hundreds of railroad cars, compressors, drills, steam shovels, locomotives and rail cars, which removed enough earth on flat cars to circle the planet four times. Indeed, the dirt was flying.

Stevens resigned as soon as completion of canal was assured
By 1907, Stevens felt the canal had reached that pivotal point where success was guaranteed, so in a letter to Roosevelt he resigned. Roosevelt was again furious. He appointed Colonel Goethals to succeed Stevens as the third chief engineer. Goethals carried out what Stevens had planned and completed the canal in 1914. Goethals always acknowledged Stevens' contributions. A newspaper quoted Goethals in 1928 saying, "Stevens... was one of the greatest engineers who ever lived, and the Panama Canal is his greatest monument."

Roosevelt, miffed over his resignation, failed to credit Stevens with canal
But Roosevelt never mentioned Stevens again, even in his autobiography when he wrote about building the Panama Canal. As a result, few publicly acknowledged Stevens' contributions to the engineering feat. However, the engineering community gave Stevens its highest honors. The American Society of Civil Engineers made him an honorary member in 1922 and in 1927 elected him president, the society's highest elected office. ASCE also honored him with its prestigious John Fritz Medal and Hoover Medal.

While his relationship with Roosevelt was never repaired, Stevens always held him in high regard. During an illness that would end his life, Stevens said to his son, John F. Stevens, Jr., "Son, the next time you come I shall not be here. On the mantel are the pictures of the only two men who ever influenced my life and I wish you to have them." The pictures were of Hill and Roosevelt.

For comments or more information, call the ASCE at 202-326-5130.

Edited by Joyce Jungclaus, Editor, Public Works Online