Visual Materials

Photographs of lock construction along the Panama Canal

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Description: A group of images documenting the failed attempt by the French government to complete the Panama Canal in the 1880s. Many of the images depict the last few months of construction before Ferdinand de Lessepes and his compatriots ran out of money and dissolved the company. The collection shows the lock construction including detailed images of workers in the canal cuts, heavy machinery, rail lines along the cuts, worker housing, and the terrain.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1884-1888.
Call number: photCL 462
Provenance: Purchased from Swann's, lot 250, May 2003.
Dimensions: 7 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. and smaller.
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Photographs documenting construction of the Mandalay Steam Station Cooling Water Intake Canal

Visual Materials

Three photograph albums documenting the construction of a seawater intake canal by Southern California Edison Company for the Mandalay thermal power station on the coast of Oxnard in Ventura County, California. The photographs were compiled by an unidentified civil engineer working on the Edison Canal project from 1958 to 1959. The canal was designed to bring cooling water from the Channel Islands Harbor into the Mandalay station. Images include the power plant, heavy equipment, bridges in the harbor, dredging, workers, and aerial views of the area. In 2010, the California State Water Resources Control Board ordered power plants that draw in sea water for cooling to shut down by 2020; the Mandalay station was decommissioned in 2018. The prints are in color and black-and-white, and are all dated and captioned.

photCL 699

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Photographs documenting construction of the Mandalay Steam Station Cooling Water Intake Canal

Visual Materials

photCL 699

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Photographs of Panama Canal laborers and labor camps

Visual Materials

This collection contains 12 photographs depicting scenes of labor and life in the Panama Canal Zone including images of Italian and Spanish (identified as Gallegos) workers, workers using steam shovels and drills, and the Isthmian Canal Commission (I.C.C.) hotel and pay car. The photographs are captioned with locations and some dates.

photCL 742

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Photographs of Panama Canal laborers and labor camps

Visual Materials

photCL 742

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Panama Canal Zone and other water resources photographs

Visual Materials

A series of eight 8 x 10 inch detailed photographs of buildings and construction in the Panama Canal Zone, 1915-1916. Also a hydroelectric complex on an unidentified river, and Milner Dam, Idaho spillway gates.

photPF 1090-1099

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Photographs of laborers at Culebra Cut during Panama Canal construction

Visual Materials

This collection contains 11 photographs with captions depicting scenes of labor and life by the Culebra Cut including images of a train dumping earth from the Cut, workers using steam drills and other tools, a labor camp near the Cut, a busy street on pay day, and a view north from the Cut.

photCL 743

Photographs of lock construction along the Panama Canal

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Photographs documenting construction of the Mandalay Steam Station Cooling Water Intake Canal

Photographs documenting construction of the Mandalay Steam Station Cooling Water Intake Canal

Photographs of Panama Canal laborers and labor camps

Photographs of Panama Canal laborers and labor camps

Panama Canal Zone and other water resources photographs

Photographs of laborers at Culebra Cut during Panama Canal construction