Henry Larcom Abbot - Panama Canal

Panama Canal

After his retirement from the army, Abbot continued to work as a civil engineer and was employed as a consultant for the locks on the Panama Canal.

"Brig. Gen. Henry Larcom Abbot, coauthor of a classic work on the hydrology of the Mississippi River, began his involvement with the Panama Canal as a member of the new French canal company’s Comité Technique and Comité Statutaire, from 1897 to 1900. While the United States was assuming responsibility for building the Canal, Abbot worked for the French company as a consulting engineer during the transitional period, dividing his time between Paris and the isthmus. After the Americans assumed control of the project Abbot served from 1905 to 1906 on the Board of Consulting Engineers, a body appointed by Theodore Roosevelt and charged with the preparation of a plan for canal construction. The majority of the board recommended a sea-level canal. The minority report, probably written largely by Abbot, helped to persuade Roosevelt and Secretary of War William Howard Taft to adopt a plan for a lock canal. Abbot’s last service to the canal was as a member of the Panama Canal Slide Committee in 1915."

"Abbot’s numerous articles and one book account for over half of the entries in this bibliography. They range widely over several topics. In addition to arguing for a lock canal he insisted that the Americans abandon once and for all any thought of building a canal in Nicaragua. Other articles answered critics who asserted that Panama was too hot, wet, and unhealthy, and that the area was subject to earthquakes. Abbot successfully presented the case for creating two artificial lakes instead of one. He maintained that the wild and unpredictable Chagres could be tamed and made useful in the building and operation of the canal."