George W. Goethals

George Washington Goethals, son of John and Marie Baron Goethals was born in Brooklyn New York on 29 June 1858 received training as an officer in the Army Corps of Engineers of the United States and attended the Military Academy in the United States West Point where he graduated in 1880 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Corps of the Army of the United States on June 12, 1880 in the eighties he served as instructor in civil and military engineering at the military Academy. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1882 and captain on 14 December 1891 In 1884 he married Effie Rodman. 

During the Spanish-American War he served under the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and Chief Engineer in the Volunteer Army. He was later put in charge of the Muscle Shoals canal construction in the Tennessee River and Colbert Shoals, Alabama. 

On March 4, 1907, Goethals was appointed by President Roosevelt, President of the Board and Chief Engineer of the Isthmian Canal Commission (LCC). He worked in this position until the completion of the construction of the Canal in 1914, then as the Governor of the Panama Canal following until his resignation on January 17, 1917. 

As Chief Engineer of the Isthmian Canal Commission had to face many daunting tasks. Apart from the task of eliminating diseases, Goethals also had to face several unique problems, each of which represented a tremendous job itself. The first of these was lowered to a lower level several good sized mountains located near the center of the isthmus to minimize the elevation of the same channel. 

The second, the powerful feat of making powerful and erratic with Chagres River Gatun Dam and formation of Lake Gatun dam. The third was the construction of huge concrete locks with filling and discharge systems and large steel gates to open and close the device. Often the same plans and chief engineer spent sleepless nights working on the complicated calculations were changed. But finally completed work, and in 1915 the General Goethals received the thanks of the Congress of the United States "for distinguished service in the construction of the Panama Canal." 

Goethals name go down in history as the man who achieved one of the greatest feats of engineering and construction since the Egyptians ended the pyramids - the construction of the Panama Canal. 

From April to July 1917, Goethals served as General Manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, and December 18, 1917, he was again called to active duty and appointed Acting Quartermaster General of the American Army. He was Head of the Division of Purchase, Storage and Traffic of the United States Army from 1918 to 1919 Goethals was released from active duty with the Army, at his own request, in March 1919. 

Goethals was President George W. Goethals and Company, a firm of engineers, and was also a director and consultant to the Port Authority of New York from 1919-1928. 

Goethals died on January 21, 1928 in New York City. Many distinguished persons and many tributes paid to Goethals. Among them, the following is the most representative about the man and his achievements consensus. 

"Colonel Goethals proved to be the man of all others, who performed the work. It would be impossible to overstate what he did. It is the greatest task of any kind that any man held in the world during the years when Goethals worked. It is the largest company of its kind held in the world. Colonel Goethals succeeded in inspiring men in charge of a spirit which elsewhere can only be found in a few victorious armies "