Canals

Miller Freeman notifies Theodore Roosevelt that a delegation of “Southern Pacific Attorneys” left to attend a hearing in Washington, D.C. to protest against Henry L. Stimson, U.S. Secretary of War, letting Lake Washington canal lock a contract. Freeman says there are no legal questions involved and left to Stimson on sound judgement. Freeman states if Roosevelt attended the hearing, he would see that the corporation is trying to block the pacific coast from the benefits of the Panama Canal, and Freeman asks Roosevelt for his help in the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-06-17

Chronology of the daily life of Theodore Roosevelt from January 1871 to December 1878. Notable events include the Roosevelt family’s trip to Europe and Egypt, Roosevelt’s entrance to Harvard, the death of Theodore “Thee” Roosevelt, Roosevelt’s trip to Maine, and Roosevelt meeting Alice Hathaway Lee.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association

Creation Date

1985

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Creation Date

Unknown

Creator(s)

Unknown

Language

English

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Creation Date

Unknown

Creator(s)

Unknown

Language

English

Colorized postcard showing a steamer traveling through the Suez Canal. Several buildings are seen on the distant bank and another boat is on Lake Timsah in the background. Text on the reverse of the postcard provides information about the history and the location of the Suez Canal.

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Creation Date

Unknown

Postcard showing a ship traveling through the Suez Canal. Charles C. Myers describes the landscape surrounding the canal as level and only a few feet above sea level while the canal banks are several feet high in some places.

Comments and Context

In Charles C. Myers’s own words, “Another view of the canal.”

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Postcard showing a ship traveling through the Suez Canal. Several individuals are standing on the bank of the canal on the left.

Comments and Context

In Charles C. Myers’s own words, “A ship as it is passing thru the canal.”

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Postcard showing the Suez Canal in its entirety from Suez on the Red Sea to Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea. Charles C. Myers notes the journey through the canal is 90 miles long and passes through three lakes.

Comments and Context

In Charles C. Myers’s own words, “Here is a very good drawing of the Suez Canal. The canal passes thru 3 lakes in its course of 90 miles from Suez to Port Said which is the Mediterranean port at that end of the canal. All this country to either side of the canal seems to be a barren desert. We could see the top of a mountain in the far distant [sic] that was said to be Mt. Sinai. Progress thru the canal is very slow and we anchored over night in the second lake from Suez. We occasionally could see some Arab riding across the country on a camel.”

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

This postcard looks over a portion of a canal connected to the Divette River towards Mount Roule. A large fortress can be seen on top of the mountain.

Comments and Context

In Charles C. Myers’s own words, “This is the same high cliff that we saw a moment ago as it lay near the Ry station. This is the view you get of the place from the train after you start for Paris.”

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

This postcard shows a colorized view looking straight down one of Ceylon’s canals. The canal is bordered by walkways, which people stroll down, and beyond that thick trees and tropical vegetation. A raft with people and goods is poled down the canal.

Comments and Context

In Charles C. Myers’s own words, “Showing one of the Dutch canals and a section of the tropical vegitation [sic], date palms and banana trees.”

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

This postcard shows a view of a drainage canal, which the card titles “Mangrove Avenue.” Charles C. Myers notes that he was near this place on February 19, 1911 while riding around Rio de Janeiro in an automobile.

Comments and Context

In Charles C. Myers’s own words, “Here we see one of the drainage ways of the city, in other words it is an open sewerway, but under the very sanitary conditions of the city there seems to be no serious objection to this open water way and in fact it seems to add to the attractiveness of the locality and it is a pleasand [sic] drive down this long and shady lane beneath those majestic palms.”

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Photograph showing a flag-draped boat on a canal in Delft, Netherlands.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910

Newspaper clipping of cartoon showing Theodore Roosevelt deepening the Mississippi River with a shovel. In the background Uncle Sam is digging the Panama canal and a man labeled Germany says “Der selfish pig vas goin’ ter make use of das canal himself aldreaty yet!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907

The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal’s waterway develops horsepower sold at a reasonable price and removes sewage. Whereas, in Buffalo, New York, sewage from the Niagara front pollutes Lake Erie and the Niagara River. The Erie and Ontario Sanitary Canal Company proposes building a waterway similar to Chicago. Millard F. Bowen, President of the Company, further discusses plans for the canal and its benefits. The final page includes a diagram of the proposed waterway.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-27

Poultney Bigelow compares the challenges Ferdinand de Lesseps faced constructing the Suez Canal to those of the Panama Canal. He argues that real-estate ownership among canal officials is responsible for the crowded, unsanitary conditions of Colon and that the government has failed in its administration of the canal zone.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09

Lee C. Spooner believes Americans share the sentiment that poverty can and must be abolished and proposes how this can be accomplished, primarily by turning competition into cooperation. He argues that the laborers are the enemy of the republic, as they either turn to crime or revolution. To feel the responsibility of citizenship, the laborer must first own property. Spooner proposes they be granted a one-acre, suburban tract of land with a house through a federal initiative. Next, the prohibition of liquor will prevent laborers from wasting their earnings. Instead, they can then invest their earnings in federally regulated trusts. This redistribution of wealth will bring “socialism by purchase” and the end of poverty.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-19

President Roosevelt walks toward a “canal ‘scandal'” jack-in-the-box with his big stick in his hands. Uncle Sam puts his hand on Roosevelt’s right shoulder. Caption: Uncle Sam–“There’s no need of getting excited, Theodore.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The context of this Nelson Harding cartoon is, in the cartoonist’s view the scandal that was not a scandal, but nevertheless perturbed President Roosevelt. His brother-in-law, as well as William H. Taft’s brother, were accused of illicitly profiting from negotiations and transactions during the “taking” of Panama and beginning of construction of the Panama Canal four years previous. The president was also offended at the implied criticism of his management.

President Roosevelt, dressed in white, passes through the Culebra Cut on the canal railroad.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-02

A list of how each Senator voted for a lock canal.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906

Color postcard with various inset illustrations of Theodore Roosevelt and associated scenes. The front of the card also contains a rhyme promoting the possibility of a third term as President.

Collection

Fritz R. Gordner Collection

Creation Date

1907-1912