History & Celebrations Today – September 7

Celebrations Today – September 7

Holidays and observances

Celebrations Today – USA: September 7

National Beer Lover’s Day
National Neither Snow Nor Rain Day
National Grandma Moses Day
National Acorn Squash Day
National Salami Day
Google Commemoration Day
National Feel the Love Day
National Neither Rain Nor Snow Day

Today in US History: September 7

The Panama Canal

Construction of the Pedro Miguel Locks
Pedro Miguel Locks, Panama Canal, 1913.
Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991

President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian Chief of Government Omar Torrijos signed the Panama Canal Treaty and Neutrality Treaty on September 7, 1977. Also known as the Carter-Torrijos Treaty, this agreement relinquished American control over the canal and transferred authority to the Panama Canal Authority on December 31, 1999.

On May 4, 1904, Panama granted the United States the right to build and operate the canal and control the five miles of land on either side of the water passage in exchange for annual payments. President Theodore Roosevelt viewed building the canal as indispensable for securing U.S. military and commercial power.

Construction on the canal began in 1904 and the canal opened to traffic on August 15, 1914. Ships passing through the lakes and locks travel approximately 51 miles between the Atlantic Ocean entrance and the Pacific Ocean entrance, eliminating the lengthy and often precarious 8,000-nautical-mile trip around South America’s Cape Horn.

Look what they did with the Pay-no-more Canal…When they started to build, they said it would bring New York a thousand miles closer to San Francisco. Why it’s ridiculous. We spent four hundred million dollars, the canal is nearly finished, and New York is still in the same place.The Speaker of the House: A Monologue, Part 3,
by Aaron Hoffman, 1914-.
The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920

Boat in Miraflores Locks
Miraflores Locks, East Chamber,
Panama Canal,
between 1910 and 1920.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920

America celebrated the opening of the canal at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. The event marked both the triumph of the waterway’s engineering and the emergence of a modern San Francisco newly rebuilt after the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire.

Panama Pacific International Exposition
Panama Pacific International Exposition,
J. D. Givens, photographer,
1915.
Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991

Today in History – September 7-External Links

Today’s Weather in History
Today in Earthquake History
This Day in Naval History
Today’s Document from the National Archives
Today’s Events, Births & Deaths –Wikipedia
Today in History by AP
On this Day -1950 to 2005 – Today’s Story–BBC
On This Day: The New York Times
This Day in History –History.com
Today in Canadian History – Canada Channel
History of Britain that took place On This Day
Russia in History –Russiapedia