Originally, the French sent over men to build the canal. 22,000 Frenchmen died before the project was called to a halt. It was a great financial failure. This is the section that they started. To the left you can see the ships ahead of us entering the canal built by the U.S. As you can see, the U.S. had a larger scale in mind when they constructed it. Even at that, there are plans in the works for a third lane to accommodate Post Panamax ships.