All in all, the Panama Canal was a bit of a letdown, having seen our own Welland Canal in Canada. Of course the global significance of the Panama Canal is much greater but Welland is similar to Panama and it raises ships more than four times the height of the Panama locks. Both canals were built in the early 1900s. The engineering challenges were about the same, as were the environmental issues, Canadian winter vs. taming tropical diseases. More than 20000 workers died building Panama, while less than 100 died building Welland.
The Gatun flight locks raise ships 84 feet which is the total lift of the canal. The Welland canal, which bypasses Niagara Falls, lifts ships 326 feet and consists of 8 locks. Locks 4-5-6 are flight locks very similar to Gatun but they alone raise ships 145 feet. Welland does not use the complicated system of mule engines to guide ships along. Ships transit Welland under their own power.

Highlight the link below and then right click to go to a great time lapse of a laker doing the downbound transit of the Welland Canal.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U15Fwo9tbJ4