<P> On October 10, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson sent a signal from the White House by telegraph which triggered the explosion that destroyed the Gamboa Dike . This flooded the Culebra Cut, thereby joining the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans . Alexandre La Valley (a floating crane built by Lobnitz & Company, and launched in 1887) was the first self - propelled vessel to transit the canal from ocean to ocean . This vessel crossed the canal from the Atlantic in stages during construction, finally reaching the Pacific on January 7, 1914 . SS Cristobal (a cargo and passenger ship built by Maryland Steel, and launched in 1902 as SS Tremont) was the first ship to transit the canal from ocean to ocean on August 3, 1914 . </P> <P> The construction of the canal was completed in 1914, 401 years after Panama was first crossed by Vasco Núñez de Balboa . The United States spent almost $375,000,000 (roughly equivalent to $9,169,650,000 now) to finish the project . This was by far the largest American engineering project to date . The canal was formally opened on August 15, 1914, with the passage of the cargo ship SS Ancon . </P> <P> The opening of Panama Canal in 1914 caused a severe drop in traffic along Chilean ports due to shifts in the maritime trade routes . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> A Marion steam shovel excavating the Panama Canal in 1908 </Td> <Td> The Panama Canal locks under construction in 1910 </Td> <Td> The first ship to transit the canal, the SS Ancon, passes through on 15 August 1914 </Td> </Tr> </Table>

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