<P> Although the French effort was, to a large extent, doomed to failure from the beginning due to disease and a lack of understanding of the engineering difficulties, it was not entirely futile . The old and new companies excavated 59,747,638 m (78,146,960 cu yd) of material, of which 14,255,890 m (18,646,000 cu yd) was taken from the Culebra Cut . The old company dredged a channel from Panama Bay to the port at Balboa, and the channel dredged on the Atlantic side (known as the French canal) was useful for bringing in sand and stone for the locks and spillway concrete at Gatún . </P> <P> Detailed surveys and studies (particularly those carried out by the new canal company) and machinery, including railroad equipment and vehicles, aided the later American effort . The French lowered the summit of the Culebra Cut along the canal route by five meters (17 ft), from 64 to 59 metres (210 to 194 ft). An estimated 22,713,396 m (29,708,000 cu yd) of excavation, valued at about $25.4 million, and equipment and surveys valued at about $17.4 million were usable by the Americans . </P> <P> The 1848 discovery of gold in California and the rush of would - be miners stimulated US interest in building a canal between the oceans . In 1887, a United States Army Corps of Engineers regiment surveyed canal possibilities in Nicaragua . Two years later, the Maritime Canal Company was asked to begin a canal in the area and chose Nicaragua . The company lost money in the panic of 1893, and its work in Nicaragua ceased . In 1897 and 1899, the United States Congress charged a canal commission with researching possible construction; Nicaragua was chosen as the location both times . </P> <P> Although the Nicaraguan canal proposal was made redundant by the American takeover of the French Panama Canal project, increases in shipping volume and ship sizes have revived interest in the project . A canal across Nicaragua accommodating post-Panamax ships or a rail link carrying containers between ports on either coast have been proposed . </P>

What obstacles did the panama canal builders face