It was a bold plan that Emperor Charles V devised in 1532: an artificial waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. However, it would take nearly 400 years before this mammoth project could be realized. The wild, densely overgrown rainforest terrain exacted a heavy toll. Thousands of people lost their lives before the first ships could pass through the canal on August 15, 1914. Robert Steudtner recounts the discovery of the Pacific by Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the spectacular failure of the canal construction by Count Ferdinand de Lesseps and Gustave Eiffel, and the grand official inauguration by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in 1920. An exciting adventure feature with original interviews, music, and sounds.