Afro-Panamanian
In 1904 when the construction of the Panama Canal was taken over by the United States for the failure of the French company, will again resort to the West Indian worker. Although between 1904 and 1914 the vast majority of Afro-West Indians who arrived in Panama did a one-year contract with the idea of returning to their home islands once the offshore project, after construction of the canal many Afro-Antillean stayed in Panama. Afro-West Indians who remained in Panama many got jobs in the Canal Zone and became the largest immigrant group in Panama. On the subject of Afro-Antillean Panama, Leslie B. Rout said that when the canal was opened in 1914, some 20,000 African-West Indians remained in Panama.
William J. Oliver (industrialist)
When the United States government announced it would be hiring a contractor to build the Panama Canal, Oliver sent agents to Panama to investigate for a possible bid. He formed a partnership with New York-area contractor Anson Bangs, and the two compiled a bid of 6.75% of the canal's construction cost (the construction cost had been estimated as high as $465 million). When bids were opened on January 12, 1907, Oliver's bid was the lowest of the four submitted, slightly lower than George Pierce and Company's bid of 7.19%, and easily ahead of the bids submitted by MacArthur-Gillespie (12.5%) and the North American Dredging Company (28%).