Photo of the Week

We are following up this week with another great photo and history lesson about Contractors Hill. I found this very interesting and historical photo amongst the Panama Canal Museum Collection at UF just the other day and jumped for joy as with this photo and the information I have provide with this Photo of the Week, you will now know the story of how Contractors Hill became the hill and recreation area we all knew.

Posted on the UF website blog, here is a comment from John J. Magee about the photo. This was submitted back on January 31, 2015

Project 13 was a canal maintenance duty assigned to the Dredging Division in the 40’s- 50’s. It involved the grading and erosion control of the of the West Bank of the Canal. It was located North of Contractors Hill where the Construction town of Empire existed. My dad, Chas. “Mugsy” Magee worked there nearly 15 years. The photo shows the concern of Canal officials when a large gap was discovered in Contractor’s Hill which threatened to collapse into the canal. Project 13 immediately took on this threat and the planned reshaping of the Contractors Hill. My dad is in the center of the picture holding the mural. The man kneeling in left front is James Morris- “Smiley”, Kenny, and John’s dad

I searched through PCC Reviews and found articles about this project. Here are links to the PCC Review articles about the Contractors Hill project (click links below):

May 6, 1955
July 1, 1955
September 2, 1955

Now we all know the rest of the story. Long live the memories of our Canal Zone Heritage.