2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the opening of Panama Canal. These historic photos from the Library of Congress, seen in the slideshow above, illustrate the hardships, magnitude and organization that went into the construction of the canal. Even Teddy Roosevelt made an appearance, wearing all white nonetheless, at the canal during the beginning phases of construction.

The construction of the Panama Canal at the beginning of the 20th century was an arduous and monumental task. It took 24 years to dig and construct and came under the control of both the French and United States during its development. Conditions during the construction of the Panama Canal were brutal.

According to the U.S. State Department, the French attempted to build the canal, with leadership from Ferdinand de Lesseps who built the Suez Canal, but were ultimately beaten by the heat, jungle terrain, financial strains  and tropical disease. President Theodore Roosevelt led the charge for the United States to ultimately take over the project in the newly formed Republic of Panama.

The signing of Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty in 1903 provided the United States with a 10-mile wide strip of land to build the canal. As recounted by the Smithsonian Institute, “it took more than nine years of nearly non-stop digging to create the nine-mile-long (14.5-kilometer) Culebra Cut, which connected Gatun Lake and the Pedro Miguel Locks across Panama’s continental divide.”

The massive earthworks, which required thousands of workers and machines, were beset with problems but most came from the smallest of sources: the mosquito. Yellow fever and malaria were major concerns for workers. According to Harvard University, at least 20,000 workers died and many more were incapacitated by the diseases during the French project.

The American team enlisted William Crawford Gorgas, due to his recent success in Cuba with the diseases, to spearhead a campaign to eradicate the blight among the workers. By 1906, just three years in the American construction, he eradicated yellow fever and contained malaria using sanitation methods and introducing new water systems that reduced the population of mosquitoes.

Before the completion of the canal a trip from New York to San Francisco took several months and traversed over 13,000 miles in the ocean, according to PBS. Since the 16th century, people dreamed of shortening this distance by creating a canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Please visit the Library of Congress’ catalog for more incredible photos of this project.