This change in attitude on the part of philatelic interests is evidenced by the various ideas for the "new commemoratives to be issued to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal" suggested by stamp publications in 1911 and 1912. The leader in this movement was the Philatelic Gazette, whose editor, Wm. W. Randall, as a native Californian, had a two fold interest, in the advertising of the exposition and in the philatelic value of distinctive new' stamps. In the issue of lMay 15, 1911, he suggested the following six stamps to depict the great scenic effects of the West:

1c - The giant Geyser at Yellowstone National Park*
2c - The Golden Gate entrance to San Francisco Harbor
4c - The Grand Canyon of Colorado*
5c - The Locks of the Gatun Dam, Panama Canal
6c - The Big Trees of California*
10c - The Bridal VeiI Falls in Yosemite Valley*

* Four of the suggestions were not taken up, but, as you can see by my illustration above they were designed later in the century. Only the Bridal Falls of Yosemite did not make it on to a stamp.

By the middle of August 1912 the designs for the 1 cent and 5 cent had been accepted by Postmaster General Hitchcock, the 5 cent bearing his signature "approved July 16." The 2 cent was almost ready for approval at this time, pending the acceptance of a satisfactory picture of the Gatun Locks. The l0 cent stamp did not make as satisfactory progress as the others as no suitable photo could be found of any of the subjects under consideration. It had been intended to use a portrait of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who in 1542 discovered the California mainland, on the highest denomination, but all efforts to find a picture of him proved futile. I. E. Bennet, who represented the exposition in Washington, finally discovered a painting acceptable to the Department, of one of the subjects under consideration and this was then used. Once the vignette subject had been accepted, work on the 10 cent stamp progressed rapidly, on the 22nd of August the latter stamp was approved, while the 2 cent stamp was not approved until August 27th.

There were, at the time, two fairly common portraits of Cabrillo circulating, and like all portraits of the early Spanish Explorers, they were based on the artists interpretation, there being no contemporary representation. Cabrillo, did make it onto a stamp in 1992.

The Gatun dam under construction

Everything about Gatun Dam was enormous. Its dimensions were without precedent: a crest length of 8,200 ft (2,500 m) and a maximum width of 2,300 ft (701 m). With a height of 105 ft (32 m) above sea level, it stored sufficient water to maintain an operating pool covering 164 mi2 (425 km2). At its center was the most critical structure, a mass concrete spillway capable of passing flood flows of the unpredictable Chagres River.

A postcard from 1913, after completion

The San Pedro Miguel Locks were so vitally important that Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft both stopped to inspect excavations and address workers here. The lock is so narrow that you could almost reach out and touch the "mules," the toylike silver locomotives that guide the ships.

The locks were one of the greatest engineering works ever to be undertaken when they opened in 1914. No other concrete construction of comparable size was undertaken until the Hoover Dam, in the 1930s.

A third larger lock was built in 216 to allow the passage of larger ships

The new third lock

The new locks allow transit of larger, neo-Panamax ships, capable of handling more cargo

A quarter sheet or one pane (70 stamps) of #398