Goethals, << GOH thuhlz, >> George Washington (1858-1928), an American civil engineer and Army officer, directed the completion of the Panama Canal. In 1907, after two civilian engineers had resigned from the job, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Goethals as chief of the Army engineers supervising construction of the canal. 
Goethals overcame many problems of organization, supply, sanitation, and health; and the canal was ready ahead of schedule. In 1914, Goethals retired from the Army to serve as the first civilian governor of the Panama Canal Zone. Goethals resigned in 1916. See Panama Canal .
Early life.
Goethals was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He attended the College of the City of New York, and was graduated in 1880 from the U.S. Military Academy. He served as a second lieutenant with the corps of engineers until 1885, and then taught civil and military engineering at West Point until 1889. From 1889 to 1894, Goethals supervised the construction and operation of the canal, locks, and dams of the Muscle Shoals project on the Tennessee River.
During the Spanish-American War in 1898, Goethals served as a lieutenant colonel and as chief of engineers in the First Army Corps. He was assigned to the General Staff of the United States Army from 1903 to 1907.
Engineer and supply officer.
After his work on the Panama Canal, Goethals helped administer the Adamson Eight-Hour law, which established the eight-hour day for railroad workers engaged in interstate commerce. He also worked as a highway engineer for the state of New Jersey. In 1917, Goethals was recalled to active duty as general manager of the U.S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation. He also served as acting quartermaster general of the Army and as assistant chief of staff and director of the Army’s Division of Purchase, Storage, and Traffic. He was one of the greatest supply officers of World War I (1914-1918).
Goethals retired from the Army in 1919 and established a firm of consulting engineers. His company acted as consultant in developing the inner harbor of New Orleans, and on the Columbia Basin irrigation project. Goethals served as chief consulting engineer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Goethals received many honors, and state and national governments frequently called upon him to serve as an adviser.
