The Stamp That Built the Panama Canal - In 1902, the U.S. Congress was about to pass legislation to link the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea with a canal across ”that's right” Nicaragua. That is, until engineer Philipe Bunau-Varilla (and a certain stamp) got involved. - In the 1880s, Bunau-Varilla worked for a French company that had attempted to construct a similar canal across Panama. But engineering difficulties, financial mismanagement, and deadly yellow fever epidemics eventually bankrupted the company and prevented it from completing the project. Still believing Panama (then part of Colombia) presented the best route for such a canal (and still wanting a government contract to construct it), Bunau-Varilla lobbied Congress to switch its plans, claiming Nicaragua's terrain was too unwieldy. Then, in the spring of 1902, nature worked in his favor. Mt. Momotombo, a volcano in Nicaragua, erupted. - Knowing the incident would sway the American canal vote, Nicaraguan officials immediately began denying reports of the eruption, and Bunau-Varilla was left struggling for a way to counter the Nicaraguan cover-up. Fortunately, he remembered once seeing a Nicaraguan postage stamp featuring Mt. Momotombo, conveniently depicted with smoke rising from the top. After rummaging through stamp shops in Washington, he found the one he was looking for and promptly purchased 90 copies. - In a matter of days, all 45 U.S. senators had received the Mt. Momotombo stamp, complete with Bunau-Varilla's caption, "An official witness to volcanic activity in Nicaragua." This menacing volcano, they were told, would threaten the canal route. Sure enough, when the Senate voted on June 19, 1902, the Panama route won. - Bunau-Varilla ran a sophisticated lobbying campaign to change public opinion and Congressional votes, but he couldn't have sealed the deal without the help of those Nicaraguan stamps. www.mentalfloss.com - #StandByYourMail #APWUnited #MailedIt #SaveUSPS #USPS #SaveTheUSPS #GonePostal #SaveUSPSPhotoChallenge #SaveThePostOffice #PostalProud #USPSLife #USPSEmployee #RuralCarrier #PostalLife #UnitedStatesPostOffice #UnitedStatesPostalService (at US Embassy Managua) https://www.instagram.com/p/CD_xaa5H_bD/?igshid=1fq97prvutft1