Walls of Miraflores Lock

Joseph Pennell's ink drawing depicts the Panama Canal's Miraflores Lock under construction, capturing the massive engineering infrastructure of the era. Pennell (1857–1926), an American artist and printmaker known for industrial and architectural subjects, renders the towering gantry cranes, lock gates, and railway systems with precise linear perspective. Workers and equipment populate the scene, emphasizing the scale of human labor required for this monumental project. The sketch exemplifies early twentieth-century artistic interest in documenting technological achievement and modern industry.