The Chagres River as seen from the highway between Panama City and Colon

The chagres River as seen from Rainforest Resort in Gamboa Panama

The Chagres River (Spanish: Río Chagres) is a river in central Panama. "Riverine" redirects here For the use of that term in Maritime geography, see there Panama, officially the Republic of Panama (República de Panamá) is the southernmost country of Central America. The central part of the river is dammed by the Gatun Dam and forms Gatun Lake, an artificial lake that constitutes part of the Panama Canal. A dam is a barrier that divides waters. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water while other structures such as Floodgates, Levees The Gatun Dam is a large Earthen dam across the Chagres River in Panama, near the town of Gatun Gatun Lake (Sp Lago Gatún) is a large Artificial lake situated in the Republic of Panama; it forms a major part of the Panama Canal, carrying A reservoir is most broadly a place or hollow vessel where Fluid is kept in Reserve, for later use The Panama Canal is a man-made Canal in Panama which joins the It drains northwest into the Caribbean Sea. For the region see Caribbean. The Caribbean Sea (kəˈrɪbiən or /ˌkærɨˈbiːən/ is a tropical Sea in the Western Hemisphere

It was explored in 1527 by Hernando de la Serna, and founded the town of Chagres in its mouth, and the fortress of San Lorenzo was built. Goods were transported on foot in its bed from Panama City to the coastal town of Cruces and from there sailing on the river to its mouth. This road, called Camino de Cruces, was very popular until the eighteenth century. It was not until the late nineteenth century when once again the attention of the river was focused, but to use it as a support of the Panama Canal.

Its upper basin is covered by dense tropical forests and to protect it Panama created Chagres National Park in 1985.

External links

• http://hackingfamily.com/Landfalls/SouthWest/chagres_river.htm