Agua Clara Canal Lock Center & Colon Fort

Colon Tour | Agua Clara Lock Neo Panamax Visitor Center Duration 7 Hours Agua Clara Lock The great construction of the Expanded Panama Canal continues to marvel local residents and visitors. Some interesting facts are related to the amount of material utilized. For example, the 192 thousand tons of steel required for the construction of Third Set of Locks could be used to build 19 Eiffel Tower. Fort San Lorenzo Castillo de San Lorenzo was first authorized in 1564. But like many other works of the Spanish crown in the Indies it took forty years before any construction began. The site selected was high on a cliff, where canons could effectively protect the entrance to the Charges River and offered an unencumbered view of the ocean for miles. The first fort, like all those of early Panama, used ancient double palisade techniques, where two opposing wooded walls would be in filled with earth and then roofed with woven reed and palm thatch.