Panama Canal Museum

2003 Panama Canal Company Seal

By Act of Congress on September 26, 1950, the Panama Railroad Company, a corporate agency and instrumentality of the United States, was reorganized and renamed the Panama Canal Company.  Most of the assets of the Panama Canal, including the waterway, were transferred to the Panama Canal Company, with its remaining assets being transferred to the newly formed Canal Zone Government, an independent agency charged with performing the various duties connected to the civil government of the Canal Zone.  Together, the two agencies carried out the functions necessary for the operation of the Canal and the administration of the Canal Zone.

The Seal of the Panama Canal Company was created following that reorganization in July 1951.  Designed by Architect John C. Buechele of the Canal’s Engineering Division, the Seal depicts a lower locks chamber of the Canal with the bow of a ship of the Panama Line in the upper chamber behind a closed gate.  On the left is a locks control house and on the right is shown a towing locomotive, commonly referred to as a “Mule.”  Inscribed on the Seal is “The Panama Canal Company * 1950 *.”  This Seal, along with the Seal of the Canal Zone, which was created in 1905, became part of Panama Canal history on October 1, 1979, when the two agencies were disestablished as a result of the Panama Canal Treaties and replaced by the Panama Canal Commission.