=198. Value of the Canal to the Pacific Coast.= The Pacific Coast States now more than ever ranked high among the leading states of the country. They could now send the valuable products of their forests, streams, fields, and mines to the Atlantic coast by water. The water route to New York has been shortened by 7,800 miles, and to Europe by more than 5,600 miles. The canal supplies a cheaper means of carrying freight than the overland route, and there is no limit to its usefulness for this purpose. [Sidenote: =The San Francisco Exposition=] In 1915 the Panama-Pacific International Exposition was held at San Francisco and the Panama-California Exposition at San Diego to celebrate the opening of the Canal. SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL =The Leading Facts.= _1._ Gold seekers reached the Pacific coast by three routes: by ship around Cape Horn; across the Isthmus at Panama; and over trails across the mountains. _2._ With new discoveries of gold and the increasing population on the Pacific coast, means of rapid communication were urgently needed. _3._ In 1869 the Union Pacific Railway was completed. _4._ Settlers in large numbers entered the new West; agriculture on the great plains developed rapidly. _5._ Farmers crowded on the dry slopes and plateaus and irrigation projects were aided by the government. _6._ In California, when free deposits of gold became hard to find, the gold seekers became farmers. _7._ First a leading wheat state, California then became the leading fruit-growing state. _8._ Great cities grew up along the coast. _9._ The Spanish-American War brought home to Americans the urgent necessity for a short route by water between the east and the west coasts. _10._ The United States took up the work of building a canal at Panama, buying the rights of a French company which had started the work and had failed. _11._ George Washington Goethals given position of chief engineer. _12._ Educated at West Point, Goethals served as chief of engineers in the Spanish-American War. _13._ The Canal was completed in 1914 and Goethals was appointed first governor of the Canal Zone, a strip of land ten miles wide along the course of the Canal. _14._ The Panama-Pacific International Exposition was held at San Francisco in 1915 to celebrate the opening of the Canal.