To get from New York to Portland, Oregon by water you could go south and then west through the Straits of Magellan. Alternatively, you could go east around the globe until you reached Portland.
With or without the canal it would still have to travel to Oregon
The Panama canal connect the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. If there was no canal a ship would have to travel all the way around the southern tip of South America.
The Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean are connected by the Panama Canal. Prior to its' construction, ships traveling from New York to Portland Oregon would have to sail ALL THE AWAY AROUND South America. This is known in sailing parlance as "rounding the Horn", because Cape Horn is at the southern tip of South America.
That would be the Panama Canal.
You would transit the Panama Canal going South.
Before air travel, the Panama Canal was the shortcut from New York City to San Francisco. Today it is still a shortcut if you are traveling by water.
Around the southern tip of south america! Adding thousands of miles and days or even weeks to the journey.
It would be 18,000miles shorter. If using Panama Canal.
newyork to sanfrancisco on the panama canal
south
Before the Panama Canal was built, ships had to navigate around Cape Horn on the southern tip of South America to get from one coast of North America to the other.
The Panama canal
Panama canal