The month of July we explore the saga of the search for the future location of the Panama Canal. Read The Darkest Jungle, by Todd Balf as we look into the true story of the 1853 U.S. Darien Exploring Expedition, the harrowing story of America’s first ship canal exploration across a narrow piece of land in Central America called the Darien. The whole world watched as the 27-member U.S. expedition party attempted to be the first to traverse the 40-mile isthmus, the narrowest spot between the Atlantic and Pacific in all the Americas. Follow the 97-day ordeal of starvation, exhaustion and madness — a tragedy turned “triumph of the soul” due to the courage and self-sacrifice of Captain Isaac Strain and the seamen who devotedly followed him.