Jefferson had a wish. He wanted to discover a waterway that crossed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.

VOA: special.2010.01.11

The United States would have to buy the land, as well as the rights to build the waterway.

VOA: special.2010.08.12

Jefferson proposed that a group of explorers travel across North America in search of such a waterway.

VOA: special.2010.01.11

In the eighteen eighties, Ferdinand de Lesseps -- builder of the Suez Canal -- formed a French company to build a waterway across Panama.

VOA: special.2010.08.12

For many years, people had dreamed of such a waterway.

VOA: special.2010.08.12

This historic waterway opens into the Atlantic Ocean.

VOA: special.2009.10.06

They also found no coast-to-coast waterway.

VOA: special.2010.01.11

The U.S.Navy and the navies of dozens of other countries are patrolling the narrow waterway to deter ship hijackings-for-ransom by pirate gangs.

VOA: standard.2010.01.07

This part of the Illinois River near Morris is several miles southwest of the electronic fish barrier, a critical point along the Illinois waterway system meant to stop the Asian Carp from reaching Lake Michigan.

VOA: standard.2010.07.19