Cape Cod Canal Mass

Cape Cod was known as a ship's graveyard but the Cape Cod Canal, proposed in 1776 and built in 1914 became a vital shipping link and a marvel of engineering. For centuries, the shoals and high winds around Cape Cod turned its waters into a ships' graveyard. In 1623, Miles Standish proposed a shorter, safer passage by building a canal linking Cape Cod Bay with Buzzards Bay, and in 1776, George Washington ordered the first of many surveys. All attempts failed until 1914, when the Cape Cod Canal opened as a private toll canal. The widest sea-level canal in the world, the Cape Cod Canal continues to be an engineering marvel, a vital shipping link, and a summer destination. These rare images from the Nina Heald Webber Collection at Historic New England survey the canal's development from unsuccessful building efforts in the 1800s, through its 1909-1914 construction, and subsequent improvements in the 1930s.

Development and publication of this monograph are the result of the joint efforts of Boston Edison Company and the Pilgrim Administrative Technical Committee (PATC). The PATC is an advisory committee established in 1969 to ensure that Pilgrim Station marine studies have the benefit of Qualified scientific and technical advice and are responsive to regulatory agency concerns. The PATC is composed of representatives from the following: Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Massachusetts Division of Water Pollution Control National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA) U. S. Environmental Protection Agency U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Dept. of the Interior) University of Massachusetts Boston Edison Company The PATC formed the Pi 1 grim Stati on Marine Ecology Monograph Subcommi ttee to guide Monograph funding efforts, oversee technical aspects of preparation, consi der editor sel ecti on, advi se the edi tors and authors, and resol ve possi bl e conflicts. Members of the Subcommittee were as follows: W. Leigh Bridges - Mass. Div. Marine Fisheries (Subcommittee Chairman) Robert Lawton - Mass. Div. of Marine Fisheries Joseph Pelczarski - Mass. Office Coastal Zone Management Michael Ross - University of Massachusetts Robert Leger - U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Thomas Horst - Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation Richard Toner - Marine Research, Inc. Robert Anderson - Boston Edison Company Lewis Scotton - Boston Edison Company This publication was made possible by grants from: Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management Boston Edison Company Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries U. S.

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