New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-07-25
THE.CAPE COD SHIP CANAL.
A PROJECT TWO HUNDRED YEARS OLD
- ABOUT TO BE CONSUMMATED.

A
ABOUTTO BE CONSU MINATED.
HOW THE PrrRITANs WENT FROM PLYMOUTH TO
BIrzZARD's BAY-NATURE's THOROUGHFARE
HISTORY OF FORMER PROJECTS-THE COM
PANY AND ITS CIIARTER-AN EXCURSION TO
CAPE COD-THE VELOCITY OF THE WATER
IN THE CANAL AND THE CAUSES THAT WILL
PREVENT ITS FREEZING-SOME OF THE AID
VANTAGEs OF TIE CANAL.
SANDWICH, ON CAPE COP BAY, July o.
when the MayOwcr commenced her lonely voyage, the
Pilgrims expected o land the Hudson River, the mas
ter of the vessel surprising il to be at no great distance
from Cape Cod Therefore when the extremity OF that
famous headland into vlcw the ship was turned to
the south They encountered the fierce winds ana
became entanged the dangerous shoals Of the waters
where many ships and 80 many lives have since been
lost every year. and glad 10 put back ana take ref
uge the extremity Of the long and crooked promon
tory of Cape Cod. After while boats crew OF theln
creeping along the shore around the Bay looking Tor
more promising location, 10 Plymouth Rock 30 IL
happened that the Puritan chrysas was deposited Tor
incubation upon that bleak coast instead OF somewhere
I'm the genial valley OF the Hudson. The shoals ana
winds of Cape Goa did it, Only three years AFTER the
Puritans had been bafed I'm the attempts TO go fOuu
Cape Cod the adventurous Miles Standsh was making
trips the neck Of the peninsula over the ldeca
route upon which the Ship Canal has been laid out
Mes's desire TO dickcr with the Dutch from Fort ADser
dam and with the Narragansett Indians led him to fol-
low up the of the Scusset River from cape Goa
Bay or rather Barnsable Bay for about three miles,
then to make portage of threequarters of mile ana
thence 10 pass down the Monumet Originally Manomep
River 10 point to which vessels Of or eight uus
burden could come where trading post the remains OF
which are TO be seen to this day, established The
distance which he thus traversed less than six miles
from Cape Cod Bay. His little craft was the pioneer in
thoroughfare through which long, will be passing
fleets OF the ships Of all natiOns-dOube the tunnags
that passes throughthe suez Canal.
"a great ship cana-Cape Cod-its all humbug isn't
It'll Thousands OF persons, otherwise well informed
will be likely on reading this 10 make such eX
clamation and to indulge in more fling at the poor
old Cape" its barren soil and sparse population ana
il lack Of many advantages enjoyed by other parts OF
the New World. In the ancient villages hcreabout are
many houses whose frames were erected III the seven
teenth century, place your hand upon some of the yell
low and town records and you will he thrilled II
your Imagination Is strong enough with the magnetism
of the Pilgrim Fathers at Sandwich you dine at hos
tery which is years old Things all around you have
fixed, old unprogressve look. Nevertheless new pros
perity and new importance to visit the Cape PENN
sula Miles Staudis's single trading post there are
to be the depOts Of merchandise and manuactes the
clustering villas and villages called into existence by
the opening of a great national and international
thoroughfare Let the reader judge of this for HIMSELF
taking bird'seye few from Sycamore HILL at Sand
wich where the Scusset River empties into Cape Cod
Raw Looking to the northeast the eye passes over
twenty mile eXpause Of water, which Is painted IN
oceans most delicate bne, shading off TO silver gray;
and you think you can make out Cape Cod and Province
town in faint hair-line along the horizon. We'll,
70 your left and also about twenty miles distant, is Ply
mouth. You glance around the curvng shores from
Provincetown to Plymouth IIarbor Before you Is tie
scene OF the travail and parurion of Ncw-Engand CIV
izauon which has enlightened a continent
You must be Of queer composition if you do not feel
certain awe in the view of the scene and its history
VIII
hgh-a rounded hill OF gravel thiny covered with grass
In the future Will be located upon citadel You turn
about find that the hills inland rise to about $50 feet
above the level Of the sea, and covered with tocra
bly, thick growth Of stunted oaks and cedaIs some one
makes gesture toward the hills at the southwest and
SAYS grandiloqucny Fright across there, pretty soon
will ocean steamers be blowing their way, laden at
NewYor with the teas and spices aud cotton and the
splendid productions brought By the Pacific railroads
and Pacific steamships from barbaric India and the East
ncreduous, you look carefully and discover that
valley has been scooped out, down almost to the level
of the sea- directly the neck Of land 10 Back River
Bay projection OF Buzhards Bay which terminates on
the Atlantic This valley five or six miles long. II
appears 10 have been cut out by glacier OF the ice
period Later a great stream Of water undoubtedly
swcpt through tit was Natures canal through which
fleets of iccbergs passed.. The MOnume and scusset
Rivers wind like silver threads through 1.-THE former
flowing to the southwest and the latter TO the east The
tide flows mp each OF them nearly meeting. Indeed, the
inhabitants OF the ncighbOrhOOd have tradition that
once great tidal from the Atlantic broke through
The divide" between the two rivers is only about %
feet higher than mean low water The valley has very
much the appearance OF some of the "old river beds OF
the Mississippi when the canal Is opened, coasters may
avoid dangerous detOur around Cape Cod Of so 70 $50
miles, and. Omome5 weeks Of delay. For steamers leav
ing New York Europe will detOur Of 200 miles
ami will also enable them to touch at Boston Sail YES
sells and will alike take the short and safe route
! a..
as well as crcuitous As old ooastng captain put it
last Spring when questioned by committee Of the
Massachusetts legislature in regard to navigating
the peninsula Of Cape Cod "You just lay hshhoOk on
your pinnacle, and steer by it,"
The chronology OF this canal project from its
origin nearly 200 years ago, TO the present date makes
one realize with singular yiyidncss the marvellous
growth Of his country Per eoHta, it curious evil
dence of certain ugSishness the part OF the de-
soendants Of the Puraus That the canal not years
ago opened Under their very Tor 200 years has
rested untouched, though much noticed and talked Of,
the line OF this obviously great necessary and entirely
feasible Cs Gen. TOtten put it, prOyOkngy feasibe)
! Improvement During that long period surveys have
been made every decade or Two; but never has com
pany been organized the spade taken up until now
And now it is chiefly New-York capital from the banks
OF the Hudson which the Pilgrim Fathers failed to reach,
that viii build the canal Here in brief the chronology
of the canal project and may from 1t how
has grown how the necessity for such canal has
increased. and how e dimensions Of the proposed canal
have necessarily been enlarged.
In 1876 the cutting OF passage this sthmus was
first proposed. This but Sc years after the landing
of the Pilgrim Fathers, and as their commerce was by
means extensive, they thought canal four feet deep
! would he sufficient.
the General Court Of Massachusetts, ordered an
! investigation, survey, and estimates.
In 1886 tine isthmus described in Princes Annals as
thc place through which there has been canal talked
| Of foi these so years"
In 1870 at the Instance of the legislature survey was
partially completed by military engineer under the
ders Of Gen. Washington who took deep interest in the
project IL was at this time proposed to make the canal
! feet deep.