Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-07-23
CAPE Gods CANAL
IS ALMOST READY
Pageant Next Wednesday VIII
End Work Begun Five
Years Ago.
PROJECT COMPLETED AT
COST OF $4,000, 900
Cuts Seventy Miles off DAN
gerous Route Around End
of Cape.

BOSTON, July 2s.-with the Cape
Cod Canal nearing completion, towns
and cities in and around the canal
zone are today making elaborate
preparations TO celebrate the opening
next Wednesday. skepticism with
which the natives at first viewed the
canal is gradually disappearing. They
have decided they will have canal
and that perhaps It win be good
thing after all The dredges are within
$50 feet Of finishing the canal to
uniform depth. The work of rsmov-
ing the remaining earth and stone
will require but a few days, Tbs
steamer Rose standish. Of Boston,
viii be the first large boat to enter
the canal August Belmont's yacht
Scout and Commodore Benedlet's
Oneida viii follow the standish On
the ceremonial trip through tho
waterway.
More than 200 guests have been IN
vited by Mr.. Belmont 20 make the
trip through the canal on the opening
day. President Wilson, Governor
Walsh, of Massachusetts,, and Cow
AADI AIlN4t1is u VIEW 40&h4 alt III
c1uded in the Invitation list. The
trip through the canal viii be in tho
nature Of a pageant Boats viii be
decorated. There will be music and
speeches at various points along tho
waterway.
All Towns to Celebrate.
At o'clock on the morning Of the
opening day Mr.. Belmont and bis
guests viii leave Boston by special
train for Fair Haven. There they Rili
board the craft making the trip
through the canal. Sailing up the
bay to Sandwich, special exercises
viii be held in connection with th1
275th birthday of the town.
A delegation of Sandwich residents
viii meet the naval procession e.
Town Neck Hill, about 200 feet from
the entrance to the canal. There field
sports. military drills and an ex~
hibition OF classic dancing BY khe
girls Of the town will be held. Mr..
Belmont will speak Following the
exercises at Town Neck HILL there
VIII be a parade, with banquet and
fireworks in the evening
At Bourne, on the north bank Of
/ tho canal, a pageant viii be held
Floats, fireworks. speeches and e
dinner complete the Bourne program
At practically every settlement be-
1 tween Sandwich and Buzzards Bay
some sort OF celebration has been ar
ranged. Each and every hamlet viii
entertain the Belmont party as they
pass through the canal
Canal Cost $4,000. 900.
CONFIDENT with the opening Of the
canal the Boston Yacht Club viii
start its annual cruise and the club, =
boa Is will probably make the trip
through the canal on the opening
day.
The canal was built at a cost Of
I Si2.o00,000 Mr.. Miller has estimated
| that more than %, 000. 600 tons Of
cargo pass through Vineyard Sound
4 every year over half Of this amount
being carried in tows and schooners.
If only half Of the present tonnage
going around the outside route takes
| the canal, the income on tolls accord
irg to Mr.. Miller, would be S1000.00o
Cost of maintenance and overhead
charges have been estimated not to-
exceed $3.50. 900 a year
The canal viii bring Boston seventy
miles nearer to New York Philadel-
phia. Baltimore and other Atlantic
ports. At present it is estimated 500.-
900 passengers annually are carried
around Cape Cod. and that barges
and schooners which now take the
outside route undergo an average de-
lay of nearly four days. or a round
trip a year, and that on the 7.061,000
tons OF coal and lumber carried there
would be money less of 10 cents
ton
The new course Is considered 4
great deal safer for shipping Fog
and storms are menace along the
Cape Cod coast, and during the past
sixty years there have been mere
than 1000 wrecks and between 7a
and 800 lives lost on this dangerous
route
Lessons Fog Danger.
Leaving aside other dangers to nav
igation, vessels using the canal route
viii. il is estimated, contend with less
than half the fog encountered by
ships rounding the cape The uncer-
tain currents of the Nantucket shoals
and the storms that have sent SO
many ships to the bottom will also
be avoided. A significant fact pointed
out by advocates of the canal is that
the marine insurance for the outside
route Is from per cent to 70 per
cent. as against per cent for the
Fall River route.
As the Cape Cod Canal was built
at sea level no locks were necessary.
The present depth is twenfy-five feet.
but it is intended to deepen it to IS
feet. It's length is eight miles; the
length from the thirty-foot depth in
the bays at either end is thirteen
miles. A breakwater 5000 feet in
length has been built for the protec-
ton of the entrance from Barnstable
Bay