_300 Years Ago The Pilgrims
Visioned Cape Cod’s $50,000,000
Canal_
Myles Standish, the Pilgrim’s engineer, first conceived the idea
for the Cape Cod Canal in 1624. Governor Bradford wished for the
development in order that his fellow pioneers could better carry on
their fur trade with the Dutch in New York. He craved to “avoyd the
compasing of Cap-Codd, and those deangerous shoulds, and so make any
vioage to ye southward in much shorter time, and with far less danger.”
But, the actual building of this eight-mile waterway was delayed for
300 years. August Belmont took over in 1909, and the job consumed five
years and $13,000,000. Later the Government acquired the Canal--to date
the total cost, including periodic dredging and other improvements, is
said to be around $50,000,000.
The Canal has proved to be Cape Cod’s greatest contribution to the
winning of the war.
George Washington saw its military value. In 1776, when he was in
Boston, planning to send troops to New York, Washington observed that
this “interior barrier should be cut in order to give greater security
to navigation, and against the enemy.”