CAPE COD CANAL 



1166 



CAPE GIRARDEAU 



at the bottom, but there are three passing 

 points where it increases to 250 feet. It is 

 illuminated throughout its course by electric- 

 ity, according to a street-lighting plan, and is 

 crossed by modern railway and highway 

 bridges. The expense of operation is met by 

 tolls. 



The Cape Cod Canal means a saving of 

 seventy miles of distance for vessels engaged 

 in the carrying trade between Boston and New 

 York and Southern ports. Previous to the 

 opening of the canal ships carrying an aver- 



CAPE COD CANAL 



(a) Route before opening of canal ; (b) present 

 route, through canal. 



age of 25,000,000 tons of freight a year were 

 forced to make the trip around the Cape by 

 way of Nantucket Sound, a distance of 334 

 miles, as against 264 miles through the canal. 

 The former route is difficult and dangerous 

 because of the shoals in the Sound, the fre- 

 quent fogs that obscure the signals from the 

 lighthouse and the reefs on the shores of the 

 Cape. Between 1843 and 1903 over 2,100 ves- 

 sels were wrecked in the region of the Nan- 

 tucket shoals, and about 700 persons perished. 

 The construction of the canal has therefore 

 meant a saving of lives and property as well 

 as of time and distance. 



The agitation for such a canal is not a re- 

 cent movement, for the project was considered 

 as early as 1697. During the War of the 

 American Revolution General Washington, 



finding it impossible to send his troops to New 

 York over a sea route, said, "The interior 

 barrier (across Cape Cod) should be cut in 

 order to give greater security to navigation 

 and against the enemy." The route was first 

 surveyed in 1791, and several companies were 

 formed to build the canal before its construc- 

 tion was made a possibility by the decision of 

 Mr. August Belmont to finance the undertak- 

 ing. Work was begun in 1909, and the canal 

 was completed in 1914, the cost of construc- 

 tion amounting to $12,000,000. Though it is 

 possible that the United States government 

 will some day take over the canal and increase 

 its depth, the waterway is even now of impor- 

 tance from a military standpoint. It can 

 accommodate the smaller cruisers of the navy, 

 most of the auxiliary ships and the entire 

 torpedo and submarine fleet, as it existed in 

 1917. If increased to a depth of thirty-five 

 feet its draft would be ample for the largest 

 battleships. See CANAL. B.M.W. 



CAPE GIRARDEAU, jerahr'doh, Mo., one 

 of the earliest settlements of the state, situ- 

 ated on the Mississippi .River, in Cape Girar- 

 deau County, on the southeastern border of 

 the state. By rail Saint Louis is 131 miles 

 northwest; Cairo, 111., is fifty miles southeast, 

 and Memphis is 170 miles south and west. 

 The Frisco Line, built to the city in 1902, and 

 the Cape Girardeau & Northern Railway, con- 

 structed in 1905, serve the city. Several boat 

 lines connect with the important river points, 

 and an electric line extends to Jackson, Mo. 

 In 1910 the population was 8,475, and by 1914 

 it had increased to 10,033. The area is two 

 and one-half square miles. 



Though Cape Girardeau is principally a man- 

 ufacturing city, it derives a large revenue from 

 the fertile, well-cultivated district in which it 

 is situated, and its good river and railway 

 transportation facilities make it a shipping 

 point of considerable importance. Good tim- 

 ber, especially cypress, abounds in the vicinity ; 

 timber, lime, limestone, flour and mineral 

 paints are the leading articles of commerce. 

 Shoes lead in the manufactures of the city, 

 770 people being employed in the industry. 

 Other important manufactured products are 

 ice cream, cement, tobacco products, interior 

 finish, pressed brick and a variety of lumber 

 products. 



The notable buildings are a $100,000 Federal 

 building constructed in 1910, the courthouse, 

 a $200,000 office building constructed in 1908, 

 and Saint Francis Hospital, completed in 1915 







