THE HISTORY AND ECONOMIC VAI^UE OF CANALS. 43 



Nearer home we have an equally notable example on Long Island 

 Sound. Here also a body of water parallels one of the most powerful 

 corporations of the country. That corporation has fostered "this multiple 

 trackway free to all ' ' to the great benefit of its land lines. It has recognized 

 the vital fact that cheap freight must be brought into the eastern states 

 at a minimum figure. In no other way can the population of a manufactur- 

 ing region in a locality devoid of cotton, iron or coal continue its industries. 

 If New England is to retain her prosperity, she must continually foster 

 water transportation. Massachusetts especially should be alive to the 

 fact that while government bureaus are publishing reports, while associa- 

 tions are discussing future policies, actual work is being done by a corpora- 

 tion within her borders upon the channel, advocated by her earliest settlers, 

 and that the Cape Cod Canal will be finished in 191 2. 



No better examples that a "congested and interior population" must 

 seek water routes can be given than those quoted above. 



The commerce of the former has been increasing by leaps and bounds, 

 and the time has arrived for the construction of the Cape Cod Canal as the 

 northern section of the first of the series of channels which will ultimately 

 be built to carry domestic commerce to connect with the foreign trade 

 passing through the Panama Canal. 



Thus far the attempt has been made to prove that history and heredity 

 both point to the time being ripe for improved waterways. 



The heretofore numerous attempts to create a merchant marine for 

 this country have been abortive, but it would seem that the present move- 

 ment, emphasized by the meetings and agitation of the past year, may lead 

 to tangible results, through the reflex action from the west toward the east 

 in favor of water transportation. 



VI. 



We now naturally come to a description of the Cape Cod Canal. 



From an engineering point of view, the problem is not great. The total 

 length over the isthmus is 8 miles. The total length to 30-feet depth in both 

 bays is 13 miles. The soil to be cut is sand, and amounts to 17,000,000 

 cubic yards. The deepest cut is 29 feet above tide-water. The channel at 

 both ends of the route, the natural marshes and streams already furnish 

 a waterway for boats of light draught. The difference in tide between the 

 two bays necessitates no locks. The depth of the canal is to be 25 feet. 

 The minimum width of bottom will be 100 feet through the central portion 

 of the canal, and this will give a surface width at the narrowest point of 



