Editing Cape Cod Canal (section)

===Private construction===
[[File:Postcard view of breaking the dam of the Cape Cod Canal, July 1914.jpg|thumb|left|A postcard view of the July 4, 1914, breaking of the dam that separated the two rivers]]

On June 22, 1909, construction finally began for a working canal under the direction of [[August Belmont Jr.]]'s Boston, Cape Cod & New York Canal Company, using designs by engineer [[William Barclay Parsons]]. The canal engineers encountered many problems, such as huge boulders underwater. Divers were hired to blow them up, but the effort slowed dredging. Another problem was cold winter storms which forced the engineers to stop dredging altogether and wait for spring.<ref name="canal-home">{{cite web |author = New England District |url = http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/recreati/ccc/ccchome.htm |title = Cape Cod Canal |publisher = US Army Corps of Engineers |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20031205005523/http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/recreati/ccc/ccchome.htm |archive-date = December 5, 2003 }}</ref> Nevertheless, the canal opened on a limited basis on July 29, 1914,<ref>{{cite magazine |date = July 20, 1914 |url = https://archive.org/stream/independen79v80newy#page/n92/mode/1up |magazine = The Independent |title = The Story of the Week: Opening the Cape Cod Canal |volume = 79 |issue = 3423 |page = 88 |access-date = February 24, 2016 |via = Archive.org }}</ref> and it was completed in 1916. The privately owned toll canal had a maximum width of {{convert|100|ft|m}} and a maximum depth of {{convert|25|ft|m}}, and it took a somewhat difficult route from Phinney Harbor at the head of Buzzards Bay.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/resources/mepmap.htm |title = Massachusetts Estuaries Project – Map & List of Targeted Estuaries |publisher = Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection |access-date = August 10, 2012 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120609202133/http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/resources/mepmap.htm |archive-date = June 9, 2012 }}</ref> Several accidents occurred due to the narrow channel and navigation difficulty, and these limited traffic and tarnished the canal's reputation. Toll revenues failed to meet investors' expectations as a result, despite shortening the trade route from New York City to Boston by {{convert|62|mi}}.<ref>{{cite magazine |title = The Opening of the Cape Cod Canal |magazine = Bulletin of the American Geographical Society |volume = 46 |issue = 11 |year = 1914 |pages = 832–834 |jstor = 200951 |doi = 10.2307/200951 }}</ref>