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Show U. S. PROPOSES I TO BOY CANAL Builders and Government ; ; Talk Over Exact Status ! of Waterway SANDWICH. Mass, Ian. 7 The Capo Cod canal, the purchase of which for $11 500.000 Is now before congress on rerornme-ndailona by Sc rotarle , Weeks, Hoover and Denby Is an artificial arti-ficial waterway with a history. The ! project was c'onoeivod two oonturio ago and at different times was th i subject of various proposals, all of (which failed of fruition it nns not until seven years ago the on nal was completed, cutting the long arm of Cape Cod off from the rest of Massachusetts Massa-chusetts The canal was constructed by the Boston, Cape Cod an. I N'ew York 'Canal company, of which August Belmont Bel-mont was president. It runs through the towns of Sandwich and Bourne I connects Cape Cod bay and Buzzard'.i , bay, shortening the- distance between New York and New England port- bj ' some fi5 miles, and so avoiding Mv 1 graveyard of whips on the fr.,n ide i of Cape Cod It m 13 miles in length, with a idth varying; from 100 to 300 , feet, und a depth of 26 feet at mean, low water. DIFFERENCES ARISE Eight miles of the waterway were cut through land purchased by the I company, and five miles dredger! through government waters to a dMth 6l 26 feet in Cape Cd and Buzzard' I bays. The charter in which the pro- Iject was carried out was granted by I tho state of Massachusetts, June 1,1 ! 1 890, excavation was bcRim Juno 82,1 19O0. and the canal wan opened July! 29. 1914. The oot o? construction has been estimated by engineers at approximately ap-proximately r million elollars a mlh j As a war measure the canal was .placed under the Jurisdiction of the rallrad administration July 25. 191 by order of President Wilson and the; irailroael administration operated It, until February 29, 1920. Since that time except for a short period It hns operaieel by the canal company, although the government having instituted in-stituted proceedings to acquire. It by, ! right of eminent domain, the companv Claimed that the government hy that! 'act became the technical owner Differences Dif-ferences between tho company and the 'government over tho exact status of the waterway led to Its closing for I three weeks In March. 1920 A con-1 'gcstlon of shipping awaiting passage I resulted and It was only at tho re- 1'iuest of the governor of Maachu- setts that tho canal was reopened. SEROTjED B agreement. After a Jury trial In the federal dl?- ' trict court the canal company Was awarded $16 601.201 as the prlre to' ,be paid by the government This verdict ver-dict was set aside by the court of ap-' peals. Conferences subsequently led to a tentative offer by government of-! flcials of 511.S00.000, which Was accepted ac-cepted I During the war the canal was used dally by tho government vessels f lighter draft. Its v. Idth and depth would not permit the passage of the I I ri battleships. I In 1920. a total of 8.140 vessels used ithe canal. Theao vessels registered 4.-707.735 4.-707.735 gross tons, arid carried 1,903.-1. 18G tons of cargo, of which 1.304.170 was coal. There were 224 govern-! nient vessels. 1.119 fLshlng vessels, and of the foreign flag ships there wero 17 ; ; British of 1 1.544 gross tons, one Norwegian Nor-wegian of 1.817. |