In May of 1909, The Boston, Cape Cod & New York Canal Company, owned by August Belmont,
with Chief Engineer William Parsons, began work on the Cape Cod Canal. Large boulders were
placed at the east end of the Canal to help control sediment build up across the Canal?s eastern entrance.
This marked the first phase of the Canal?s creation. The first one-ton chunk of granite brought in from Maine, was placed in forty feet of water on June 19, 1909.
The final length of the breakwater is 3,000 feet, and it weighs about 325,000 tons.