New York Boat Passage Through the Cape Cod Canal Was Exciting In The 1930s
During the 1930s it was worth a trip to the Cape Cod Canal to watch the New York boat or steamer pass through the Cape Cod Canal. It was especially exciting at night with all the light on and the band or orchestra playing at full blast as dancers cavorted around the dance floors. The first bridges across the canal were called jackknife bridges and there is a picture of the steamer "Boston" passwing thlrough the Sagamore jackknife bridge. The jackknife bridges were replace in 1933 with the current bridges at Sagamore and Bourne by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who run the canal after it was purchased by the U.S. Government. The New York boat was a popular travel choice for many who could afford it from the early 19th century and during the depression of the 1930s. You could board the opulent steamer in Manhattan at 5:00 P.M., have an elegant dinner, retire and arrive at 5;00 A.M. in Fall River where a New Haven Railroad train would take you to Boston. Or you could go all the way to Boston via the Cape Cod Canal. Some steamers even went as far north as Portland, Maine. They were called "overnight boats" and could carry at least a thousand passengers. The larger steamers were over 400 feet long.
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