If our colonial settlers had their way, there would be no need for a Cape Cod Canal ! By the 1790's ideas of building a canal joining Massachusetts Bay and Buzzards Bay had started to unfold.
 

The first of these was a canal from the North River to the Taunton River. The town of Halifax was considering ways to reach the Taunton River from Monponsett Pond. The waterway would head south meeting the Winnetuxet River then leading to the Taunton River. Not only was it being planned, in some locations digging had begun. The Monponsett connection north would pass through the swamps of Pembroke and link up with the North River.  
 

How about a canal from Boston Harbor to the Taunton River by way of Brockton?
Maybe Hingham Harbor to the Taunton River or from Plymouth Harbor to the Taunton River? All these ideas have surfaced throughout the years.  
 

In the early 1900's, the Massachusetts Harbor and Land Commission were authorized to make surveys of East Bridgewater' s Satucket and Matfield Rivers along with Robbins Pond.  The commission surveyed West Bridgewater's Town River, Raynham and Bridgewater's Hockomock Swamp and Nippenicket Pond as well as Hanson and Halifax's Stump and Monponsett Ponds.  

 Throughout the research and reviews, the varied elevation of lands surrounding the possible canal route would demand the use of many locks, lifts, dams, bridges and saltwater pumps. Costs could not justify any further considerations. The end came on June 22, 1909, when
financier August Belmont's company lifted the first shovelful of earth beginning the construction of the Cape Cod Canal (completed August 15 1914).  
 

What would our history have looked like if any of these other canals happened instead?

Submitted by: Rob Lundquist
Sources: "Cape Cod Canal" Army Corps of Engineers
"History of Halifax" book by: Guy S. Baker
U.S. Congressional books