Rena Fazzi, age 14, of Bennington, Vt., for her question:

WHEN WAS THE CAPE COD CANAL BUILT?

An artificial waterway cuts through a strip of land that joins Cape Cod to the rest of Massachusetts. It is called the Cape Cod Canal and it is the widest artificial waterway in the world. Work began in 1909 and it opened as a toll canal in 1914.

The United States government purchased the canal in 1928 for $11,400,000 and spent an additional $22 million deepening and widening it.

Sponsoring the project originally was a banker named August Belmont.

The canal decreases the sea route between Boston and New York City by 70 miles and enables ships to avoid the dangerous shoals off Cape Cod. The total length of the canal is 17 and a half miles. The land cut between Cape Cod Bay on the east and Buzzards Bay on the west measures 8.6 miles.

The canal is a sea level waterway and it has no locks.

Cape Cod Canal is 32 feet deep at low water and 480 feet wide. The channel permits two way passage of all but the largest vessels. Annual commercial traffic averages shout 7,000 ships carrying almost 14 million tons.

The federal government owns and operates the canal toll free.