Editing Cape Cod (section)

===European settlement===
Cape Cod was among the first places settled by [[History of the Puritans in North America|Puritan colonists]] in North America. The Cape's fifteen towns developed slowly, aside from [[Barnstable, Massachusetts|Barnstable]] (1639), [[Sandwich, Massachusetts|Sandwich]] (1637), and [[Yarmouth, Massachusetts|Yarmouth]] (1639). The final town to be established on the Cape was [[Bourne, Massachusetts|Bourne]] in 1884, breaking off from Sandwich.<ref>[http://www.plymouthcolony.net/barnstable/barnhist.html Deyo, Simeon, ''The History of Barnstable County, NY, 1890'', Retrieved May 3, 2009]. Plymouthcolony.net (August 6, 1996).</ref> Provincetown was a group of huts until the 18th century. A channel from [[Massachusetts Bay]] to [[Buzzards Bay]] is shown on Southack's map of 1717. The present Cape Cod Canal was slowly developed from 1870 to 1914. The federal government purchased it in 1928.

Because of early colonial settlement and intensive land use, the Cape's vegetation was [[depauperate]] and trees were scarce by the time that [[Henry Thoreau]] saw Cape Cod during his four visits over 1849 to 1857.<ref>{{cite web|last=Thoreau|first= Henry David|title= Cape Cod |year=1865|url= http://thoreau.eserver.org/capecd00.html |access-date= May 3, 2009}}</ref> The settlers heated by fires, and it took 10 to 20 cords (40 to 80 m<sup>3</sup>) of wood to heat a home, so they cleared most of Cape Cod of timber early on. They planted familiar crops, but these were unsuited to Cape Cod's thin, glacially derived soils. For instance, much of Eastham was planted with wheat. The settlers practiced the burning of woodlands to release nutrients into the soil. Improper and [[intensive farming]] led to erosion and the loss of topsoil. Farmers grazed their cattle on the grassy dunes of coastal Massachusetts, only to watch "in horror as the denuded sands 'walked' over richer lands, burying cultivated fields and fences." Dunes on the outer Cape became more common, and many harbors filled in with eroded soils.<ref>[http://www.dianamuir.com/default/BPConservation.html "Reflections in Bullough's Pond", ''Conservation Matters''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004004757/http://www.dianamuir.com/default/BPConservation.html |date=October 4, 2011 }}, Summer 2000</ref>

By 1800, much of Cape Cod's firewood had to be transported by boat from [[Maine]]. The paucity of vegetation was worsened by the raising of [[merino]] sheep that reached its peak in New England around 1840. The early [[Industrial Revolution]] occurred through much of Massachusetts and [[Rhode Island]], but it mostly bypassed Cape Cod due to a lack of significant waterpower in the area. The Cape developed as a large fishing and [[whaling]] center as a result, and also because of its geographic position. After 1860 and the opening of the [[American West]], farmers abandoned agriculture on the Cape. By 1950, forests had recovered to an extent not seen since the 18th century.