Just happened across this video, thought others might enjoy:

Building the Cape Cod Canal — History.com Video (http://www.history.com/videos/a-challenging-story-the-cape-cod-canal#a-challenging-story-the-cape-cod-canal)

I worked with a lady who's father had been employed digging the canal. She had a lot of pics showing the digging. really interesting to see it with essentially no water in it.