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A06 Route 43. ZAANDAM. Environs
18 million florins, in order to enable ships to avoid the shifting
channels of the Zuiderzee, which presented many difficulties to
sailing-ships. Although at one time the largest work of the kind
in Europe, its depth (46 ft.) is now quite inadequate for modern
requirements. The station of the steam-tramways to Edam and
Alkmaar (mentioned on p. 366) is situated on the E. bank of the
canal-mouth. The entire district to the N. is, it is said, about to
be made available for industrial purposes.
To ZAANrAm by railway in 1/4 br. (trains once or twice an hour),
see p. 410; or by steamer (preferable) in 1/.-3/, hr. A local steamer
starts from the De Ruyter-Kade (pier 8) at the hours (fares 1214/5 or
7/2 c.; tickets on board) and the Alkmaar steamer (p. 409) starts
every 41/)-2 hrs. from the Westerhooft (piers 1 & 2).
Zaandam (Het Wapen van Amsterdam, with view of the Zaan,
R. & B. 13/4, déj. 11/5 fl.; Cafés-Restaurants Suisse, Gambrinus,
de Beurs, etc.), sometimes erroneously called Saardam, a town with
24,400 inhab., is situated on both banks of the Zaan, and carries
on a brisk timber-trade. With its numerous saw-mills, mortar-
mills, corn-mills, and other mills driven by wind or steam, it is
thoroughly Dutch in appearance. The small houses, which are al-
most all of one or two stories only, are built of wood or brick,
painted green or red, and surrounded by gardens. Before the con-
struction of the North Sea Canal the Y reached the town.
The Hur or Peter THE Great (Czaar Peter Huisje) is the principal
curiosity at Zaandam (adm. daily 9-12 and 2 till dusk; closed at 4 p.m.
on Sun. & holidays; 2)c.). The hut is situated on the W. side of the
Zaan, in the quarter of the town to the E. of the railway station. From
the latter we proceed to the S., then turn to the left into the main
thoroughfare intersecting the town, and fullow one of the side-lanes on
the right. From the steamboat-quay we follow the road running towards
the S. along the Zaan, past the Societeit (left), to the small Café de Hoop
(right), where we descend a few steps into a narrow street; we then cross
a bridge, and 150 yds. farther on reach a court-yard (on the right) in
which the hut is situated. It is a rude wooden hut, now protected by
a substantial brick structure. It was occupied by the Czar Peter for a
week in 1697, while he studied the ship-building and paper-making in-
dustries of Zaandam. The tradition is that he worked as a ship-carpenter
in the building-yard of Mynheer Kaly under the name of Peter Michaeloff,
but being incessantly beset by crowds of inquisitive idlers. who penetrated
his disguise, he was forced to return to Amsterdam — The hut now be-
longs to the Czar of Russia.
The Noordzee Kanaal, or North Sea Canal, by the construction
of which in 1865-76 Amsterdam recovered its rank as a seaport of
the first class, is one of the most considerable engineering achieve-
ments of modern times. In order to form a direct communication
between Amsterdam and the sea, the shallow basin of the Y, at
that time accessible only from the Zuiderzee, was drained and its
waters contined to a central canal, while at the same time a channel
was cut across the narrow coast-strip (Holland op zyn smalst) unit-
ing North and South Holland. The canal thus formed is about
{5 M. in length, 65-110 yds. in width, and about 30 ft. in depth, |
