Integrated Community Planning Frv_m_'_ M • 7 · Office of the Regional Clerk Nlagara Reglon 220l St. David’s Road W, PO Box l042, , ON L2V 4T7 905-685-4225 Toll-free: I-800-263-72|5 Fax:905-687-4977 . Telephone: WWW.I1I&g3f'3.Y€gIOI1.C3

November 15, 2013 CL 16-2013, October 31, 2013 ICPC 15-2013, October 23, 2013 Report ICP 105-2013

I Holly Dowd, Town Clerk Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake ‘ P.O. Box 100 1593 Creek Road Virgil, ON LOS 1T0

SENT ELECTRONICALLY

Welland National Historic Site Application ICP 105-2013

Dear Ms. Dowd,

Regional Council, at its meeting of October 31, 2013, approved the following recommendations of its Integrated Community Planning Committee:

That Report ICP 105-2013, October 23, 2013, respecting Canal National Historic Site Application, BE RECEIVED;

Council the National Historic Site That Regional ENDORSE `

Application (attached as Appendix I to Report ICP 105-2013);

That the Regional Chair BE AUTHORIZED to sign the Welland Canal National

Historic Site Application (attached as Appendix I to Report ICP 105-2013) and submit the application to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of for consideration;

That the Regional Chair BE AUTHORIZED to write to Members of Parliament Dykstra, Nicholson and Allen to provide an overview of the application and summary of the work undertaken to develop the application, including the involvement of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation; and

That a copy of this report BE SENT to the parties to the Memorandum of Understanding for the Study of the Welland Corridor and Federal Heritage Designation of the selected portions of the Welland Canal Corridor (the MOU) with a request to endorse the application and notify the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada of their endorsement; and .../2 That a copy of this report BE SENT to Haldimand County, local area municipalities and their Heritage Committees for their information.

Your Council’s consideration for endorsement of the application is greatly appreciated. Once a decision has been reached, please forward your Council’s resolution to the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board:

Julie Dompierre, Directrice/Director Commémoration/Commemoration Branch Parcs Canada/Parks Canada 5ieme étage, 25, rue Eddy 5th Floor, 25 Eddy Gatineau OC K1A OM5 [email protected]

Please forward a copy of your Council’s resolution to Ms. Danielle De Fields, Senior Planner, by email at danielle.defie|[email protected].

A copy of Report ICP 105-2013 is enclosed for your information.

Yours truly,

Janet Pilon Regional Clerk znld cc: Clerks ofthe Local Area Municipalities of Niagara Region S. Burman, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation D. Norton, Power Generation P. Robson, Commissioner, Integrated Community Planning D. De Fields, Senior Planner M. L. Tanner, Associate Director, Regional Policy Planning ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Page 1 of 5

Niagaraw Region

· REPORT TO: Integrated Community Planning Committee

SUBJECT: Welland Canal National Historic Site Application

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. That Regional Council ENDORSE the Welland Canal National Historic Site Application (Appendix I- available electronically only).

2. That the Regional Chair BE AUTHORIZED to sign the Welland Canal National

Historic Site application (Appendix I — available electronically only) and submit the application to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada for consideration.

3. That the Regional Chair BE AUTHORIZED to write to Members of Parliament Dykstra, Nicholson, and Allen to provide an overview of the application and summary the work undertaken to develop the application, including the involvement of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation.

3. That a copy of this report BE SENT to the parties to the Memorandum of Understanding for the Study of the Welland Canals Corridor and Federal Heritage Designation of the selected portions of the Welland Canal Corridor (the MOU) with a request to endorse the application and notify the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada of their endorsement. Note: the parties to the MOU are identified on page 2 of this report.

4. That a copy of this report BE SENT to Haldimand County, local area municipalities and their Heritage Committees for their information.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to provide information to Regional Council related to an application to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada to designate portions of the Welland Canal as a National Historic Site. This report is consistent with CounciI’s Business Plan Theme 2 — Healthy Community. . ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Page 2 of 5

BUSINESS IMPLICATIONS

There are no business implications associated with this report. The costs associated with developing the National Historic Site application are accommodated in the Integrated Community Planning Department’s 2013 budget.

REPORT

Background For several years Niagara Region, in partnership with the local area municipalities, has sought the recognition of the Welland Canal Cultural Landscape as a National Historic Site (DPD 40-2008, ICP 68-2010). The designation is honorific in nature - there are no legal obligations or requirements by the owner(s) of any lands that are designated, nor any specific/required permitting or approval processes associated work in a designated area. Areas that are designated as a National Historic Site are commemorated with a bronze plaque.

In 2009 Niagara Region made an application was made to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC) to designate the entire Canal (first through fourth canals) as a National Historic Site (DPD 40-2008). At the time, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) indicated their unwillingness to support the proposed designation. They were concerned that a National Historic Site designation on the operating canal could be in conflict with their mandate of moving goods in an efficient manner. The HSMBC stated they were unable to consider the application until all of the major parties involved agreed on the proposed areas for National Historic Site designation. The Welland Canal Working Group of the Culture Committee was formed in response to this and tasked with moving the applicationifowvard collaboratively, to come to a mutually agreed upon proposal.

In 2012 a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Welland Canals Corridor was formalized (ICP 100-2012) that outlines the duties, responsibilities and expectations of all parties involved in studying the potential for all or part of the Welland Canal Corridor to be designated as a National Historic Site. The parties to the MOU include Niagara Region, Town of Niagara-on—the-Lake, City of , City of St. Catharines, City of Thorold, Township of Wainfleet, City of Welland, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation and Ontario Power Generation. The City of is not currently a party to the MOU. The City of Niagara Falls Council has indicated support in principle, but declined active engagement in the process to achieve designation until consultation with local residents is undertaken to explain the nature of a National Historic Site Designation (DPD 40-2008 Appendix IX). Haldimand County, while not part of the MOU, has indicated interest in the National Historic Site Designation and joined the working group in the summer of 2013 to stay informed of progress- on the application.

The MOU included exploring the use of · a cultural landscape approach to the designation. A Welland Canal Cultural Landscape Study was completed by Stephen Bedford Consulting following extensive, specialized research on the Welland Canal

Cultural Landscape (see appendix II of ICP 111-2012). ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Page 3 of 5

The Application Following completion of the Cultural Landscape Study, staff drafted an updated application to designate portions of the Welland Canal as a National Historic Site - (Appendix I available electronically only). The application was developed with the assistance of Stephen Bedford Consulting, in collaboration with the Welland Canal working group, and presented for review and comment to the Niagara Region Culture Committee in September 2013. The Welland Canal Cultural Landscape Study concludes that the Welland Canal Cultural Landscape extends across local area municipalities associated with the historic and operating canal. The Cultural Landscape Study provides detailed reasons for why the Welland Canal Cultural Landscape, in total, deserves to be recognized as a National Historic Site. However, during the

· development of the application the SLSMC indicated (through staff level correspondence), that they are concerned over the designation of the operating canal, or any touch points between the operating canal and historic canals, for reasons relating to marine security, public safety, interference with operations and environmental impact.

To accommodate concerns brought fonlvard by the SLSMC, the application does not propose to designate the operating canal, or touch points between the operating canal and the third canal. The application contains a map outlining the areas that are proposed for designation, as well as those that are omitted from the proposal to accommodate the SLSMC staff concerns. For the information of members of the

Integrated Community Planning Committee the map is also provided in Appendix II to this report. Recently SLSMC staff provided additional correspondence to Regional Staff reiterating that they that they do not support the designation on the operating canal or touch points between the operating canal and third canal. As outlined above, staff is of the opinion that the application, as written, addresses these concerns. Staff has provided clarification to the SLSMC on the extent of the area that will be applied for as a National Historic Site and requested further clarification on their opposition to the

application. -

Conclusion Given the national significance of the Welland Canal Cultural Landscape, and that the extent of the area proposed for designation is greatly reduced to accommodate SLSMC staff concerns (as compared to the results of the Welland Canal Cultural Landscape

Study), the application should proceed in its current form. It is recommended that Regional Council endorse the application, and request the parties to the MOU endorse the application as well.

PREVIOUS REPORTS PERTINENT TO THIS MATTER

• DPD 40-2008 The Designation of the Welland Canals as A National Historic Site, September 25, 2008

• `ICP-C-24-2010 Designation of the Welland Canal and Creation of the Welland Canal Working Group of the Culture Committee, August 5, 2010

• ICP 68-2010 Welland Canal Working Group of the Culture Committee October 6, 2010 ICP 105-2013

4 October 23, 2013 Page 4 of 5

• ICP 43-2011 Update on the Welland Canals Heritage Designation Project , May 26, 2011 _ _

• ICP 100-2012 Memorandum of Understanding for the Study of the Welland Canal Corridor and Federal Heritage Designation of the selected portions of the Welland Canal CorridorUpdate on the Welland Canals Heritage Designation Project, October 25, 2012

• CC—C 17-2013 Welland Canal National Historic Site Application September 19, 2013 Culture Committee Meeting

Submitted by: Approved by:

Patrick Robson Patrick Robson Commissioner Acting Chief Administrative Officer ` Integrated Community Planning

This report was prepared by Danielle De Fields, Senior Plannen and reviewed by Mary Lou Tannen MCIP, RPP, Associate Directon Regional Policy Planning.

APPENDIX

I Historic Site Application (available electronically Appendix National only) _

Appendix ll Map: Welland Canal National Historic Page 5 Site Proposal ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 5 of 181 Date

Julie Dompierre Directrice/Director Commémoration/Commemoration Branch Parcs Canada/Parks Canada 5ième étage, 25, rue Eddy 5th Floor, 25 Eddy Gatineau QC K1A 0M5

Dear Madam Dompierre,

Re: Designation of the Welland Canal As a National Historic Site

For many years, Niagara Region in collaboration with the Welland Canal Area Municipalities of the Region, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation and Ontario Power Generation have been pursuing the National Designation of the Welland Canal as a National Historic Site. We are pleased to indicate that Niagara Regional Council on (date to be inserted) approved the recommendations set out in ICP xx-2013 to request the Designation of the Cultural Heritage Landscape of the Welland Canal as a National Historic Site (Appendix I). The report and a request to endorse the Designation has been sent to the Local Area Municipalities associated with the Welland Canal Cultural Heritage Landscape as well as the St Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation and Ontario Power Generation. Any formal indications of support for the application from parties to the MOU will be sent to you directly.

Background This application is further to a previous request made by Regional Council to the Historic Sites and Monument Board in September 2008. At that time the application was made without the support of the St Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation and as a result the Board held the request in abeyance.

Subsequently Niagara Region created a Working Group of Stakeholders, including the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, to develop a consensus around the question of a national designation. A Memorandum of Understanding among the stakeholders was developed which established the framework on which to base the research and the decision making process with respect to the lands that should be designated (Appendix II).

A Cultural Landscape Study commissioned by Niagara Region was completed in 2012 (Appendix III and IV). The Cultural Landscape Study identified significant positive impacts of the 4 canals in Niagara and for Canada. Based on this extensive research, Niagara Region has adopted under the Ontario Planning Act, a Regional Policy Plan Amendment which establishes a policy framework to support and promote the Cultural Heritage Landscape of the Welland Canal within the respective area municipalities in the Region. The Amendment supports the bona fide operations of the canal for shipping and navigation.

Reasons for Designation The Welland Canal Cultural Heritage Landscape Study concludes for the following reasons that the Cultural Landscape of the Welland Canal embraces 7 of the 13 Area Municipalities in Niagara (Appendix III illustrates the Welland Canal Cultural Heritage Landscape as determined by the aforementioned study), including the various routes of the Canal and the environs beyond the Canal routes.

The Canal is a defining feature in Niagara. The construction and ongoing operations of the canal have influenced the growth pattern of Niagara municipalities and Canada over its almost 200 year history. The Canal is the modern technological answer to our First

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 6 of 181 Nations and early settlers desire to move goods past Niagara Falls and over the Escarpment from to and beyond.

The present operating 4th canal is the fourth generation of the Canal and continues to operate as a shipping canal after these many years and is a pivotal link in moving goods from central Canada and USA, , to the and the world.

The 4 routes of the Canal through Niagara from its original beginnings in Port Dalhousie through to Port Colborne can be easily followed today. These physical relics are tangible examples of the evolving technology of canal building, both in Niagara and across the globe.

The landscape exists beyond the physical routes of the Canal. The 4 routes of the Canal stimulated the growth of the major urban communities that presently exist in Niagara stretching from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. The construction of the Canal required the world-class evolution of the engineering of canal construction. The Canal and the water that flowed through the Canal stimulated the economic growth of the Region with many industries growing out of the very existence of the canal, either because of its access to trade or water that was used to power industry. Canal related industry is dispersed across Niagara.

The Canal brought people to Niagara from across the world to build the canal and those who remain to continue to apply their skills within the communities. Niagara, very early in its development, became known for its recreational opportunities, the Canal played a part because of recreation opportunities that arose as a result of its construction.

The communities of Niagara recognize the importance of the Canal in their growth and development and support the request for a National Historic Site Designation.

It is important to note that the County of Haldimand, while not initially part of the Working Group of Stakeholders, supports the National Designation in Niagara Region and has indicated a desire to join the Working Group with the objective of obtaining a national designation of lands within Haldimand County. Given that this indication of support for participation in the project came after the Cultural Landscape Study was completed, and the lands are outside of the Region’s boundary, there has been no study completed for Haldimand County. With that said, it is important to recognize their interest in the National Historic Site Designation and consider their inclusion as the Board completes their internal Cultural Landscape Study when the application moves forward. The Council approved staff report indicating interest in the Designation is attached.

St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation staff has indicated that they can not support designation of the active 4th canal or any touch points with the third canal due to concerns related to marine security, public safety, interference with operations and environmental impacts. The areas of concern outlined by St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation staff are illustrated in Appendix I in red. The current application does not seek National Historic Site designation on the areas outlined in red in Appendix I to accommodate the concerns of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. Designation Request The Cultural Landscape Study carried out by the Region in 2012 describes in detail the reasons why the Welland Canal Cultural Heritage Landscape, in total, deserves to be recognized as a National Historic Site. However, the Region and its Area Municipalities recognize the important concerns of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation and the need to protect the ability of the Canal to operate effectively and securely in the future.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 7 of 181 The municipalities are also concerned that the national significance of the Welland Canal Cultural Landscape will go unrecognized unless a solution can be found which recognizes the national importance of the Welland Canal and the critical ability of the 4th Canal to continue to operate. As a result, in order for this important national historic site to be recognized we request that the National Historic Sites and Monument Board designate the Welland Canal Cultural Heritage Landscape a National Historic Site as follows:

“City of Port Colborne All the lands containing the bed, banks, walls locks, weir canal and the Greater Niagara Circle Route Trail of the first, second and third canal owned by the City of Port Colborne.

City of Welland All the lands containing the bed, banks, walls, locks, ponds and aqueducts, tow path and the Greater Niagara Circle Route Trail of the first, second and third and feeder canal owned by the City of Welland within the City of Welland.

City of Thorold All the lands containing the bed, banks, walls, locks, ponds, tow paths and the Greater Niagara Circle Route Trail of the first, second and third canal under private ownership as well as owned by the Niagara Region and City of Thorold within the City of Thorold.

Town of Niagara on the Lake No lands within the Town of Niagara on the Lake as the lands within Niagara on the Lake continue to be part of the 4th operating canal and are owned by Transport Canada.

City of St Catharines All the lands containing the bed, banks, walls, locks, ponds, tow paths and the Greater Niagara Circle Route Trail of the first, second and third canal under private ownership as well as owned by the Niagara Region, City of St. Catharines, Ministry of Transportation and Ontario Hydro from the inlets at port Dalhousie on Lake Ontario to the City of St Catharines/Thorold municipal boundary.

Township of Wainfleet All the lands containing the bed, banks, walls, locks, and 10 m beyond these facilities of the Welland feeder canal owned by the Township of Wainfleet from the City of Welland/Township of Wainfleet municipal boundary to the Haldimand/Township of Wainfleet municipal boundary.”

Note: Any reference to the 3rd canal above excludes touch points with the 4th canal as per the request of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation.

For your information, Appendix I illustrates the areas that the Welland Canal Working Group is requesting designation as a National Historic Site. The map also shows areas that we are not applying for designation because they are not supported by St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation staff.

The Niagara Region and Area Municipalities have demonstrated a long standing commitment to recognize the national significance of the Welland Canal. We are very pleased and excited to now be in a position to submit this application.

Our research in the Welland Canal Cultural Landscape Study, October 2012 and the theory of cultural landscapes leads us to a broader understanding of geography and national significance of the Welland Canal than outlined in this specific request. However, given all the agencies involved and the extensive work undertaken in preparation of the submission of this application, we think it is important not to miss this opportunity to recognize the national significance of the Welland Canal Cultural Heritage Landscape and what is presented is in the community’s best interest.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 8 of 181 We very much look forward to working with you as this application moves through the process toward a successful designation.

Please contact Mary Lou Tanner, Associate Director, Regional Policy Planning ([email protected]) should you have any questions with respect to this request.

Signature

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Welland Canal National Historic Site Proposal Appendix I Page 9 of 181 N

Niagara-on-the-Lake ("Old Town") Legend

Areas included in the Welland Canal National Historic Site application (1st through 3rd NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE Welland Canals and Feeder Canal excluding touch points QEW HWY with the 4th Canal) GRIMSBY ST. CATHARINES Areas that are omitted from application to accommodate the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation LINCOLN (4th Welland Canal and touch points with the 3rd Canal)

Major Highways THOROLD Major Roads WEST LINCOLN PELHAM NIAGARA FALLS Municipal Boundaries

WELLAND

WAINFLEET FORT ERIE PORT COLBORNE

0 2.5 5 10 Km

© 2013 Niagara Region and its suppliers. Projection is UTM, NAD 83, Zone 17. This map was compiled from various data sources and is current as of July 2013. Niagara Region makes no representations or warranties whatsoever, either expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, reliability, currency or otherwise of the information shown on this map. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013

Appendix I Page 10 of 181

Memorandum of Understanding for the Study of the Welland Canal Corridor and Federal Heritage Designation of the selected portions of the Welland Canal Corridor

1. Background:

The Memorandum of Understanding for the Welland Canal Corridor will outline the duties, responsibilities and expectations of all parties in studying the potential for all or part of the Corridor to be designated as a National Historic Site with the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC) and subsequently applying for the designation of the appropriate lands. The parties include the Regional Municipality of Niagara, Niagara on the Lake, Ontario Power Generation, Port Colborne, St. Catharines, Thorold, Wainfleet, Welland, and the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC).

The Welland Canal Corridor encompasses the Welland Canal system, and is supported by the rivers, streams, and creeks that feed into it, and the cities, towns, and natural lands that surround them. Initially, the Canal allowed to move from the upper lakes to Lake Ontario by by-passing Niagara Falls. With the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, the canal became part of a transportation system that linked the ‘inland sea’ to the Atlantic Ocean.

The current Welland Canal and its three historic predecessors are important elements of the Corridor. There are also numerous viewing platforms, recreational trails and waterways, cycling routes, picnic areas, historical ruins, museums, beaches, restaurants, and accommodations that fill it with life and activity. The Corridor passes through both the (a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve), and the provincially legislated Green Belt Plan area. The study and then designation of the appropriate portions of the corridor will be an important step in recognizing and enhancing the diversity and importance that the Corridor has for Niagara as a whole. A Federal designation signifies an “honorific recognition”.

The area that is eventually designated will be commemorated with a bronze plaque. There will be no legal obligations or requirements by the owner(s) of any of the Canal lands that are designated. The designation also has no permitting or approval process for work on the designated area. It is significant, however, that designation often makes Federal funding available.

It is important to note that municipalities have no land use jurisdiction over federal lands. Care will be taken during the Cultural Landscape Study, which is outlined on page 3 of this Agreement, to differentiate between the current operating canal of the SLSMC and the three historic canals to enable a clear decision to be made concerning the lands to be designated.

The Welland Canal was recognized by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC) in 1924, and has been validated a number of times, as an event. In the fall of 2009, ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013

Appendix I Page 11 of 181

the most recent recommendation that was submitted to the HSMBC considered the first through third canals as ‘relict landscapes’ (relict landscapes represent the end of an evolutionary process, leaving behind material features), and the fourth canal as a ‘continuing landscape’ (continuing landscape represents an ongoing but evolutionary process that exhibits traditional ways of life in a contemporary fashion and leaves significant material evidence of its continuing evolution).

The last attempt at designation of the entire corridor in 2009 was held in abeyance by the HSMBC as Transport Canada/SLMSC was concerned that the current operating canal could potentially be impacted by the recognition. The HSMBC stated that prior to future consideration of designation, the major parties must agree about the designated areas. It is anticipated that the Cultural Landscape Study and ongoing discussions with Transport Canada will provide that clarity.

2. Goals:

Successful implementation of this document will mean that: There will be support of all parties for the proposed designation, The parties support access to all heritage landscape sites wherever and whenever private land along the Canals as well as the working Canal operations are not jeopardized, compromised or put at risk, The public’s awareness of the Welland Canal Corridor will be recognized and fostered through access to federal and provincial funding opportunities, which promote tourism and creative reuse of the relict components of the Corridor, Protection of heritage and archaeology will occur along the designated Corridor, and not interfering with SLSMC operations, Partnerships of public, private and non-profit organizations are encouraged and supported to steward the scenic, historic, natural, cultural, recreational, landscapes of the Welland Canal Corridor, Interpretive signage, preservation or restoration of historic elements will be developed, Recreational uses, increased tourist investment, increased commercial investment, and residential and mixed-use infill development will occur in appropriate locations along the Corridor, and Development of a continuous theme along the corridor is encouraged even though decisions on land use are a municipal responsibility.

3. Purpose and Scope:

The purpose and scope of the Memorandum of Understanding is to set forth: Expectations of all parties in the study and federal designation process, Agreement of the geographic boundaries of the Corridor designation as outlined in the maps that will be part of the revised submission to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013

Appendix I Page 12 of 181

Local municipalities, in consultation with all the partners, will determine which activities can occur within the Corridor from recreational, economic, planning and heritage preservation perspectives, on land for which the local municipalities have land use jurisdiction, The SLSMC will have full control over its operations of the 4th Canal and its evolution including locks and spillways.

4. Roles and Responsibilities of Signatories:

Niagara Region and the local municipalities will seek the federal HSMBC designation of the mutually agreed to Welland Canal Corridor, Communications to the public of the nature and boundaries of the designation will be the responsibility of the Region and the local municipalities, The Region, the local municipalities and the SLSMC agree to appoint representatives to a working group for the purpose of creating a management plan after the designation with the working group to conclude in 2012 in accordance with the resolution of Regional Council, The Region will work with local municipalities, the public and stakeholders, particularly the SLSMC, to complete a “Cultural Landscape Study” on the Welland Canal Corridor, The Region will undertake consultations for the purpose of securing public comment on the conservation, management and operational issues associated with the federal designation and the Welland Canal Corridor “Cultural Landscape Study”. The Region in consultation with local municipalities, the SLSMC, the public and stakeholders will develop a Regional Policy Plan Amendment, including public notice and at least one statutory public meeting as required under the Planning Act. As with other planning applications, there also is an opportunity to appeal the decision of Regional Council subject to meeting administrative and legislative requirements. Municipalities do not have land use jurisdiction over federally owned lands. Care will be taken to ensure that the proposed Regional policies reflect this. As a result, while the policies in the proposed Amendment could affect private property owners for lands within or adjacent to the Welland Canal Corridor, they will not compromise or interfere with the SLSMC’s operations of the 4th Canal, including locks and spillways.

5. Communication and Involvement:

The Welland Canal Working Group will make every attempt to find a suitable compromise that will allow the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada and the Ministry of the Environment to approve the designation prior to the Bicentennial celebration in 2012, Communication and notice of public access changes will be a joint responsibility of the Region and the local municipalities, SLSMC will inform all parties of operational changes in advance.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013

Appendix I Page 13 of 181

6. Duration:

This MOU shall remain in effect until such time as replaced by an updated MOU (if any) that may result from the mandatory Review that would take place no more than two years from the effective date of this MOU, and The mandatory Review, as conducted by the Welland Canal Working Group, shall be overseen by Regional Council with any final recommended changes being subject to full agreement by all signatories hereto.

7. Definitions:

Operating Canal: In total, four Welland Canals have been built between 1824 and 1932 with the first three now considered heritage canals which no longer function as working canals and with sections abandoned, covered over or used for recreation. The fourth Welland Canal, the operating canal, is a commercial canal that moves approximately 40,000,000 metric tonnes of cargo annually by over 3,000 ocean and lake vessels. The canal utilizes water and gravity to lift and lower ships in a watertight chamber called a . The canal is about 43.4 kilometres in length and includes seven lift locks and one guard lock that bring commercial and recreational vessels up 99.36 meters from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. One can view the operations of the fourth Welland Canal from numerous vantage points along the canal.

Honorific Recognition: The Federal heritage designation is a tribute of distinction and does not place additional requirements on the property(s). By commemorating the site with a bronze plaque, it provides communities with the opportunity to build awareness, understanding and support of their cultural heritage resources.

Cultural Landscape Study: As landscapes have evolved over time, and as human activity has changed, they have acquired many layers of meaning that can be analysed through historical, archaeological, geographical and sociological study. Although the HSMBC does not have approved guidelines for determining national significance of cultural landscapes, they identified twelve broad elements that often constitute a cultural landscape. They are: land use; land patterns; scale; landforms; spatial organization; built features; circulation; viewscapes; traditional knowledge and practices; ecosystems; vegetation; and water features.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013

Appendix I Page 14 of 181

Signatures

The following signatures represent the endorsement of this Memorandum of Understanding by the respective parties:

Town of ______Niagara-on-the-Lake Lord Mayor Clerk

City of Port Colborne ______Mayor Clerk

City of St. Catharines ______Mayor Clerk

City of Thorold ______Mayor Clerk

Township of Wainfleet ______Mayor Clerk

City of Welland ______Mayor Clerk

Region al Municipality ______of Niagara Chair Clerk

Ontario Power Generation ______

St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation

______

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Welland Canal Cultural Heritage Landscape Appendix I Page 15 of 181 N

Niagara-on-the-Lake ("Old Town") Legend

First Through 4th Welland Canal + Feeder Canal

Welland Canal Cultural NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE Heritage Landscape QEW HWY Major Highways GRIMSBY ST. CATHARINES Major Roads

Municipal Boundaries

LINCOLN

THOROLD

WEST LINCOLN PELHAM NIAGARA FALLS

WELLAND

WAINFLEET FORT ERIE PORT COLBORNE

0 2.5 5 10 Km

© 2013 Niagara Region and its suppliers. Projection is UTM, NAD 83, Zone 17. This map was compiled from various data sources and is current as of July 2013. Niagara Region makes no representations or warranties whatsoever, either expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, reliability, currency or otherwise of the information shown on this map. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 16 of 181

WELLAND CANAL CULTURAL LANDSCAPE STUDY

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 17 of 181

WELLAND CANAL CULTURAL LANDSCAPE STUDY October 2012

Prepared for: The Niagara Region

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 18 of 181 Project Supervisor: Stephen Bedford, MCIP, RPP

Primary Author and Project Coordinator: Kristina K. Martens, Heritage Consultant, BA, Candidate for Diploma Heritage Conservation, Willowbank School for Restoration Arts

Secondary Author: Rene Ressler, a local canal enthusiast who grew up in St. Catharines exploring the abandoned canal remnants. During a four-year period he took over four hundred people on educational walking tours of the canals. Rene kindly documented his knowledge of the physical components associated with the Welland Canal with the addition of some local lore for colour.

Maps: John Docker, Planning Technician, Community and Corporate Planning, Niagara Region

The Welland Canal Working Group: Regional Councillor Bruce Timms Jack Bernardi, City of Thorold Peggy Boyle, Niagara Falls Steve Burman, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation Danielle DeFields, Niagara Region Regional Councillor Barbara Greenwood Bruce Hodgson, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation Regional Councillor April Jeffs Shannon Larocque, City of Port Colborne Grant Munday, Township of Wainfleet Christine Rossetto, City of Welland Leah Wallace, Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake Brittany Williamson, City of St. Catharines

Thank you to Tom Whitelaw of the Canadian Canal Society for generously spending time sharing his love and deep knowledge of these magnificent engineering works.

My deepest thanks also go to Simon Bentall, Allen Kovak, and Adam Martens for reviewing this study.

Work on this report was completed between May 2012 and October 2012. This is a part history with the purpose of understanding of the Welland Canal Corridor as a cultural landscape.

Cover Image: Joseph Henry Harris, born in St. Austell, Cornwall in 1878. Before immigrating to Canada he had been in the merchant marine in England, and so it was a great pleasure for him to sit by the canal and watch the ships pass through. After a second career in Northern Ontario he retired with family to St. Catharines. In this photo, circa 1950, he sits outside a souvenir stand on a bollard by the Welland Canal. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 19 of 181 Courtesy Gayle Henwood, a Niagara-on-the-Lake resident and Joseph’s granddaughter. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 20 of 181 Table of Contents

List of Figures ...... i List of Maps...... vi Purpose of the Study ...... vii Study Methodology ...... vii Executive Summary...... 1 Introduction ...... 4 Defining ‘Cultural Landscape’ ...... 5 Welland Canal Context ...... 7 Geographic Location of the Welland Canal ...... 7 and the Political and Economic Beginnings of the Welland Canal ...... 8 A Brief Evolution of the Welland Canal ...... 12 Components of the Welland Canal ...... 14 Historic and Technological Evolution of Canals...... 98 Historic Development in Relation to Other Canals...... 98 The Welland Canal: An Engineering Feat ...... 100 The Welland Canal Compared to Other Prominent Canals ...... 101 ...... 101 ...... 101 Lachine Canal ...... 102 Panama Canal ...... 102 Economic Drivers ...... 105 Early Industry and Commercial Activity ...... 105 Building the Welland Canal ...... 105 Continuing Commercial Activity: The St. Lawrence Seaway ...... 117 Port Dalhousie: The recreational hub ...... 118 Redevelopment of Inactive Canals ...... 120 Social Implications ...... 121 A Piece of the Past Continuing Well into the Future ...... 121 The Canal Builders ...... 121 A Part of People’s Lives ...... 125 Canadia ...... 126 Federal Commemoration ...... 127 Designations of the Welland Canal ...... 128 Community Perspectives of the Welland Canal ...... 129 Niagara Regional Economic Development Corporation ...... 133 Canal Namesakes ...... 133 Physical Landscape and Boundaries ...... 135 Physical Landscape ...... 135 Definition of Boundaries ...... 137 Conclusion ...... 138 ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 21 of 181 Statement of Significance ...... 142 Description ...... 142 Key Heritage Values ...... 142 Character-Defining Elements ...... 142 Appendix A: Historical vs. Current City Names ...... 144 Appendix B: How a Canal Operates ...... 146 Appendix C: Designations Associated with the Welland Canals ...... 147 Federal ...... 147 Municipal Heritage Designation ...... 149

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 22 of 181

List of Figures

Image 1: Site of buried Lock 1, first Welland Canal...... 14 Image 2: First Welland Canal, Lock 1, Excavated portion of East lock wall...... 15 Image 3: First Welland Canal, Lock 1, Excavated portion of West lock wall...... 15 Image 4: First Welland Canal, Lock 1, Excavated portion of East lock wall...... 15 Image 5: First Welland Canal, Lock 1, Excavated mortise and tenon joint, East lock wall...... 15 Image 6: North Pier, first Welland Canal...... 16 Image 7: “Kelly” painting of “Annie and Jane” and crowds watching...... 16 Image 8: Lock 1, second Welland Canal, early 20th-century...... 17 Image 9: Lock 1, second Welland Canal circa 1900 also shows hand operated gate winches...... 18 Image 10: Second canal era hand operated gate winch held at Lock 3 Museum, St. Catharines...... 19 Image 11: Lock 1, Second Welland Canal, Facing West...... 19 Image 12: Lock 1, Second Welland Canal, Facing North...... 19 Image 13: Port Dalhousie Gaol, East view...... 20 Image 14: Welland Vale Manufacturing...... 24 Image 15: Welland Vale, just South of Lock 2 on the second Welland Canal...... 25 Image 16: West wall of Lock 2, second Welland Canal, North View...... 25 Image 17: West wall of Lock 2, second Welland Canal South View...... 25 Image 18: Remnant of first Welland Canal, Welland Vale Road, South view...... 26 Image 19: Bridge spanning remnant of first Welland Canal, view from intersection facing east...... 26 Image 20: Shickluna Shipyard, circa 1870s...... 27 Image 21: Shickluna Shipyard Annex...... 27 Image 22: Fire Training Tower, former site of Shickluna Shipyard, from Burgoyne Bridge, Northwest view...... 27 Image 23: Remnants of Glenridge Bridge, South view from parking lot of 2 St. Paul Street...... 28 Image 24: Remnants of Glenridge Bridge, Southeast view...... 28 Image 25: Remnants of Glenridge Bridge, Northwest view...... 28 Image 26: Remnants of Glenridge Bridge, South view...... 28 Image 27: Remnants of Glenridge Bridge, Northeast view...... 28 Image 28: Canada Hair Cloth Building, Filled in hydraulic raceway behind Canada Hair Cloth, West view...... 29 Image 29: Canada Hair Cloth Building, Filled in hydraulic raceway, below St. Paul Street, West view. .... 29 Image 30: Canada Hair Cloth Building, Location of buried first and second Welland Canal, lower level parking lot, East view...... 30 Image 31: Canal Valley East showing location of Lock 3 ruin, view from pedestrian walkway over Hwy 406...... 30 Image 32: Southeast wall of Lock 3, Second Welland Canal, South view...... 31 Image 33: Southeast wall of Lock 3, Second Welland Canal, North view...... 31 Image 34: Former site of Lock 4, Second Welland Canal, North view...... 32 Image 35: Concrete capped lock wall, Lock 6, first Welland Canal, Centennial Gardens...... 34 ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 23 of 181

Image 36: South entrance of Lock 5, West view (left) and North view (right)...... 35 Image 37: Panorama, present day probable location of Simpson Shipyard at Lock 5, Southeast view. ... 36 Image 38: Simpson's Yard Advertisement...... 36 Image 39: Remains of foundation of the Canada Knife Works, Merritton...... 38 Image 40: Panorama, East wall, Lock 6...... 39 Image 41: Lock 6, South view from downbound East lock wall...... 40 Image 42: Lock 6, number stone, East lock wall, downbound end of lock...... 40 Image 43: Lock 7, South view from West lock wall, downbound end of lock...... 40 Image 44: Lock 7, North view, from pedestrian bridge...... 40 Image 45: Lock 8, upbound/South view from East bank...... 41 Image 46: Lock 10, crack in upbound wall, west lock wall...... 41 Image 47: Johansson’s Bar Display, overtop buried second Welland Canal channel, Glendale Avenue. .. 44 Image 48: Top of lock wall, Lock 14, before construction cover...... 44 Image 49: Lock 15, second Welland Canal, North view...... 45 Image 50: Location of turning Basin and entrance to “Neptune’s Staircase”, Lock 16 in background...... 45 Image 51: Lock 16, North wall, West view...... 46 Image 52: Ruin of weir structure, North of Lock 16, East view...... 47 Image 53: Excavated Lock 24, first Welland Canal, 1988...... 48 Image 54: Site of buried Lock 24, first Welland Canal, East view...... 48 Image 55: Bridge over surviving section of first Welland Canal, Ball Avenue West and Merritt Street. ... 49 Image 56: Aerial view of Locks 21 to 16, circa 1921...... 50 Image 57: Top of “Neptune’s Staircase” at Lock 21, present day Bradley Street, left of the lock, West view...... 50 Image 58: Present day sites of Locks 22 and 23, second Welland Canal, South view...... 54 Image 59: Present day site of Lock 24, Second Welland Canal, South view...... 55 Image 60: Lock 25, Second Welland canal, Battle of Beaverdams Park, Thorold, North view...... 55 Image 61: Port Robinson River Lock, West view...... 56 Image 62: Port Robinson River Lock, circa 1914, West view...... 56 Image 63: Port Robinson River Lock, circa 1924...... 57 Image 64: Port Robinson River Lock, circa 1966...... 57 Image 65: Third Welland Canal and aqueduct with second Canal aqueduct in the bottom right, Northeast view, circa 1917...... 60 Image 66: Second Welland Canal aqueduct, west wall, South...... 60 Image 67: Junction Lock, Welland, East view and plaque...... 62 Image 68: Panorama, Lock 27, East lock wall...... 63 Image 69: Period postcard depicting Lock 27 of the second and third Welland Canals, North West view...... 63 Image 70: Ship approaching Lock 2, across Martindale Pond circa 1920s...... 65 Image 71: Inner Range Lighthouse, North view...... 67 Image 72: Outer Range Lighthouse, Northeast view...... 67 Image 73: Muir Brother's Shipyard and Dry Dock, circa 1920, North view from tow path...... 68 Image 74: Former offices of Muir Bros. Shipyard...... 68 ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 24 of 181

Image 75: Entrance to former Muir Bros. dry dock, East view...... 68 Image 76: Lock 1, West wall and downbound lock gate...... 69 Image 77: Lock 1, Lock gate winch gearing, West wall...... 69 Image 78: Lock 1, gate operation mechanism, West lock wall...... 69 Image 79: Downbound end of Lock 1, Remaining gate hinge hardware, East wall...... 69 Image 80: Lock 2, downbound view...... 70 Image 81: Bollard with steel cable still attached and running through the ground, east lock wall ...... 70 Image 82: Lock 4, North view...... 73 Image 83: Site of Lock 5, Sheridan Park School field, South view...... 74 Image 84 Site of Lock 6, 311 Geneva Street, North view...... 75 Image 85: Site of Lock 7, Doncaster Blvd. and Carlton Street, North view...... 75 Image 86: Site of Lock 8, Franklin Blvd, North view...... 75 Image 87: Site of Lock 9, Franklin Blvd and Bunting Road, South view...... 75 Image 88: Site of Lock 10, Victoria Lawn Cemetery, black van is approx. centre of lock chamber, Northwest view...... 75 Image 89: Remnants of rail bridge over 3rd canal, Scott St., South view...... 76 Image 90: Remnants of rail bridge over 3rd canal, Scott St., North view...... 76 Image 91: Lock 12, downbound/North view...... 80 Image 92: Weir and submerged weir footings for Lock 11 Weir...... 80 Image 93: Lock 13, downbound/North view, from East lock wall...... 81 Image 94: Lock 14, upbound West lock gate recess, near collapse, circa 2012...... 81 Image 95: Abandoned East entrance to pedestrian/horse drawn vehicle tunnel beneath Lock 16, tunnel is backfilled and sealed, West view...... 82 Image 96: Turntable for former steam operated swivel bridge/present day CN Rail Bridge...... 82 Image 97: Lock 18, upbound/South view from East lock wall...... 82 Image 98: Michigan Central Tunnel, Under construction, circa late 1870s...... 83 Image 99: Michigan Central Tunnel, East tunnel entrance, circa 1918...... 83 Image 100: Michigan Central Tunnel, West tunnel entrance, circa 1900...... 84 Image 101: Michigan Central Tunnel, West tunnel entrance, circa 2010, East view...... 84 Image 102: Lock 20, downbound/Northeast view, only visible when present canal is dewatered during winter lay-up...... 84 Image 103: Lock 20, upbound/Southwest view, only visible when present canal is dewatered during winter lay-up, Lock 6 of present canal in background...... 85 Image 104: Lock 22, upbound/South view from East lock wall...... 86 Image 105: Lock 23, East lock wall, East view...... 86 Image 106: Lock 25, plugged lock approach entrance, Lock 25 waste weir structure in background right (now a footbridge), upbound/Southwest view...... 87 Image 107: Third Welland Canal Aqueduct, circa 1880s...... 89 Image 108: Third Welland Canal Aqueduct, early 1900s, Southeast view...... 89 Image 109: Lock 26, North view...... 90 Image 110: Lock 26, Southeast view...... 90 Image 111: Italian labourers building construction railway near Lock 2, circa 1915...... 94 ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 25 of 181

Image 112: Article from Popular Mechanics, August 1929...... 104 Image 113: Government Elevator and Maple Leaf Flour Mill, Port Colborne at East and West sides of the South terminus of the Canal, circa 1920...... 107 Image 114: Robin Hood Flour Mill, West bank, third Canal at Ramey’s Bend...... 107 Image 115: 1871, Hutchinson’s Mill looking East, second Welland Canal...... 107 Image 116: Red Mill constructed 1882 at Lock 4 on the second Canal, had a water wheel installed. It was later purchased by Packard Electric who produced incandescent lamps after converting the building, during the war years. It was converted again to a war munitions plant, demolished 1965...... 108 Image 117: Phelps Mill in Merritton at Lock 8 on the second Welland Canal. Two brothers Noah and Orson built this sawmill in 1850 but it burnt down in 1888...... 108 Image 118: Lybster Mill, originally Gordon MacKay's Cotton Mill, then the Canadian Coloured Mills and then Lybster Mill. Finally this building was sold again to Lincoln Paper Mills. It has been redeveloped recently into a multi-use building with Johnny Rocco’s Restaurant, Stone Mill Inn, and a Spa...... 109 Image 119: Beaver Cotton Mills, Merritton, established 1856, one of the first major textile factories in the city. Produced yarn, batting and wadding. Later owned by Independent Rubber Co. purchased in 1912 to produce boots. At one point it was used as storage by Domtar Paper. This is now the site of The Keg Steakhouse and Bar developed by Nino Donatelli...... 110 Image 120: Welland Mills, Thorold, this former flour mill considered the largest in former , has been redeveloped into a multi-use commercial and residential building with eight street townhouses added...... 111 Image 121: Riordan Paper Mill built in 1867. This was one of the first mills to introduce sulphate pulp processing in 1875. This is noteworthy because all the local wood sources had been exhausted and this novel technology allowed softwood timber from the Canadian Shield to be processed. The Riordan Mill was a pioneer in the mass production of inexpensive paper. John Riordan died in 1883 and his brother Charles took over ownership...... 111 Image 122: Kinleith Paper Co...... 112 Image 123: Ontario Paper Mill Company...... 112 Image 124: Interlake Paper Mill, later Kimberly-Clark...... 112 Image 125: Montrose Paper Mill, later Provincial Paper...... 112 Image 126: Shickluna Shipyard...... 113 Image 127: Poster advertising Barnes Winery...... 115 Image 128: A Barnes Royal Port label...... 115 Image 129: Taylor & Bate Brewery...... 115 Image 130: Canada Hair Cloth Company building...... 116 Image 131: Maple Leaf Rubber Company, now Lincoln Fabrics, with Canadian Henley Regatta Course in foreground...... 116 Image 132: Present day Lincoln Fabrics...... 117 Image 133: Caption reads, “On the Beach, Port Dalhousie, Ont., Canada.” The ship can be seen in the distance heading back to ...... 119 Image 134: A view of Lakeside Park...... 119 Image 135: Caption reads, “Awaiting the Racers, Finishing Line, Canadian Henley Regatta Course. Port Dalhousie (near St. Catharines), Ontario, Canada.” ...... 119 ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 26 of 181

Image 136: Caption reads, “Looking North from Grand Stand, showing crowd watching Local Regatta Races, Port Dalhousie, Ont." ...... 120 Image 137: Scottish stonemasons and rough stone for third Welland Canal, circa 1880s...... 124 Image 138: Scottish stonemasons dressing stone blocks for third Welland Canal, circa 1880s...... 125 Image 139: Children with the Welland Canal flight locks at Canadia and under construction...... 127 Image 140: City of Thorold pictographic map, using the ship, which is also larger than any other object on the map, to bear the City’s name...... 130 Image 141: Kids swimming in the Canal during Port Colborne ...... 132 Image 142: Picture of Feeder Canal from Wainfleet website...... 133 Image 143: The impressive height of a sailing ship going through the third Canal route (a waste weir in the foreground)...... 135 Image 144: Westchester Bridge...... 136 Image 145: Glenridge Bridge at Lock 3...... 136 Image 146: Concrete poles being raised to carry wires over the Canal...... 137

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 27 of 181

List of Maps

Map 1: The St. Lawrence Seaway...... 7 Map 2: Niagara Region and Welland Canals...... 8 Map 3: Port Dalhousie Section, first and second Welland Canals...... 14 Map 4: The Welland Canal Valley Section of the first and second Welland Canal...... 21 Map 5: Centennial Gardens/Merritton Locks Park section of the first and second Welland Canal...... 33 Map 6: "Neptune's Staircase": The Mountain Locks Section of the first and second Welland Canal...... 42 Map 7: Thorold/Allanburg/Port Robinson section of the first and second Welland Canal...... 51 Map 8: Welland/Port Colborne sections of the first and second Welland Canal...... 58 Map 9: Port Dalhousie section of the third Welland Canal...... 64 Map 10: Grantham Township section of the third Welland Canal...... 71 Map 11: Escarpment/Summit section of the third Welland Canal...... 77 Map 12: Welland/Port Colborne section of the third Welland Canal...... 88 Map 13: Lands acquired for the proposed fifth Welland Canal...... 97 Map 14: 1876 Map of Welland and Lincoln Counties...... 105

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 28 of 181

Purpose of the Study

This study has followed from a recommendation by the National Historic Sites and Monument Board to the Niagara Region. The recommendation indicated taking a cultural landscape approach to the Welland Canal with the understanding this would be more useful than a prior plan to designate specific locations along the route.1 As such, the purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of the Welland Canal Corridor as a whole through a cultural landscape approach. This study will feed into the application for designation as a National Historic Site.

Study Methodology

This is not the first study completed on the Welland Canal. Studies dating back to the 1960’s are held by the Niagara Region. These studies have been examined to gain an understanding of prior approaches. To gain an understanding of the past attitudes towards the Canals news and magazine publications and local obituaries with mention of the Canals were investigated. Additional sources consulted include local histories, postcards, photos, and conversations with canal enthusiast, Rene Ressler and retired Niagara Region planner, Canadian Canal Society member, Thomas Whitelaw and Simon Bentall, historian for the City of Welland.

To avoid any confusion between the common names for each Canal period (ie. Old Welland Canal, New Welland Canal, Welland ) the Canal numbered name will be used (i.e. first Welland Canal). When the term Welland is omitted it will be assumed the canal referred to is the Welland Canal, i.e. first Canal. The plural, Welland Canals, will always be in reference to all four canals, while the singular will refer to the entire Welland Canal Corridor. As will be discussed in the Introduction, rather than viewing the Canals as four distinct entities, they should be understood as the development of technology along one canal.

1 Presentation to Niagara Region, 22 Sept 2009. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 29 of 181

Executive Summary

The Welland Canal has four distinct periods defined by these changes in the system, whether technology, route or ownership. The earliest Canal through the was built between 1824 and 1833 by the Welland Canal Company headed by William Hamilton Merritt. This Canal was built to replace the Portage Route that had existed along the . In the 1840s, the Government of Canada West purchased the Canal from the Welland Canal Company. They made improvements and reduced the number of locks along the route. This is commonly referred to as the second Welland Canal. The third Welland Canal was built between 1872 and 1887 with increased locks. The fourth Canal, operated by the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (formerly the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority) since 1959, was built in stages between 1913 and 1932 to make the entire route of the St. Lawrence way uniform in size.

For each of these periods of the Welland Canals are commonly understood as four distinct canals. In studying this place from a cultural landscape perspective it is important to consider the World Heritage Committee (WHC) understanding that, “One distinctive feature of the canal as a heritage element is its evolution over time. This is linked to how it was used during different periods and the associated technological changes the canal underwent.” An important understanding of the Welland Canal is that each canal that has been built and used as a component of a complete system; a system that has evolved over time due to its continued use for commercial shipping.

Cultural landscape provides an understanding of places and heritage beyond the built forms. The definition of cultural landscapes is evolving; therefore the term has been defined in many ways. At its essence cultural landscapes are places where “the rituals – the intangible experiences of a place – and the artefacts – the tangible frameworks and the objects that sustain the rituals – are in equilibrium. We can observe the artefacts, but we have to experience the rituals in order to fully understand the place.”2 The Standards and Guideline for the Conservation of Historic Places criteria of a cultural landscape are, “Any geographical area that has been modified, influenced or given special cultural meaning by people, and that has been formally recognized for its heritage value [and] are often dynamic, living entities that continually change because of natural and human-influenced social economic and cultural processes.”3

Cultural landscapes that are of value are those that should be protected. To determine the value of the Welland Canal is the WHC definition was used. From their standpoint a canal’s value is defined as, “It may be of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history or technology, either intrinsically or as an exceptional example representative of this category of cultural property. The canal may be a monumental work, the defining features of a linear cultural landscape, or an integral component of a complex cultural landscape.”4

2 Smith, Julian. Marrying the old with the new in historic urban landscapes. “Managing Historic Cities.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, September 2010. 3 Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada. A Federal, Provincial and Territorial Collaboration. Second Edition, Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2010.

4 UNESCO, Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, Eighteenth Session, 12-17 December 1994. Information Document on Heritage Canals. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 30 of 181

The Welland Canal is most significant for being the steepest climb a canal any in the world must make. According to Welland Canal scholar and historian, John N. Jackson, “In no other country are large ocean- going vessel taken over a slope as abrupt and steep as the Niagara Escarpment.” It is also significant that the Welland Canal is one of the few Canadian canals that continue to be used for its original purpose, both as a source of water for industries along its route and for commercial shipping. This continued use has necessitated many changes throughout the system.

The Welland Canal stands apart from many well recognized canals - the Rideau, the Lachine and the Panama – as a magnificent feat of engineering from the first route to the current operating route. No other canal is required to make such as steep lift. As well it has remained a relevant shipping route as part of the St. Lawrence Seaway system due to its position on the and proximity to the . Not only does it connect the Eastern Seaboard to the Western Provinces, it also has had a great impact through its history on the economy of the Niagara Peninsula.

The presence of a canal in the Niagara Peninsula has had a direct influence on the growth and pattern of development for many communities in Niagara. Industries such as flour, rye, corn milling, lumber mills, the pulp and paper industry, shipbuilding and repairs, beer and wine making and power generation have all been made possible because of the accessible, consistent water supply provided by the Welland Canal. The roads and railways patterns have all developed based from the Canal from where bridges cross and the direction of the grid. This unconventional pattern still exists in many of the communities.

Several generations of people have been involved in the building of the Welland Canal, from the initial route built of oak timber, the second and third routes built of stone and the fourth route built of concrete. Work was advertised around the Peninsula and in Britain. The stories of Canal building centre on the Scottish stonemason and Irish labourers. Presumably with more intensive research other nationalities of immigrants may have had a role in the building of the Canal. A few people are remembered by name, such as John Haggart Sr. and The Honourable Alexander Mackenzie, while the thousands of others have left only the Canal components that remain throughout the municipalities of St. Catharines, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Falls, Thorold, Wainfleet, Welland and Port Colborne.

Although the turning of the first sod has been commemorated the value of the Welland Canal and its impact on the way people experience of the Niagara Penisula is much greater than this one event. It is important that the Welland Canal be understood as a multitude of complex components that have evolved over time to ensure continued operation as a mode of transportation and as a feature of the municipalities it crosses through. The Welland Canal is a landmark of great value as many places both designated and common reference their proximity to the Welland Canal and when residents and visitors alike navigate the area crossing over the Canal is a key part of the experience.

To determine the boundaries of the Welland Canal cultural landscape, the criteria from The Cultural Landscapes of the Rideau Canal Corridor: Part II Study are taken as precedent. These criteria are:

○ “boundary definition should facilitate Corridor management; ○ boundary definition should ensure inclusion of cultural landscapes whose development is directly and strongly associated with the Canal itself; ○ boundary definition should ensure inclusion of relatively whole landscape patterns and units; ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 31 of 181

○ boundary definition should acknowledge existing Corridor identity where this exists in the regions' communities.”5

Thus the boundaries of the Welland Canal the whole of the municipality that it crosses through - St. Catharines, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Falls, Thorold, Wainfleet, Welland and Port Colborne.

5 Stoval, Herb et al. The Cultural Landscapes of the Rideau Canal Corridor: Part II Study. The Institute for Heritage Study Team, March 1998. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 32 of 181

Introduction

The World Heritage Committee (WHC) defines a canal as,

“a human-engineered waterway. It may be of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history or technology, either intrinsically or as an exceptional example representative of this category of cultural property. The canal may be a monumental work, the defining features of a linear cultural landscape, or an integral component of a complex cultural landscape.”6

An important understanding brought forth by the WHC is that “one distinctive feature of the canal as a heritage element is its evolution over time. This is linked to how it was used during different periods and the associated technological changes the canal underwent.” The Welland Canal has four distinct periods each from a different era of the evolution of canal technology. Commonly, the Canal is considered as four separate Canals rather than components of a complete system. However the Welland Canal is unique in Canada as it must make the steepest change in elevation over the shortest distance to surmount the Niagara Escarpment and as technology developed, better paths were able to straighten the route. Unlike other Canals, when technology advanced each prior era was erased, this canal has maintained features from each period of canal technology dating back to the initial construction in 1824.

The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the cultural landscape characteristics of the Welland Canal and its potential national significance. This study will first define cultural landscape. Then, following the WHC standards for evaluating the significance of canals, it will look at the significance of the Welland Canal through an examination of 1) the location, physical landscape and boundaries; 2) the technological evolution and remaining Canal components; 3) the economic drivers, primarily industry and commercial shipping; and 4) the social context. This will show how the Welland Canal is both a monumental work and a defining feature of a linear cultural landscape.

6 UNESCO, Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, Eighteenth Session, 12-17 December 1994. Information Document on Heritage Canals. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 33 of 181

Defining ‘Cultural Landscape’

According to the WHC a cultural landscape approach is key way to understanding canals. There are currently many ways to define the term cultural landscape and the understanding of cultural landscapes is continually evolving. Several definitions follow as a means of understanding in a broader sense the essence of a cultural landscape approach.

Carl Sauer, an American geographer, said in 1926, “a cultural landscape is fashioned from a natural landscape by a cultural group. Culture is the agent, the natural area is the medium, the cultural landscape is the result.”

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) definition, “The term "cultural landscape" embraces a diversity of manifestations of the interaction between humankind and its natural environment. Cultural landscapes often reflect specific techniques of sustainable land-use, considering the characteristics and limits of the natural environment they are established in, and a specific spiritual relation to nature. Protection of cultural landscapes can contribute to modern techniques of sustainable land-use and can maintain or enhance natural values in the landscape. The continued existence of traditional forms of land-use supports biological diversity in many regions of the world. The protection of traditional cultural landscapes is therefore helpful in maintaining biological diversity.” ---1992 World Heritage Convention.

Ontario’s Provincial Policy Statement includes the definition of a cultural landscape as, “A defined geographical area of heritage significance which has been modified by human activities and is valued by a community. It involves a grouping of individual heritage features such as structures, spaces, archaeological sites and natural elements, which together form a significant type of heritage form, distinctive from that of its constituent elements or parts.” ---March 5, 2005.

Provincial Standards and Guidelines for dealing with provincial heritage properties are set out by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. The Ministry does not yet have a clear internal framework for dealing with cultural heritage landscapes.

The Canadian Register of Historic Places is a collaborative initiative of the Federal, Provincial and Territorial governments set up “to enable Canadians to recognize, celebrate and protect historic places today and for future generations.”7 They recognize the complex nature of defining cultural landscapes and explain, “No fixed universal definition of cultural landscapes exists. In general, though, the application of this concept consists of two elements: the geographical location (landscape), a real, tangible place; and the impressions, beliefs, and rituals (cultural) associated with that place. Cultural landscapes can vary in size ranging from a street to an entire town, to a vast migration corridor. Identifying a cultural landscape is to recognize the complex relationship humans had or continue to have with the places they create and occupy. The value of this method for protecting the character of a defined landscape lies in its potential to integrate multiple perspectives about a place, bring together many different stakeholders as

7 http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/pages/about-apropos.aspx, accessed 1 June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 34 of 181

well as acknowledge the traditional methods of stewardship which best promote sustainable land- use practices.”8 ---sometime after 2001, exact date unknown.

The Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places, a document produced by the Canada’s Historic Places, defines cultural landscape as, “Any geographical area that has been modified, influenced or given special cultural meaning by people, and that has been formally recognized for its heritage value. Cultural landscapes are often dynamic, living entities that continually change because of natural and human-influenced social economic and cultural processes.”9 --- 2nd Edition, released February 25, 2011.

Julian Smith, Executive Director at Willowbank and Principal of Julian Smith & Associates Architects describes, “A cultural landscape of value is one where the rituals – the intangible experiences of a place – and the artefacts – the tangible frameworks and objects that sustain the rituals – are in equilibrium. We can observe the artefacts, but we have to experience the rituals in order to fully understand the place.”10 (September 2010). This idea of connecting both the artefacts and the rituals will prove necessary to the future of the Welland Canal.

With these definitions in mind this report applies a cultural landscape approach to the study of the Welland Canal Corridor. This is imbedded in the research undertaken and the resulting understanding.

8 “Canada’s Cultural Landscapes.” Canadian Register of Historic Places: A Federal, Provincial and Territorial Collaboration. Parks Canada Agency. n.d. Web. 1 June 2012. 9 Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada. A Federal, Provincial and Territorial Collaboration. Second Edition, Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2010. Print. 10 Smith, Julian. Marrying the old with the new in historic urban landscapes. “Managing Historic Cities.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, September 2010. Print.

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Welland Canal Context

Geographic Location of the Welland Canal

Apart from a lock on the Red River in Manitoba, Canadian canals are concentrated in Eastern half of Canada.11 The Canals are a critical component to shipping goods from the Atlantic Ocean through the Great Lakes to the Prairies and back. The route through the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes has been used to access the Upper Great Lakes area as early as the 1600s. Since 1959, the route has been managed by the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC), who unified the system.

The Welland Canals are part of the waterway managed by SLSMC and provide access to the Upper Great Lakes through the Niagara Region of Ontario in Canada. They travel Northward, connecting Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The primary municipalities of the Niagara Region that the Welland Canal crosses through are St. Catharines, Thorold, Welland, Port Colborne and Wainfleet and as far as Haldimand County.

Map 1: The St. Lawrence Seaway.12

11 Jackson, John N. and Fred A. Addis. The Welland Canals: A Comprehensive Guide. Lincoln Graphics, St, Catharines, Ontario, 1982, page 2. Print. 12 Jenish, D’Arcy. “Inland Superhighway.” Canadian Geographic. January 2009. Web. 1 June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 36 of 181

Map 2: Niagara Region and Welland Canals.

For centuries man has needed to move goods from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie and the natural place for this shipping was along the Niagara River which connects the two Great Lakes. Yet, the rapids, whirlpool and the massive Niagara Falls make this an enormous task. So a portage route was established to transfer goods out of the Niagara River at bypassing these obstacles by land and then continuing the shipment along the River at Chippewa. This transportation route was first used by the Neutral First Nations and then the Mississaugas.13

In 1783 when the British lost control of the West side of the Niagara River to the United States the authorities transferred their portage route to the East bank. According to the HSMB plaque marking the occasion the route was opened in 1789 by a group of private traders led by Robert Hamilton and became the official government route in 1791.

William Hamilton Merritt and the Political and Economic Beginnings of the Welland Canal

13 “8,000 Years of History.” Willowbank. Willowbank National Historic Site. n.d. Web. 1 Sept 2012.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 37 of 181

William Hamilton Merritt was born July 3, 1793 in Westchester County, New York to Thomas Merritt and Mary Hamilton. Three years later the Merritt family settled near Twelve Mile Creek in Upper Canada. In his early years he studied mathematics and surveying with Richard Cockrell and had some classical education. In 1809, after travelling to Bermuda and St. John with his uncle, he began to farm his father’s land grant and an adjoining 200 acres in Grantham Township. Merritt also opened a general store which sold imported goods and took in exchange farm produce, lumber, ashes, and hides for shipment to Montreal. After eighteen months, between 1813 and 1814, with the Niagara Light Dragoons, Merritt,

“Entered into a great variety of activities, beginning as a merchant in St Catharines with outlets in Niagara, Queenston, and the naval station on the . He sold dry goods, groceries, hardware, crockery, and books, for which he accepted cash and country produce. In March 1816 Merritt purchased a mill site and small sawmill on Twelve Mile Creek and shortly after built a grist mill there. That same year he developed a salt spring on his property, built a potashery, and erected a small distillery. With the closing of the Grand River naval station and a general depression following the war, Merritt concentrated his mercantile activities in St Catharines.”

Merritt’s biography from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, with extracts related to his dealings with canals, reads,

“Merritt is best known for his part in the promotion of the Welland Canal, linking lakes Ontario and Erie. The idea likely grew out of the need for water to run his mills on Twelve Mile Creek; by constructing a feeder canal he hoped to obtain water from the and its source, Chippawa Creek, the summit of which was two miles from his mill site. His plan to build a canal to connect the Welland River with Twelve Mile Creek soon grew into a plan to link the two Great Lakes. The canal would improve the St. Lawrence transportation system by providing a cheap and convenient means for the products of Western Upper Canadian farms to bypass the Niagara Falls portage and to proceed to Montreal and Great Britain. In September 1818 Merritt and a small party carried out a survey which later proved to have seriously underestimated the height difference between Twelve Mile Creek and the Welland River. Soon after, Merritt and 74 others petitioned the Upper Canadian legislature to order a survey by “some scientific men.” The petition also revealed an awareness of the threat posed by the American plan to link Lake Erie with by means of the Erie Canal and the Mohawk and Hudson rivers: “The grand object of the American people appears to be opening a navigation with Lake Erie, which design our canal, if effected soon, would counteract, and take down the whole of the produce from the Western country.” Merritt’s plan had sound economic grounds: only a canal linking lakes Erie and Ontario and the development of canals on the upper St Lawrence could restore Montreal to its dominant position in the Western trade.

“Merritt’s project quickly encountered opposition. Those with interests in Niagara and Queenston faced ruin from the loss of the Niagara Falls portage. The project also encountered financial and political difficulties. Delays were caused by general depression, Merritt’s own difficulties in 1818 to 19, and the political stalemate caused by the inability of Upper and Lower Canada to agree on the distribution of customs revenues between them. The Upper Canadian assembly was not idle, and a select committee in February 1823 recommended the construction of a canal from Burlington Bay to the Grand River. Strategic rather than industrial or trading considerations dictated this choice of route. Although Merritt had envisaged a canal built by the government, he now saw that for purposes of trade rather than defence a private company was essential. In 1823 ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 38 of 181 he organized local meetings in support of his plan and sought incorporation; despite opposition from Niagara interests the Welland Canal Company was finally chartered by the Upper Canadian assembly on 19 Jan. 1824.

“Merritt now faced the problem of organizing a company, raising funds, and finding personnel. He began his search for funds in York (Toronto), realizing that he needed the support of the colonial executive. John Henry Dunn, the receiver general, subscribed and agreed to become president of the company (an agreement soon withdrawn). Attorney General John Beverley Robinson promised his support, and John Strachan played a leading part in the group. With encouragement assured in York, Merritt travelled to Montreal, stopping wherever he might enlist support, including Kingston, Gananoque, Prescott, and Cornwall. Although he received many promises, he got no subscriptions until he reached . Funds raised in Upper and Lower Canada fell far short of the authorized capital of £40,000. Forced to look elsewhere, Merritt turned to the Upper Canadian government and to the United States. In August 1824 the directors of the company petitioned the assembly for a grant of waste lands in Wainfleet Township. Lieutenant Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland, in referring the application to London, advised against approval, with defence in mind. Private investors in the United States remained, and in December 1824 Merritt set out for New York where he met John Barentse Yates, who advanced a large and crucial portion of the necessary funds. Merritt and Yates remained close associates in building the canal until the death of the latter in 1836. The American stockholders quickly proposed larger dimensions for the canal to accommodate sloops as well as boats.

“With funds available, but with the dimensions unresolved, construction of the canal began on 30 Nov. 1824. Physical difficulties in construction, however, soon necessitated more capital. In 1825 a new charter allowing an increase of capitalization to £200,000 and permitting the enlargement of the canal to accommodate schooners was passed; it specified the branch of the Twelve Mile Creek that flowed through Merritt’s property as the Northern section. The 1825 act envisaged a single canal from Lake Ontario up the Twelve Mile Creek, and from that point two branches, one through a deep cut to the Welland River and a second through a cut to the Grand River. Construction went well until 9 Nov. 1828 when the excavation at the Deep Cut to the Welland collapsed. The contractor had encountered sand which would not support the weight of the high banks, and the funds spent on the cut were wasted. The level of water in the Deep Cut had now to be raised by a feeder supplied by a reservoir made by damming the Grand River. Despite these difficulties two schooners passed through from Lake Ontario on their way to Buffalo on 30 Nov. 1829. The canal, symbolically at least, had been opened. The Grand River section opened late in the following year. Between 1830 and March 1833 a channel was cut directly South from the Grand River feeder to Lake Erie at Gravelly Bay (Port Colborne). Merritt’s canal had become a fact.

“Physical and engineering problems had increased the Welland Canal Company’s financial needs. When in 1825 the House of Assembly permitted an increase of capitalization it also had resolved to lend the company £25,000 and thus became a major participant in the project. Then, when failure to sell the additional shares in England or the United States threatened the company in 1827, the assembly had voted to purchase stock to the amount of £50,000; Lower Canada also voted £25,000. Early in 1828 Merritt realized that another £50,000 would be required for the remainder of the season. One proposal was to send an agent to England to secure the one-ninth of the estimated cost of production, subject to conditions, promised by the imperial government in 1826. After fruitless efforts to raise funds in New York and Philadelphia, Merritt sailed to ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 39 of 181

England from New York on 16 March 1828. The House of Commons appropriated £50,000 sterling for the canal, and Merritt sold the remaining stock to English investors. The collapse of the Deep Cut, however, late that same year, again precipitated a financial crisis. Various expedients such as the issue of company scrip and the raising of loans enabled the work to continue. But when the canal was opened in its earliest form, the company was deeply in debt. Again Upper Canada voted assistance. With the increasing sums advanced by the province, the question of public ownership began to be raised. Merritt realized its inevitability but Yates still believed private capital could pay off all government grants and loans. In 1835 attacked the company’s management for their identification of the canal with the Tories, thus undermining the efforts of Yates to raise private capital. The depression and rebellions of 1837 delayed public ownership, but in 1843 an act, containing long-term safeguards for the shareholders, ended the canal as a private concern.

“To Merritt must go credit for the idea, the enlisting of government support, the raising of funds, and the general supervision of the canal project. His vision, however, quickly outgrew the Welland Canal, for as early as 1824 he had begun to dream of a St. Lawrence system, with the rapids between Prescott and Lachine as the next place for improvement. In 1832 he, as “A Projector,” published a pamphlet which advocated standardizing the dimensions of the canals and placing them under the sole direction of the legislature of Upper Canada. With the St Lawrence system opened, tributary streams which disgorged themselves into it, could, he said, be made navigable by private companies such as the Grand River Navigation Company with which he was involved as a director and adviser from 1834 to 1857. That company, using funds from the Six Nations band, improved transportation on the Grand River and gave the inhabitants of the area an inexpensive outlet to markets. Where natural water courses were not available, he suggested “rail roads” might be built. In 1852 [he] spoke in St Catharines of vessels of 2,000 tons (at a time when ships of 1,000 tons were the exception) sailing from Lake Superior to the Atlantic.

“After Lord Elgin [Bruce] arrived in Canada in 1847, Merritt quickly urged on him the need to establish reciprocity of trade with the United States to increase markets for Canadian products after the abolition of the Corn Laws in 1846 and to make full use of the canal system. Elgin’s early letters to Colonial Secretary Lord Grey clearly reveal the influence of Merritt, who with the encouragement of Elgin visited Washington in May 1848 and June 1849 to promote a reciprocity treaty. By the latter date, Elgin was convinced that because of commercial depression the choice was reciprocity or annexation. Early in September 1849 Merritt and La Fontaine discussed the same subject at Halifax with leaders of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but in Merritt’s view the conference achieved little. On 7 April 1850 Merritt accepted the cabinet post of chief commissioner of public works, a position well suited to him; he diligently applied himself in pressing for the completion of the canal system to link inland waters with the ocean. His report for 1850 was a masterly analysis of the water transport system.

“Although Elgin and many of his contemporaries considered Merritt a visionary, Elgin more than once affirmed his belief in Merritt’s ‘large views.’ However, Elgin did say that Merritt though ‘honest’ was ‘illogical’ and ‘utterly unscrupulous in his mode of grouping together facts and figures when he has a case to make.’

“On 11 Feb. 1851 Merritt resigned from the Executive Council, later explaining that over the years he had been thwarted in his attempts to reduce public expenditure and to develop and sell crown ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 40 of 181

lands to provide funds for canal and railway building. Another reason was that ‘public attention has been directed to Railroads and other new undertakings, on which the public credit is freely extended, while this great and important communication [the St. Lawrence canal system], on which the future prospects of Canada in a great measure depend, has been virtually abandoned.’

“Today Merritt can be seen as one of the great figures in the history of Canadian transportation. But his large scheme for a system of canals linking the Great Lakes with the St Lawrence and the ocean, which finally came to fruition in 1849, was soon challenged by the new technology of railways. In 1853 the New York state legislature consolidated railways to connect New York with Buffalo and by early 1854 the Great Western Railway ran from the Niagara River Suspension Bridge to Windsor. Just as the Welland Canal had suffered from the earlier completion of the Erie Canal, the Great Lakes-St Lawrence canal system suffered from the competition of railways. Merritt’s vision of an Eastern Canadian transportation system involving waterways and railways was logical, practical, and consistently pursued. Even if his canal system did not achieve the economic benefits to Canada expected by Merritt, his vision foreshadowed the opening of the St Lawrence Seaway in 1958.”14

A Brief Evolution of the Welland Canal

The first canal was built between 1824 and 1833 along the route of Twelve Mile Creek between Port Dalhousie at Lake Ontario and Port Colborne at Lake Erie, a total length of 28 miles. Several changes occurred in the route during construction. The first route began at Lake Ontario and turned East in Port Robinson, by way of a stone lock, to follow the Welland River (Chippewa Creek) to the Niagara River and another branch turned Southwest travelling to meet the Grand River at Lake Erie. The route along the Welland River opened in 1829 but was abandoned due to the sandy soil that could not hold the banks. It was replaced with a section directly South between Port Robinson and Port Colborne which was completed between 1830 and March 1833. The route to the Grand River was a feeder for water to increase the flow through Twelve Mile Creek and not designed for travel. It did however give birth to communities along its route including , known for large textile producing firms, and Wainfleet. Dunnville was named for John Henry Dunn, the Receiver-General of Upper Canada from 1820 to 1843 and served as director and president of the Canal Company. This first canal had 40 oak timber locks that were 110 feet long by 22 feet wide and eight feet deep.

The oak timbers required a great amount of maintenance and quickly deteriorated. In the early 1840’s the Government of Canada West purchased the canal from the Welland Canal Company quickly setting to work to replace the timber locks with Queenston limestone from a quarry near the Niagara River. The massive blocks of stone were lowered down the Niagara Escarpment to the Niagara River and were shipped North to Lake Ontario and then into the first canal to be deposited at the site of each new lock. The route was improved slightly during this work departing from Twelve Mile Creek where a straighter route could be cut. The overall number of locks was reduced to 26 as they were longer and deeper, providing more lift at each lock. The lock size was also increased in all dimensions to be 150 feet long by 26-1/2 feet wide and 12 feet deep. An improvement that would not be made until the fourth reworking was the entry harbour at Port Colborne. The original position of Lock 1 in Port Dalhousie on the first Canal faced a North-Westerly direction while the same lock on the second and third Canal faced North

14 Talman, J.J. “Merritt, William Hamilton.” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. University of Toronto, 2000. Web. 18 June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 41 of 181 to avoid the stiff Westerly winds. The second Canal was completed in 1853 after eleven years of work. In this configuration a lock at Welland allowed boat access along the Welland River to the West of the canals and the town of Wellandport grew; its primary industry provided logs along the river to the mills on the Canal.

The second Canal continued to operate while a new route, the third Canal and locks, were built between 1872 and 1887. The third configuration was built to increase the ship size allowed through the system. This was spurred by an 1870 government-appointed commission who recommended canal improvements to accommodate the larger steamers that could carry wheat, lumber, copper and iron from the Upper Lakes. This time, the North end of the route was improved, no longer following Twelve Mile Creek, and the number of locks was reduced to 25. Queenston limestone remained the favoured building material. The locks were 270 feet long by 45 feet wide and 14 feet deep.

The fourth canal was built in stages prior to and after WWI between 1913 and 1932. This reconstruction brought forward a more uniform system through the St. Lawrence waterway. The length of the locks was more than tripled to 859 feet, the width increased to 60 feet and the depth was more than doubled to 25-1/2 feet. These dimensions far exceeded those of the earlier locks.

There have been plans for a fifth Canal, of which the Welland By-Pass is a part. The SLSMC owns lands to the East of the fourth Canal where the next route may be built. It is understood that the fifth canal is no longer a federal priority.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 42 of 181

Components of the Welland Canal

A: First and Second Welland Canals

1. Port Dalhousie Section

Map 3: Port Dalhousie Section, first and second Welland Canals.

Points of Interest (a) Lock 1, first Welland Canal (b) Lock 1, second Welland Canal (c) Canada’s Smallest Jail (d) Submerged Lock 1 Piers

(a) Lock 1, First Welland Canal

Rediscovered after lying undisturbed beneath the fill-soil of Lakeside Park in October of 2008, Lock 1 of the first Welland Canal has re-emerged into Niagara’s consciousness. Lock 1 was the Lake Ontario terminus of the first Welland Canal which opened in November 1829.

Image 1: Site of buried Lock 1, first Welland Canal.15

15 Rene Ressler. Image No. PD01. October 2008. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 43 of 181

Lock 1 was built with oak timbers rather than the Queenston limestone used in the construction of the second and third Welland Canals. The iron hard oaken beams were 16x16” and built into the sandy marsh adjacent to the North shoreline of Lake Ontario. Lock 1 was approximately 33 meters long and 6.7 meters wide. The lock chamber was approximately 2.4 meters deep. Lock 1 was the first of 40 timber locks linking Lakes Ontario and Erie.

Image 2: First Welland Canal, Lock 1, Excavated portion of East lock wall.16 Image 3: First Welland Canal, Lock 1, Excavated portion of West lock wall.17

Image 4: First Welland Canal, Lock 1, Excavated portion of East lock wall.18 Image 5: First Welland Canal, Lock 1, Excavated mortise and tenon joint, East lock wall.19

Abutted to the West entrance to the chamber of Lock 1, were timber piers that diverged into a narrow “v” shape out into Lake Ontario. The Piers were built to guide ships into the lock chamber. The foundations and footings of the Lock 1 Piers are still submerged in situ only a few feet below the surface just off Lakeside Park Beach and are visible in aerial photography and satellite imagery of the site.

16 Rene Ressler. Image No. PD04. 17 Rene Ressler. Image No. PD05. 18 Rene Ressler. Image No. PD06. 19 Rene Ressler. Image No. PD07. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 44 of 181

Image 6: North Pier, first Welland Canal.20

The barque Annie and Jane was the first ship to transit the Welland Canal in November of 1829 amid great fanfare that included local dignitaries and the builder of the Welland Canal, William Hamilton Merritt. The well-known “Kelly” painting that depicts the momentous scene of the "Annie and Jane" entering Lock 1 is in fact a fanciful description of the day’s festivities as November on the Port Dalhousie shoreline probably wouldn’t allow for folks to be sitting relaxed on timbers amongst the greenery. More likely people were shivering and waving their arms for warmth while trying to shield themselves from the predominantly Westerly winds that swept across the marshland that Lock 1 was located on. The prevailing winds would often prove difficult for ships to safely and efficiently enter the Lock 1 chamber. As Great Lake vessels grew larger, Lock 1 was widened and deepened not long after its opening in 1829 to allow for the larger vessels to lock.

Image 7: “Kelly” painting of “Annie and Jane” and crowds watching.21

Only in use for 18 years before the much larger stone Lock 1 of the second Welland Canal became the new Lake Ontario terminus, the original lock was abandoned and over the years the mighty oak

20 Gilchrist, David. Rene Ressler Collection, Image Nos. NPiersFirstCanal 1, 2 and 3. 21 Unknown Artist. Annie and Jane. St. Catharines Historical Museum, St. Catharines. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica-Dominion, 2012. Web. 6 June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 45 of 181 timbers that made up the lock were slowly repurposed by locals for other uses. For many years to the immediate Northeast of the lock, a lengthy stone and timber break wall was used as an artificial harbour for the local fishing fleet.

The village of Port Dalhousie began to grow as construction of the canal and Lock 1 began in 1824. When the first Welland Canal opened in 1829, Port Dalhousie grew rapidly as a port that serviced the ships that transited the canal and as a port of commerce and trade. Upon locking, upbound ships would follow the shoreline East to the entrance of Twelve Mile Creek to continue their transit to Lake Erie.

When excavated in October 2008, portions of the East and West lock walls were found only three feet below the surface of Lakeside Park. The lock chamber had been shaved from its original three metre depth of less than one metre above the lock sill. After 150 years underground, the oak lock timbers were still as solid and hard as the day the lock opened. The excavated timbers suffered only a minimum of shrinkage and wear after being entombed under the fill-soil of the park. The excavated portions of the lock wall were only open to the elements for about 30 hours before being reburied for preservation until a later date when a decision can be made about its potential use, for example to re-excavate the lock for refurbishment and subsequent display. The fact that the lock was found after decades of speculation gave hope to Welland Canal enthusiasts along the Welland Canal Corridor and beyond that more components may survive.

(b) Lock 1, Second Welland Canal

Lock 1 of the second Welland Canal was opened to navigation in 1847. Constructed using Queenston Limestone carried by barge from the Niagara River, Lock 1 was the first of 27 locks that made up the second Welland Canal. Lock 1 was approximately 45.7 meters long by 8.1 meters wide and had a draught of three meters from the sill.

Image 8: Lock 1, second Welland Canal, early 20th-century.22

22 Welland Canals Collection. St. Catharines Historical Museum, St. Catharines. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 46 of 181

Image 9: Lock 1, second Welland Canal circa 1900 also shows hand operated gate winches.23

The second Welland Canal was necessitated by the rapid deterioration and high maintenance costs of the locks of the first Welland Canal. The timber locks of the first waterway were not holding up to the elements or the heavy usage of the canal. In addition, ships sailing the Great Lakes now included steam propelled vessels. Both sailing and steam vessels rapidly and consistently grew larger during the early decades of the 19th-century.

By the early 1840s the Welland Canal Company was nearly bankrupt due to the immense cost of maintaining the canal as well as purported questionable money management. After several supplementary loans to the Welland Canal Company to help keep the canal in operation, the Government of Canada West decided that the Welland Canal was too important to the trade, commerce and security of the Province to be allowed to fail and promptly bought the Welland Canal from its much relieved shareholders. The Government immediately set about the planning and building of a new, enlarged Welland Canal using stone locks rather than timber. For the most part, the second Welland Canal followed the same route to Lake Erie as the first canal. The second Welland Canal was a monumentally huge feat of civil engineering that utilized thousands of workers. The new canal was to be one of the first and largest civil engineering projects in Canada.

Whereas the lock gates of the first Welland Canal were opened and closed by hand via a balanced swivel gate, the gates of the second Welland Canal were opened and closed by a hand operated chain winch mounted on the lock wall beside the gates. A surviving example of this gate winch apparatus can be viewed at the St. Catharines Museum at Lock 3.

23 Francis Petrie Collection, D4173. Historical Digital Collection. Niagara Falls Public Library, Niagara Falls. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 47 of 181

Image 10: Second canal era hand operated gate winch held at Lock 3 Museum, St. Catharines.24

The first lock of the "new" canal as it was called was in operation for almost 100 years. After the opening of the third Welland Canal in 1887, the second waterway no longer allowed ships to transit from lake to lake. Yet, well into the early decades of the 20th-century, Lock 1 continued to be used for vessels transiting upbound to service the large industrial base that had sprung up along the banks of the canal at St. Catharines and Merritton.

Today, Lock 1 is used as a recreational marina in Port Dalhousie. Remnants of the lock infrastructure still exist as can be seen on both lock walls; the huge iron lock gate hinge pins are still intact. The lock is still plumb true after 160 years and the lock approach masonry resemble cupped hands that guided Captains and their vessels safely into the lock chamber.

Image 11: Lock 1, Second Welland Canal, Facing West.25 Image 12: Lock 1, Second Welland Canal, Facing North.26

(c) Canada’s Smallest Jail

The two cell jail was opened in 1845. Although there is some historical dispute as to whether it stills holds the title as smallest it is nevertheless quite tiny and local knowledge believes it to be the

24 Rene Ressler. Image No. PD21. 25 Rene Ressler. Image No. PD10. 26 Rene Ressler. Image No. PD11. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 48 of 181 smallest. As one of the more bustling ports of call on the Great Lakes, Port Dalhousie was a place where 19th-century mariners came to “decompress”. Many a sailor and local characters alike have spent a night or two “decompressing” inside its walls. A small plaque mounted beside the very sturdy iron bound door proclaims the Port Dalhousie Jail, the smallest jail in Canada. The jail was most recently used as a cantina and bar. As of May 2012, the jail has been fenced off to protect it as the Port Place project begins.

Image 13: Port Dalhousie Gaol, East view.27

During the construction phase of the new Port Place development, the jail will be temporarily relocated to Lakeside Park for protection. The jail will be moved back to its original location upon completion of the Port Place development and will be an integral component within a proposed community square.

27 Rene Ressler. Image No. PD19. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 49 of 181

2. The Welland Canal Valley Section

Map 4: The Welland Canal Valley Section of the first and second Welland Canal. Points of Interest (a) Lock 2, Second Welland Canal (b) Surviving Channel of the first Welland Canal (c) Sites of Shickluna Shipyard and Drydock (d) The Glen Ridge Bridge and the Canada Hair Cloth Building (e) Lock 3, Second Welland Canal (f) Site of Lock 4, Second Welland Canal

Overview

The section of the first and second Welland Canals known as The Welland Canal Valley (WCV) stretches from the corner of Welland Vale and Sawmill Roads in the Northwest and ends at Geneva Street at its Southeast boundary. The WCV is located within the present day City of St. Catharines and encompasses the sites of Locks 2 through 5 of the first Welland Canal and Locks 2 through 4 of the second Canal. There are no remaining parts of first Welland Canal locks in this section.

The Twelve, as St. Catharine’s was known, was already well established when the first Welland Canal was opened in 1829. The settlement began around the mid-1790s by Loyalists and veterans of Butler’s Rangers who fought in the American Revolutionary War. Beginning with just a few buildings, the first being a tavern, at the present day intersection of St. Paul and Ontario Streets, the village has evolved into the vibrant city of 135,000 residents that now call the City of St. Catharines their homes.

Along both banks of the first and second Welland Canals the Merritt Trail opened in 1983 and lines both banks of the WCV. The Merritt Trail is a developed passive urban greenway that winds its way through the Cities of St. Catharines and Thorold for a total distance of 11 kilometers. The trail ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 50 of 181 follows the path of the first and second Welland Canals as they climb the Niagara Escarpment. Stretching from Northwest St. Catharines to the top of the Niagara Escarpment at the Thorold Townline the Merritt Trail boasts no less than 17 in-situ surviving locks of the second Welland Canal.

The second Welland Canal opened for navigation in 1848. By 1876, the former village had become the “City” of St. Catharines. By the second half of the 19th-century St. Catharines had achieved a status of self-sufficiency that has not been seen since. All commodities were grown or raised locally, flour mills, saw mills, metal works, salt works and a gas works, were all part of this integrated economy not to mention the most prolific shipyard on the Great Lakes. The majority of these firms dotted both banks and slopes of the canal valley and were concentrated to a relatively small area along the banks of the second Welland Canal. The Welland Canal Valley was the industrial heart of the Niagara Peninsula for over a century.

There were three key elements that made the WCV a going concern by the mid-19th-century. The first element was the endless and virtually free energy source for machinery and manufacturing. The second was the cheap and accessible bulk transport provided by the Welland Canal. The third element that was integral for St. Catharines was that there was always an abundance of labour available that provided both a skilled and unskilled workforce. These three elements ensured a growing and prosperous marketplace that translated into a thriving community and higher standard of living throughout the 19th- and early 20th-centuries.

The junction of St. Paul Street and the Welland Canal had by now become a critical crossroads for the entire region. In Niagara there were only two other significant North-South roads that linked Lake Erie to Lake Ontario: the Niagara River Portage Road and the Pelham Road. For the most part, the East bank of the Welland Canal was itself a North-South thoroughfare for land travel. The West bank of the canal was for the tow-teams and drivers.

The Welland Canal Valley was crossed by following the serpentine roadway that led from St. Paul Street down the hill to the East bank of the canal valley where the Hainer was used to cross the canal. Present day St. Paul Crescent and Hainer Street are remnants of this route across the canal. The Hainer Bridge was replaced with a fixed structure in the 1940s. Before the Burgoyne Bridge opened in 1914, the Hainer Street swing bridge was the primary crossing in the Welland Canal Valley.

One of the largest firms located in the Welland Canal Valley during the 19th-century was the Shickluna Shipyard. A sprawling complex of shops, rigging and sail sheds, cordage works, fitting-out wharves and a drydock stretched for almost half a mile along the West bank of the canal. The St. Catharines Fire Service training tower now occupies this site. The Shickluna yards had built a large percentage of the total tonnage on the Great Lakes by the late 1800s. Timbers and planking for ships were cut at the firm’s own sawmill located at a second Shickluna shipyard on the East bank of The Twelve, where it joined the canal. The Shickluna Shipyard also enjoyed a sterling reputation as a builder of sound ships that were among the fastest on the Great Lakes, sail and steam powered alike.

William Hamilton Merritt still operated his cluster of mills on the East slope of the valley below “The Square,” as the current intersection of Ontario and St. Paul was known. On the East bank of ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 51 of 181 the canal opposite the Shickluna yards, Merritt's salt works was a thriving business that was never short of consumers. In the days before refrigeration, salt was essential for the preservation of foodstuffs especially meat products. Merritt also ran a distillery near the salt works. Taylor & Bates Brewery operated well into the 20th-century below “The Square” on the East bank of the canal.

By the late 1880s, the expansive Shickluna Shipyards along the West bank of the canal closed their operations on the canal. By about 1850, the bulk of local shipbuilding had shifted downstream to Port Dalhousie where the Muir Brothers had built a shipyard at the Lake Ontario terminus of the second Welland Canal.

After WWI the Glenridge area, which is located on the high bank above the East side of The Twelve, was connected to St. Catharines by a high level bridge spanning the Welland Canal Valley. Demolished in 1955, remnants of this bridge are below the parking lot located beside 2 St. Paul Street.

Lock 2 of the second Welland Canal was reconfigured as a water drop by Ontario Hydro Generation to enhance the flow of water through Twelve Mile Creek. The East wall of Lock 2 was removed to facilitate the widening of the creek. Lock 3 of the second canal was entombed beneath Highway 406 although a small portion of the Southeast lock entrance masonry is still visible in the scrub brush along the Merritt trail. There are no visible remnants of Lock 4 today. The lock was likely buried during the construction of Highway 406. The only substantial remnant of this once thriving industrial and commercial hub is the Canada Hair Cloth building. Highway 406 now winds through the valley obscuring any continuous scenic vistas that once existed.

The former Canal Valley that the first and second Welland Canal flowed through is virtually unrecognizable today. Even as little as 50 years ago, the canal valley that is situated below downtown St. Catharines looked quite different than it does today. Changes to the former route of the first and second Welland Canal due to the rapid growth and urbanization of St. Catharines downtown have caused this complete transformation. The biggest change is due to the fact that portions of the old Welland Canal have been buried, culverted and paved over. The second Welland Canal below St. Paul Street has been paved over and is now the Lower Level Municipal Parking Lot. Dick’s Creek has been virtually eradicated in the valley and diverted underground.

Twelve Mile Creek, to which Dick’s Creek and the first and second Welland Canals joined, has been made into a massive outflow from the DeCew Generating Stations and is no longer navigable to vessels of any stripe. There are virtually no remnants of any of the manufacturing works, shipyards, chandleries or warehouses that once lined the Canal Valley. The only reminders of the once thriving Canal Valley are portions of the terraced hydraulic raceways, now filled in, on the bank behind St. Paul Street and the now empty Canada Hair Cloth Building located at the East end of the former canal valley.

At the time of this writing, there is good news on the horizon for the former canal valley. The City of St. Catharines, partnered with Brock University has broken ground on a new Performing Arts Centre and the Marilyn I. Walker School for the Performing Arts and Theatre complex. The Walker school will be incorporated into the old Canada Hair Cloth Building. In addition, the recently commissioned 5,000 seat spectator facility will most likely be built on the site of the Lower Level ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 52 of 181

Parking lot below St. Paul Street, overtop the old first and second Welland Canals. Construction began spring 2012 and it should be complete by 2015.

(a) Lock 2, Second Welland Canal

Lock 2 of the second Welland Canal is located at the Northern gateway of what was once a highly concentrated industrialized portion of the canal that stretched to the top of the escarpment at Thorold. The area around Lock 2 was, and still is, known as Welland Vale. Prior to the 1829 opening of the first Welland Canal, the original Merritt homestead and mills were located at Welland Vale. With the newly completed canal, firms and shops that serviced the ships and their crews began to appear along the canal banks. Dedicated manufacturing firms opened for business along the canal as ship traffic increased. Manufacturing firms and other enterprises capitalized on the virtually free hydraulic power that the canal provided, in addition to offering cheap and immediate shipment of goods to the 19th-century Canadian and global marketplaces.

Lock 2, just as Lock 1 in Port Dalhousie, was longer than the average lock of the second Welland Canal. Larger lake vessels, though too big to transit the entire canal, were encouraged to access the shipyards and industries to the South of Welland Vale at St. Catharines. The large industrial building on the East bank of the canal at Welland Vale is the former Welland Vale Campus of Niagara College and now a pharmaceutical manufacturer. Originally, farming and garden implements were manufactured at the site. In addition, the factory was once occupied by Welland Vale Cycle Manufacturers. At the turn of the 20th-century, Welland Vale Cycle joined with a few other regional bicycle builders to become Canadian Cooperative Cycle, better known as CCM.

Image 14: Welland Vale Manufacturing.28

28 St. Catharines Historical Museum, St. Catharines. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 53 of 181

Image 15: Welland Vale, just South of Lock 2 on the second Welland Canal.29

Image 16: West wall of Lock 2, second Welland Canal, North View.30 Image 17: West wall of Lock 2, second Welland Canal South View.31

29 General Photograph Collection, Filing no. D420141. Niagara Falls Public Library, Niagara Falls. 30 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-2397. 31 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-2398. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 54 of 181

(b) Surviving Channel of the first Welland Canal

Here at the Welland Vale location is a quite rare surviving portion of the first Welland Canal. Just West of the Lock 2 at the intersection of Sawmill and Welland Vale Roads is a small bridge spanning a narrow channel, resembling nothing more than a ditch. The channel was once a portion of the first Welland Canal. William Hamilton Merritt’s original homestead and mills were located nearby, on the site of the old Welland Vale Campus of Niagara College. Merritt was insistent that the canal channel was built on a course adjacent to his own operations. A man who made the most of his time, only William Hamilton Merritt had the tenacity and political clout to ensure the new canal would flow right past his own front door. When the second Welland Canal was constructed in the 1840s the small channel was abandoned as the new course was widened and straightened.

Image 18: Remnant of first Welland Canal, Welland Vale Road, South view.32 Image 19: Bridge spanning remnant of first Welland Canal, view from intersection facing east.33

First opened to navigation in 1829, the first Welland Canal was built using as much of the natural waterways as possible. For construction of the second canal in the 1840s, Twelve Mile Creek was widened, straightened and dredged along this particular stretch of the waterway. In its natural state, The Twelve was a much narrower and serpentine creek. Though the tall masted ships and steamers have long since gone, the banks of the old canal have been reclaimed by the familiar Carolinian Forest typical to Niagara and offer one of the most impressive urban wetland spaces in the Niagara Region. This surviving channel of the first Welland Canal can be reached via Welland Vale Road as well as the Merritt Trail.

32 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-3981. 33 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-4188. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 55 of 181

(c) Site of Shickluna Shipyard and Drydock

While in operation, from 1838 to the 1890s, the Shickluna Shipyards were responsible for building many of the largest and fastest ships sailing the Great Lakes, establishing itself as a premier shipbuilder and St. Catharines as a major center for shipbuilding and repair. The shipyard was rarely idle, producing over 140 ships during its years of operation. At its peak in the 1850s, the shipyard employed between 250 and 300 men. The Shickluna Shipyard pioneered new designs for vessels including steamships specially designed to fit canal locks on the Welland and other canals on the Great Lakes. The lines of Shickluna's custom designed canal vessels are still visible in the now standard shapes of the massive 250 meter long "lakers" sailing the Seaway today. The founder and owner of Shickluna Shipyards, Louis Shickluna, was born on the island of Malta in 1808. Shickluna came from a long line of shipbuilders and after some traveling found himself in Quebec at age 23, where he soon found work in the local shipyards. In 1836 Shickluna moved to St. Catharines, taking over operations of a local shipyard formerly owned by Russell Armington and moved the yard it to its final location several years later. After his death in 1880, operations of the shipyard passed to his son Joseph Shickluna.34

Image 20: Shickluna Shipyard, circa 1870s.35 Image 21: Shickluna Shipyard Annex.36 Image 22: Fire Training Tower, former site of Shickluna Shipyard, from Burgoyne Bridge, Northwest view.37

34 Jackson, John N. and Sheila M. Watson. St. Catharines, Canada's Canal City. St. Catharines Standard, 1992. Pages 53-56. 35 Image No. SCM N2795. St. Catharines Historical Museum, St. Catharines. 36 Image No. N2797. St. Catharines Historical Museum, St. Catharines. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 56 of 181

(d) The Glenridge Bridge and Canada Hair Cloth

The Glenridge Bridge was a reinforced concrete bridge with graceful arches that opened in 1914 for the purpose of stimulating development of the new Glenridge neighborhood to the South across the old canal valley. Deemed unsafe by 1953, the Glenridge Bridge was removed in 1955 and replaced by fill. The bridge connected Ontario Street to South Drive on the other side of the Welland Canal Valley. In fact, South Drive was originally known as Ontario Street South. South drive was the dominant thoroughfare for the entire Glenridge neighborhood until the bridges demolition in 1955. The Glenridge fill project included a realignment of the lesser used Glenridge Avenue as the neighborhood developed South toward the Niagara Escarpment. Glenridge Avenue is now the main thoroughfare to and through the Glenridge portion of the City of St. Catharines. Behind and below 2 St. Paul Street, one can view a surviving remnant of the Glenridge Bridge as a portion of the Ontario Street abutment is still intact.

Image 23: Remnants of Glenridge Bridge, South view from parking lot of 2 St. Paul Street.38 Image 24: Remnants of Glenridge Bridge, Southeast view.39 Image 25: Remnants of Glenridge Bridge, Northwest view.40

Image 26: Remnants of Glenridge Bridge, South view.41 Image 27: Remnants of Glenridge Bridge, Northeast view.42

37 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-9343. 38 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-0124. 39 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-0097. 40 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-0109. 41 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-0116. 42 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-0118. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 57 of 181

The former Canada Hair Cloth Building is getting a new lease on life as the new home of Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School for the Performing Arts. Behind and to the West of the Canada Hair Cloth are remnants of the many hydraulic raceways that once flowed along terraces down the hillside behind St. Paul Street. The raceways were constructed for the purpose of delivering water to be used to power the manufactures and mills in the days before electricity. The raceways were also used to flush away any industrial waste or spillage that was generated by these same firms. As a result of this industrial "spillage", the Welland Canal quickly became one of the most polluted waterways in Canada. The Canada Hair Cloth Building is the only surviving manufacturing firm of the once dozens of manufacturers and works that dotted the raceways and canal banks behind St. Paul Street.

Image 28: Canada Hair Cloth Building, Filled in hydraulic raceway behind Canada Hair Cloth, West view.43 Image 29: Canada Hair Cloth Building, Filled in hydraulic raceway, below St. Paul Street, West view.44

43 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-2333. 44 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-9565. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 58 of 181

Image 30: Canada Hair Cloth Building, Location of buried first and second Welland Canal, lower level parking lot, East view.45

(e) Lock 3, Second Welland Canal

The ruin of Lock 3 of the second Welland Canal is located about 100 meters east of the South side of the pedestrian bridge that crosses Highway 406.

Image 31: Canal Valley East showing location of Lock 3 ruin, view from pedestrian walkway over Hwy 406.46

Lock 3 of the second Welland Canal was buried in the 1980s and was exposed with a scrape excavation conducted in August 2008 by local volunteers. The excavated lock wall is in fact the Southeast lock approach. The lock’s unmistakable gentle curving approach almost orients one to the

45 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-9550. 46 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-2315. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 59 of 181 general position of the entire lock and the original waterway. The South end of the wall has more of its masonry exposed. At the North end of the dig, one can immediately recognize the tell-tale stone inset of a lock gate recess. It appears that the entire Southeast lock gate recess has been unearthed or at least the top layer of stonework. Midway along the top of the wall is a tangle of rusted one inch rebar. It is evident that whatever fitting was attached to the top of the wall was unceremoniously wrenched or cut away from the top of the lock wall.

Image 32: Southeast wall of Lock 3, Second Welland Canal, South view.47 Image 33: Southeast wall of Lock 3, Second Welland Canal, North view.48

Also evident is that the remaining buried sections of the lock go directly underneath the cinder trail and chain link fence that separates Highway 406 from the trail. The twin hydro poles shown in the archival shots were at one time the tallest concrete poles in the British Empire. Demolished in 1971, the twin poles were needed to support power and telegraph lines across the Canal Valley so as to not foul the ships rigging and masts as they transited the canal.

(f) Site of Lock 4, Second Welland Canal

Before the early 1960s, Geneva Street did not cross the canal valley as it does today. Prior to 1963, Geneva Street ended at Mill Street which ran along the top of the bank and joined Chestnut, now Carlisle Street, before looping down the bank and crossing the now fixed bridge at Lock 4 of the second Welland Canal. By 1920 ships no longer used the second canal in the valley below downtown as the waterway had been altered somewhat to serve exclusively as a hydraulic raceway.

Lock 4 of the second Welland Canal was most likely dismantled or possibly buried to make way for the newly realigned Geneva Street crossing the 406 and its access and egress ramps. Lock 4 is the only second Welland Canal lock within the City of St. Catharines that is no longer accessible.

47 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-2307. 48 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-2310. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 60 of 181

Image 34: Former site of Lock 4, Second Welland Canal, North view.49

49 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-9814. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 61 of 181

3. Centennial Gardens/Merritton Locks Park

Map 5: Centennial Gardens/Merritton Locks Park section of the first and second Welland Canal.

Points of Interest (a) Lock 6, first Welland Canal (b) Lock 5, Second Welland Canal (c) Former site of Simpson Shipyard (d) Locks 6 to 13, Second Welland Canal

Overview

The majority of the Centennial Gardens and the Merritton Locks sections, of the first and second Canal, flow through the former Town of Merritton. When the first and second Welland Canals were in operation, Merritton was a separate and incorporated town that owed its very existence to the waterways that flow through it to this very day. In fact it wasn't until 1961 that the Town of Merritton amalgamated with the City of St. Catharines. That same year also saw the former canal town of Port Dalhousie, which is located at the Lake Ontario Terminus of the first two canals; amalgamate with the City of St. Catharines. The present day Centennial Gardens portion of the canals were once located within the boundaries of the former Town of St. Catharines. St. Catharines became a city in 1876 which was about the midway point of the span of years that the second Welland Canal was in use, lake to lake.

This third section of this lineal documentary of the first and second Welland Canals covers the canals from just east of the former Welland Canal Valley in present day Centennial Gardens to the foot of the Niagara Escarpment to the South in Merritton. The locks of the second Welland Canal are more closely spaced through Merritton as the Welland Canal was built through the gently sloping Southern portion of the Lake Ontario Plain which ends at the escarpment.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 62 of 181

The section of the Old Welland Canals through Merritton, are now the centerpiece of the Merritt Trail Pathway which follows the old canal from Northwest St. Catharines at Martindale Road to the Thorold town line at the top of the escarpment. This beautiful greenway with its mixed brush and open spaces was once the Town of Merritton portion of the all-encompassing industrial base that seized upon the opportunities that the Welland Canal presented. Merritton came into existence because of the Welland Canal. The canal was there first and the town grew along its banks. Within this section, there are still hidden reminders of Merritton’s former industrial might along this stretch of the Old Welland Canal.

No remnants of the first Welland Canal remain in Merritton Locks Park though Lock 6 of the first canal is partially visible in the adjacent Centennial Gardens to the North.

(a) Lock 6, First Welland Canal

Lock 6 of the first Welland Canal is one of only two known surviving locks of William Hamilton Merritt's first waterway. Lock 6 was rediscovered when the channel of the second Welland Canal was dewatered around 1960, prior to the creation of Centennial Gardens. The portion of canal that flowed through what is now Centennial Gardens was where the canal made a looping 45 degree turn to the West to continue downbound, through the Welland Canal Valley and after another series of wide loops, on to Lake Ontario at Port Dalhousie. Local amateur archaeologists and canal enthusiasts documented and photographed as much of the lock as they could during the time the former canal was dewatered. The City capped the top of the exposed timber lock walls with concrete to preserve the timbers for possible future exploration.

An excavation and restoration of Lock 6 in Centennial Gardens would be the one and only opportunity to showcase a first Welland Canal lock in situ that is located in a still watered portion of canal.

Image 35: Concrete capped lock wall, Lock 6, first Welland Canal, Centennial Gardens.50

50 Rene Ressler. Image Nos. L611 and L612. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 63 of 181

(b) Lock 5, Second Welland Canal

Lock 5 of the second Welland Canal is located at the bottom of the dip on Westchester Avenue, immediately West of the intersection of Westchester and Oakdale Avenues in St. Catharines. In fact, the roadway of Westchester Avenue was built right over top of the lock itself. Located about 50 meters from the intersection of Oakdale and Westchester, Lock 5 is a modern day enigma that is only accessible and visible if one goes down the former canal bank to take a look from the water’s edge. The lock is visible from both upbound and downbound entrances. One must cross to the North side Westchester to view the downbound entrance to the lock from the Southeast boundary of Centennial Gardens.

Image 36: South entrance of Lock 5, West view (left) and North view (right).51

Lands around Lock 5 of the second Welland Canal look quite different than they did when the lock was in operation. In 1934 to accommodate new housing and a realignment and extension of Westchester Avenue, the area around Lock 5 was substantially built up. At least 35 feet of fill was trucked in, creating space for new residential development along Westchester Avenue to the West of Lock 5. In addition, Westchester Avenue was extended east to Queenston Street via a gently sloping and curved roadway. Prior to 1934, Westchester Avenue followed the present day Beard Place before winding down the embankment to a swing bridge that was located just North of Lock 5. On the East side of the bridge, Eastchester Avenue continued north, up the hill where in crossed Queenston Street. The abandoned portion Westchester and Eastchester Avenues are still visible in Centennial Gardens near Lock 5.

Lock 5 was also the Northern boundary of the Town of Merritton's industrial base on the second Welland Canal. Several large manufacturers and paper mills were located along the East bank of the canal in Merritton. Today, only a small portion of foundation is all that remains of the once sprawling Canada Knife Works which was located just South of Lock 5. Manufacturers were attracted to the canal access which was critical for a business to be viable during the mid-1800s and early 1900s. The need for water access to power the machinery and mills of the "works" along the canal was also seen as crucial to a business's status as a serious and thriving commercial entity.

51 Rene Ressler. Image Nos. L55 and L56. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 64 of 181

(c) Former site of the Simpson Shipyard

Located adjacent to Lock 5 was another busy “works” that was in operation for a very short period of time. The thriving, yet short lived enterprise that was located at Lock 5 was the Simpson Shipyard.

Image 37: Panorama, present day probable location of Simpson Shipyard at Lock 5, Southeast view.52

The Simpson Shipyard has been virtually forgotten by history. The more familiar and documented Shickluna Shipyard that was located on The Twelve in the Canal Valley and Port Dalhousie's Muir Brother's Shipyard remain more prominent among ship and boat yards along the Welland Canal.

Image 38: Simpson's Ship Yard Advertisement.

52 Rene Ressler. Image No. Simpyard. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 65 of 181

Though long since vanished from the Welland Canal landscape as there are no physical remnants visible today, the yard did produce a very good many great lake vessels during its only 14 or so years in operation. The Simpson yard specialized in the newer lock friendly propeller steamers that were becoming more prevalent on the Great Lakes. Some of the propellers (for self-propelled vessels as opposed to sailing vessels) built at Lock 5 became veritable canal workhorses that sailed the lakes for many years, including the steamers, Persia and Asia.

Melancthon Simpson, a native of Belleville, Ontario, operated small shipyards that built sailing ships for the Great Lakes fleet at Bronte (present day Oakville) and Burlington. Due to the increased success of the second Welland Canal, Simpson relocated to Niagara settling in Port Dalhousie where he was employed as a foreman at the shipyard of Donaldson and Andrews which was later to become Muir Brother’s. In the winter of 1863 to 1864, Simpson moved up the canal to Merritton and established his own shipyard located in the pond area adjacent to Lock 5 on the second Welland Canal. The Simpson Yard soon became stiff competition for the Shickluna yard located 2.5 kilometers to the West on the Welland Canal below Lock 3.

In the spring of 1864 about 1000 people turned out to watch the Simpson Shipyard’s inaugural launch of the 43 metre long barkentine, “Jessie Drummond”. By 1865 the Simpson yard was turning out primarily mechanically powered vessels though still constructed the occasional bark or schooner. Simpson also operated a shipyard further up the canal at Port Robinson which built oversized ships custom made for upper great lake service as these larger ships were not able to transit Welland Canal locks.

Seemingly just as quick as Melancthon Simpson set up his operation at Lock 5, by 1876 he had just a suddenly shut it down. Simpson tried to set up an operation on the new third Welland Canal that was under construction at the time. With the third canal venture not coming to fruition, Simpson left the area for good by the summer of 1877. Simpson moved to Hamilton, then Toronto where he eventually retired.53

As far as the exact location of the Simpson Shipyard at Lock 5, there seems to be no definitive information available. In the few references to the shipyard that are available, only one source offers information that the shipyard was located in the pond area of adjacent to Lock 5. The Lock 5 pondage was located adjacent to the canal on the East side. The pond itself was an elongated teardrop body of water with a long narrowing channel that flowed into the canal through a weir structure just north of the downbound entrance to Lock 5. The wider, south end of the pond joined the canal upbound of Lock 5 and adjacent to the Canada Knife Works. The pond area is clearly visible and marked on the 1921 aerial photo. The exact location of the shipyard within the Lock 5 pondage is unknown. The shipyard was likely nearer the wide entrance where the canal flowed into the pond area based on ease of access for ships to and from the canal proper.

53 Warwick, Peter D. A. “Simpson, Melancthon.” Dictionary of Canadian Biography. University of Toronto, 2000. Web. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 66 of 181

Image 39: Remains of foundation of the Canada Knife Works, Merritton.54

(d) Locks 6 to 13, Second Welland Canal

Within Merritton Locks Park are located the largest concentration of abandoned Welland Canal locks in existence. No less than eight locks remain within the park.

Note throughout the park, the low to mid height canopy of tree cover along both sides of the trail. The abundance of urban greenery is what makes this park so special a place to residents and visitors alike. If one is trying to form an image in one's mind of what this stretch of second Welland Canal looked like when it was a humming and clanking hub of industry, the trees have to go. Virtually the entire length of this section of canal was once home to about a dozen major manufacturers whose products were shipped the world over. In other words, very few trees were present. The area was an open vista encompassing the Welland Canal, associated weir ponds, raceways and wharves. The grand homes built by prosperous canal entrepreneurs and industrialists alike still dot the South end of Oakdale Avenue, facing the canal. Oakdale Avenue was once known as the Thorold Road and parallels the second Welland Canal to Lock 12. In addition, the original rail line of the Great Western Railway still bisects the canal at Lock 12. Built in the 1850s, the rail line used to cross a swing bridge at Lock 12. The original line is still in use as the CN Rail mainline through St. Catharines.

Merritton’s industries, most of which were located on the East bank of the Welland Canal, were often sprawling though linear affairs that utilized as much waterfront space as possible. The ultimate aim was for enterprises to have their own wharves for ships to quickly unload raw material and just as quickly sail away to the Canadian and global marketplace with finished products and commodities. Merritton firms quickly garnered a reputation that was second to none in craftsmanship and quality.

54 Rene Ressler. Image No. Canknife. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 67 of 181

The surviving locks within the park are in various states of repair but for the most part are intact and as true to plumb as the day they were opened to navigation in 1847. The locks of the second Welland Canal in Merritton were constructed using blocks of cut Queenston Limestone. The blocks were cut on site from rough limestone that was sledged down the Queenston Heights to waiting barges where they would be ferried to Port Dalhousie and towed through the locks of the first Welland Canal to their perspective construction locations.

All of the remaining locks within the park have up to three or four top rows of stone masonry missing. Some of these stones have been incorporated into breaks to facilitate the flow of water through the locks. The second Welland Canal locks through the park now serve as a storm water management system.

Lock 13, which is located at the southernmost end of the park, is where a conduit empties water back into the old canal. The conduit begins further up the escarpment at Lock 17 where the flow of water through the canal is diverted underground. Each lock within the park is explorable and pedestrian bridges span most of the locks within the park for easy access to opposite banks of the second Welland Canal. At Lock 9, Disher Street crosses the canal to a West bank road called Moffat Street. Once an additional canal side industrial road, Moffat Street today is a unique residential enclave that highly sought after for its “‘country’ living within the city” qualities and atmosphere.

Image 40: Panorama, East wall, Lock 6.55

55 Rene Ressler. Image No. L63. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 68 of 181

Image 41: Lock 6, South view from downbound East lock wall.56 Image 42: Lock 6, number stone, East lock wall, downbound end of lock.57

Image 43: Lock 7, South view from West lock wall, downbound end of lock.58 Image 44: Lock 7, North view, from pedestrian bridge.59

56 Rene Ressler. Image No. L65. 57 Rene Ressler. Image No. L66. 58 Rene Ressler. Image No. L71. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 69 of 181

Image 45: Lock 8, upbound/South view from East bank.60 Image 46: Lock 10, crack in upbound wall, west lock wall.61

59 Rene Ressler. Image No. L72. 60 Rene Ressler. Image No. L81. 61 Rene Ressler. Image No. L101. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 70 of 181

4. "Neptune's Staircase": The Mountain Locks Section

Map 6: "Neptune's Staircase": The Mountain Locks Section of the first and second Welland Canal.

Points of Interest (a) Buried Lock 14, Second Welland Canal and the Johansson's Bar Display (b) Lock 15, Second Welland Canal and Turning Basin (c) Mountain Locks Weir and Pond System (d) Lock 24, First Welland Canal (e) Goose Island and remnant of First Welland Canal (f) “Neptune’s Staircase”: Locks 16 to 21, Second Welland Canal

Overview

Mountain Locks Park was created using the locale and locks of the first and second Welland Canals. The park is unique in the sense that this was where vessels literally climbed or descended the Niagara Escarpment. Vessels were lifted or lowered a staggering 85 feet between Locks 15 and 21 of the second Welland Canal.

Constructed laterally along the escarpment face, the seven closely and evenly spaced locks surely made for a less arduous transit of the escarpment, than what was likely experienced on the first Welland Canal. Unlike its predecessor, which followed the natural contours of the escarpment along present day Merritt Street, the second Welland Canal incorporated a sequence of locks and channels built in a straight line. The first waterway was located slightly northeast and downhill, of the second canal, running almost parallel to present day Merritt Street.

Opened to navigation in 1847 and unofficially named “Neptune’s Staircase” by the predominantly Irish labourers who helped build the lock, the waterway remained a canal workhorse until the opening of the third Welland Canal 40 years later in 1887. Upon the opening to navigation of the ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 71 of 181 third Welland Canal in 1887, lake to lake transits on the second canal ceased though local vessel movements continued into the early decades of the 20th-century.

Instead of retiring the second waterway it was expanded and built upon to fulfill its new role as a unique and powerful hydraulic raceway. After 1887, the second Welland and Neptune’s Staircase was used as a power source for the burgeoning industrial base of Merritton and St. Catharines, further to the North. Merritton was bisected with a myriad of arcing raceways leading to and from factories along the canal. Mountain Locks Park in its heyday was a multi-terraced hydraulic energy source in a pre-electricity era. The water flow was guided and channeled through a series of terraces and channels. For a 19th-century manufacturer in Merritton a raceway accessing the Welland Canal was as important as an electrical hookup would be to a contemporary business today. As firms began to operate further away from the canal banks, hydraulic raceways were vital for powering machinery.

By the late 19th-century, railroads had begun to offer stiff and direct competition to ship traffic for the movement of goods and raw materials through Niagara. Firms began to rely less on the once lucrative and crucial canal side properties, and began to expand or relocate inland, nearer the rail lines. Even with competition from the railroads and the advent of electric power, the former second canal and “Neptune’s Staircase” played a significant role in the economic welfare of the Town of Merritton well into the 20th-century.

Locks 18 through 21 are still watered and function as part of the city's storm water management system. At Lock 17, the water flow is diverted into a culvert built into the centre of the lock chamber resulting in the West end, or downbound half of Lock 17 being dry and accessible for viewing. The lower locks, Locks 17 through 15, have accessible chambers where one can explore from the bottom up and examine up close the intricate and exquisite Queenston Limestone masonry that make up the lock’s construction. To the naked eye, the locks of the second Welland Canal in the park are solid and true with very little visible deterioration.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 72 of 181

(a) The Johansson's Bar Display and Lock 14, Second Welland Canal

The first point of interest of the Mountain Locks Section is the Johansson's Bar Display located on the North side of Glendale Avenue, opposite Mountain Street and Lock 14 of the second Welland Canal located just north of the display.

Image 47: Johansson’s Bar Display, overtop buried second Welland Canal channel, Glendale Avenue.62

The Johansson’s Bar was an integral tool used to help construct the locks of the second Welland Canal. Donated by the Walker Brothers Quarries in 1983, the Johansson’s Bar is a relic from the mid-1800s and was actually used in the construction the second canal. The second Welland Canal was the first waterway that used stone as opposed to timber in its lock design. The bar itself resembles a crowbar. Large iron rings attached to the bar held an even longer wooden pole that when utilized, would provide the necessary leverage for moving limestone blocks into place by one or two workers. In an era before powered lifting equipment, the Johansson’s Bar was crucial to the exact placement of the limestone blocks, which could weigh as much as a ton. The Johansson’s Bar was also used in the construction of Brock’s Monument in Queenston which was also erected during the mid-1800s.

Lock 14 of the second Welland Canal is located and buried about 60 meters to the North of the Johansson’s Bar display. Until recently the downbound lock wall capstones were visible. By the summer of 2009, the remaining exposed portions of the lock wall were buried during the subsequent construction of the new Sobeys store and plaza adjacent to the lock and channel. The buried Lock 14 is located adjacent to the West wall of the Sobeys store.

Image 48: Top of lock wall, Lock 14, before construction cover.63

62 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-2463. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 73 of 181

(b) Lock 15, Second Welland Canal and Turning Basin

Thoroughly hidden from traffic and sidewalk sightlines, Lock 15 often appears as a “discovery” of sorts to those who happen upon it. One must almost be on top of the lock wall to view Lock 15 as it blends into the urban landscape. It is ironic indeed that Lock 15 lies only a few meters from, arguably, one of the busiest thoroughfares in the City of St. Catharines. Lock 15 has been filled in leaving only the top two rows of stonework of each lock wall visible above ground.

Image 49: Lock 15, second Welland Canal, North view.64

The open green space to the South of Lock 15, which also serves as the official entrance to Mountain Locks Park, was all under water as recently as 60 years ago. The graceful park at the corner of Bradley and Mountain Streets was a turning basin for vessels transiting the canal as well as a staging area for ships loading or unloading cargo at the mills and manufacturers nearby. At the East end of the open space is the downbound entrance of Lock 16. Lock 16 is the lock that is situated at the bottom of “Neptune’s Staircase”. At this point the canal makes a 45 degree turn to the South to continue on through Merritton, St. Catharines and finally the Northern canal terminus at Port Dalhousie. The course that the canal followed is easy to imagine due to the juxtapositions of Locks 15 and 16.

Image 50: Location of turning Basin and entrance to “Neptune’s Staircase”, Lock 16 in background.65

63 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-1230. 64 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-2577. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 74 of 181

Image 51: Lock 16, North wall, West view.66

One must always keep in mind that when the second Welland Canal was in operation as a navigable waterway and subsequent hydraulic raceway, there were very few trees in the area. Mountain Locks Park was an open industrial area up until the first half of the 20th-century, with the majority of the present day park being underwater. The beautiful forested spaces within the park are almost entirely a product of subsequent forest reclamation after the waterway was abandoned.

(c) Mountain Locks Weir and Pond System

The entire Northern half of the Mountain Locks portion of the second Welland Canal is where the extensive and precisely engineered pond and weir system of the Niagara Escarpment portion of the second Welland Canal is located. A forest trail follows along the top of the uppermost dyke constructed to direct overflow water away from the locks of the canal. The volume of water necessary to operate the locks of "Neptune's Staircase" was much less than the water volume that actually flowed over the Niagara Escarpment through the Welland Canal North from Lake Erie. As a result, a carefully constructed pond and weir system was required to manage the heavy flow of water over the escarpment. If the excess water was not adequately diverted, the locks and channels of the second Welland Canal at the escarpment would be nothing more than an artificial set of raging rapids. In the archival photo, taken circa 1921, the extensive pond and weir system can be clearly seen to the right of the straight line of locks in this West facing view. Just before Lock 21 at the bottom of the photo, just past where the canal turns 45 degrees, a channel leading off the canal proper is visible. This channel is at the summit of the cascading weir system.

65 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-1243. 66 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-1230. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 75 of 181

Image 52: Ruin of weir structure, North of Lock 16, East view.67

The water that was diverted off the canal at the top of the Niagara Escarpment was certainly not wasted as this excess made up the bulk of the water used to operate the hydraulic raceways through Merritton. In fact the water diverted off the top of the escarpment was managed via various raceways through Merritton to power industry and mills in St. Catharines at the Welland Canal Valley, a distance of four kilometers away. For the mid-19th-century, in the days prior to powered digging and earth moving vehicles, this was no small feat of engineering. Try to visualize the entire Northern half of the park that runs parallel to the locks as a giant ice cube tray which terraced down the side of the Niagara Escarpment. Weir channels were cut at right angles to the canal to divert water from one level to the next. Many of these weir structures still exist and can be viewed within Mountain Locks Park. Though broken up and in ruins, the weir structures were constructed in the same elegant masonry as the locks of the second Welland Canal. Two of these structures can be seen from Merritt Street and another behind the Keg Restaurant. One other very large weir structure can be found North of Lock 17 in the forest.

The heavily forested Northern boundary of the park is literally an oasis for viewing smaller wildlife and fauna native to Niagara. Though partially hidden by 75 years of unabated forest reclamation, long forgotten weir structures emerge from the forest seemingly reminiscent of Central American Incan and Mayan ruins.

(d) Lock 24, First Welland Canal

Built in the mid-, rediscovered in the 1960s and unearthed in 1988, Lock 24 of the first Welland Canal presented archeologists with a nearly intact example of one of the original timber locks of the first waterway. Constructed of 16x16” oak timbers the first canal was immediately plagued by bank erosion and deteriorating timbers. The cost of maintaining the first waterway eventually bankrupted the Welland Canal Company which was the private enterprise that built and operated the original canal. The second Welland Canal was constructed after the Government of Upper Canada bought out the company and operated the canal as one of the earliest Crown

67 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-2584. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 76 of 181 corporations in Canada. The Crown totally financed the construction of the second Welland Canal and utilized larger stone locks rather than the less robust timber locks of the first waterway.

Image 53: Excavated Lock 24, first Welland Canal, 1988.68

Lock 24 of the first Welland Canal of which a small portion of channel still remains within the park, is located North of, and below Lock 18 of the second Welland Canal. Lock 24 was excavated by archeologists in 1988 where the entire Eastern half of the lock was uncovered to the sill plate. In addition, remains of the upbound timber lock gates were found still hung, though damaged. The Iron Gate hardware was removed from the gates and preserved and are now on display at the St. Catharines Museum at Lock 3. After mapping the excavated lock, the lock was reburied for preservation and a parkette created overtop the buried lock. A reconstruction of the timber lock walls were installed as a static display and the lock footprint was outlined on the ground with beams and gravel. As of 2012, the reconstructed lock timbers that make up part of the 1988 static display have severely deteriorated and need to be refurbished or removed. At the downbound entrance to Lock 24 sits a commemorative plaque detailing the lock’s history and 1988 excavation.

Image 54: Site of buried Lock 24, first Welland Canal, East view.69

68 St. Catharines Standard. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 77 of 181

(e) Goose Island and Remnant of First Welland Canal

Goose Island is the colloquial name of a small neighborhood located to the immediate North of the Mountain Locks of the second Welland Canal. In the urban landscape of present day St. Catharines, Goose Island resembles a small oasis of "country" within the present day City of St. Catharines. Though not an island rather the neighborhood was once a man-made island. The island separated the second Welland Canal from the engineered structures that carried excess water over the escarpment via a series of ponds and weirs that cascaded off the escarpment to the former Town of Merritton at the foot of the escarpment.

Near the top of Merritt Street at Ball Avenue West, a small cement bridge crosses what appears to be a Cat Tail choked ditch. The ditch parallels Merritt Street in a gentle curve about 200 meters downhill and to the Northwest. This ditch is in fact a remaining section of the first Welland Canal. Immediately North of the bridge was the site of a first Canal lock. This part of the first Welland Canal at Ball Avenue West and the other known portion of the first Welland Canal at Welland Vale are the only remnants of William Hamilton Merritt's first waterway.

Image 55: Bridge over surviving section of first Welland Canal, Ball Avenue West and Merritt Street.70

(f) “Neptune’s Staircase”: Locks 21 to 16, Second Welland Canal

At the top of the Niagara Escarpment is the first lock of "Neptune's Staircase", the name given to the portion of the second Welland Canal that traverses the Niagara Escarpment. From Lock 21 at the top of the escarpment through to Lock 18 open water still flows down the escarpment through the old canal. At Lock 17, the water plunges underground and reappears about 600 meters downstream at Lock 13. The canal was diverted through an underground culvert at Lock 17 in 1961

69 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-2590. 70 Rene Ressler. Image No. 100-2598. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 78 of 181 to make way for subdivisions behind and East of the Pen Centre as well as giving the right of way to the widened Glendale Avenue. Culverting the second Welland Canal across Glendale Avenue was seen as being more practical and less expensive than bridging the canal at this spot.

Image 56: Aerial view of Locks 21 to 16, circa 1921.71 Image 57: Top of “Neptune’s Staircase” at Lock 21, present day Bradley Street, left of the lock, West view.72

The cinder path that leads down the escarpment adjacent to the South bank of Neptune's Staircase provides a great opportunity to examine the canal locks up close. Locks 21 to 19 still have their lock numbers carved into their “number stones,” for lack of a better term. A distinguished and detailed 19th-century style script was utilized for these engravings. Very few locks of the second waterway still have their number stones intact. Locks 6 and 7, located further downstream in Merritton still have theirs but the rest have been lost. Locks 16 and 17 provide access into the lock chambers themselves.

Image 58: Number stone, Lock 21.73

It is interesting to note that the locks of the second Welland Canal have weathered the years much better than the locks the third canal which were built over 40 years later and are located a few kilometers to the East in Thorold.

71 St. Catharines Historical Museum, St. Catharines. Image No. N9948. 72 St. Catharines Historical Museum, St. Catharines. Image No. N9451. 73 Rene Ressler. Image No. 2157. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 79 of 181

5. Thorold/Allanburg/Port Robinson

Map 7: Thorold/Allanburg/Port Robinson section of the first and second Welland Canal.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 80 of 181

Points of Interest (a) Sites of Locks 22 to 25, Second Welland Canal (b) Surviving Portion of First and Second Welland Canal, Allanburg (c) Port Robinson River Lock

Overview

Before one can understand the degree in which the destinies of the City of Thorold and the Welland Canal are forever entwined, one must first undertake the sometimes daunting task of sorting out all the different waterways themselves.

Thorold is a city of eras. Thorold is a city of layers. The layers that measure Thorold’s history are each generation of the Welland Canal. With the building of each new canal, beginning with the first waterway in 1829, each additional incarnation has left its imprint on Thorold and its residents. Each new incarnation of the canal brought dramatic changes to the physical and economic landscape of the city. Many of which can still be seen today.

It seems like they were always building a canal in Thorold.

First settled in the Beaverdams and St. John’s area by Loyalists, no real village center existed on the brow of the Niagara Escarpment prior to the building of the first Welland Canal in 1824. Other than the settlement at Beaverdams and St. John's, the Decew House and the site of The Battle of Beaverdams were the few known pre-canal landmarks in what is now present day Thorold.

As the new canal also provided a seemingly endless supply of water that drove the small flour mills, saw mills and other manufactures that sprang up along both banks of the canal beginning at the brow of the escarpment near present day Townline Road and John Street. The Village of Thorold spread south along the Welland Canal, rising to the escarpment crest at Beaverdams.

In the early 1840’s the Government of Upper Canada bailed out the near bankrupt Welland Canal Company and took over ownership of the first Welland Canal and promptly set to work building a larger second canal utilizing cut limestone as opposed to the timber lock construction of the first canal. There was money to be made in Thorold in the mid-1850s and made it was. Evidence of this period of prosperity can be seen in the huge stately Victorian homes that still dot the high banks of the former canal valley through the downtown core.

Welland Mills at 20 Pine St. North was once the largest flour mill in Canada and turned out an amazing 90 tonnes of flour per day.74 The mill was operated by the Keefer family. George Keefer was an early backer of the Welland Canal whose sons and grandsons prospered greatly from their various canal related ventures. Members of the Keefer family went on to become civil engineers that took part in the building of both the second and third Welland Canals. The Welland Mills site is a canal lands re-utilization success story. The entire former mill was refurbished as affordable housing for aging baby boomers with retail space located on the ground floor. The Welland Mills

74 Styran, Roberta and R. Taylor. The Welland Canals – The Growth of Mr. Merritt's Ditch. Boston Mills Publishing, 1988. Print. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 81 of 181 development has made maximum use of its own historical legacy as a selling point, to further enhance its contemporary function.

A refurbished Keefer Mansion still watches over the buried canal from above, located on St. David’s Road. In a relatively short time span, The Keefer Mansion Inn has grown in reputation to be one of Niagara’s premier inns.

Looking at the archival shot of the schooner, “D. Freeman” tied up in the canal with the Keefer residence in the background, one can only imagine the sea of masts as ships converged at the top of “Neptune’s Staircase” waiting to descend the escarpment at the North end of the village, between Locks 22 and 23. The locks themselves being very tight pinch points that usually held only one ship at a time, transit times would have been long during the heart shipping season. Very wide sausage shaped channels linked Locks 22 to 25 of the second canal as it snaked through the town center. As the canal was also used to wash away the industrial waste of the manufacturers along its route, it would be fair to say that the canal held not the sweetest of water. During the rare occasion when the canal through Thorold was dewatered the sometimes large build-ups of saw dust and other industrial residue that actually impeded the flow of water through the canal were dredged from the canal.

With the opening of the third Welland Canal in 1887, which by-passed Thorold to the East, ship traffic on the second Welland Canal through Thorold dwindled dramatically until navigation on the canal through Thorold ceased completely when began in 1914. Beginning in 1959 the second Welland Canal through the City of Thorold was filled in. All that remains of this once vibrant shipping channel, are the swales in the landscape through the heart of downtown Thorold. The huge complex of warehouses that is the Book Depot on Front St. began as a paper mill that set up shop on the 2nd canal in the 1800s.

Today it would be difficult to track the canals exact route through the downtown core without the help of archival photos as structures and property lines overlap the original channel. The fire station on Towpath Street, located behind Henderson’s Front Street Pharmacy, was built directly overtop the newly filled in canal in the early 1960s. From information gathered from older Thorold residents, the canal was a traffic impediment and the general consensus was that it smelled awfully, especially in summer. Civic insurance liabilities may also have had a part to play in the burying of the canal. In virtually all of the available archival photos of the old canals there is nary a guardrail in sight.

With the commissioning of the third Welland Canal in the mid 1870s, Thorold was blessed with yet another monumental construction project. By an Act of Parliament, the third Welland Canal was not to be industrialized. Thorold still realized the bounty of the new canal through employment and construction contracts. Spectacular examples of late Victorian-era civil architecture that highlighted this era of canal building can still be seen at many locations along the third Welland Canal, located east of the present canal.

The biggest canal project was to come in the form of Locks 4 to 7 of the new fourth Welland Canal beginning in 1913 until its opening in 1932. The gargantuan Twin Flight Locks that encased Locks 4 to 6 in one structure that straddled the escarpment brow and stretched along the entire Eastern border of the town. Waves of workers and their families descended upon Thorold and brought with them the ethnic diversity that gives Thorold a special Old World flavour today. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 82 of 181

Finally, the sailors still come to Thorold and stay in converted fourth Welland Canal construction offices like the Inn at Lock 7. The tall masts may have gone but Thorold is still a maritime city and continues to guard the brow of the escarpment, offering safe passage to all manner of vessels that have sailed through its environs these past 180 years.

(a) Sites of Locks 22 to 25, Second Welland Canal

As explained in the Overview, the second Welland Canal was completely filled in through the downtown core of Thorold between 1959 and 1961. The locks that were spaced through the downtown core were buried intact. Lock 22 is located approximately beneath the parking lot of the Front Row Sports store on Front Street North. In fact the buildings that house Front Row Sports and the adjacent Big Red's warehouse are refurbished second Welland Canal era stone buildings. Lock 23 is buried beneath the parking lot of the front offices of the Book Depot.

Image 59: Present day sites of Locks 22 and 23, second Welland Canal, South view.75

Lock 24 of the second Welland Canal is buried beneath the front lawn of the Thorold Downtown Fire Station on Albert Street West. Lock 25 is the only Thorold lock of the second Welland Canal still visible. The lock was re-excavated during the 1970s when the Battle of Beaverdams Park was created. The lock walls now serve as seating for the band shell located on the former West canal bank adjacent to the lock. The second Welland Canal, including Lock 26 was obliterated south of Richmond Street during the construction of the around 1966.

75 Rene Ressler. Image Nos. Lock22site and Lock23site. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 83 of 181

Image 60: Present day site of Lock 24, Second Welland Canal, South view.76 Image 61: Lock 25, Second Welland canal, Battle of Beaverdams Park, Thorold, North view.77

(b) Surviving Portion of First and Second Welland Canal, Allanburg

The Village of Allanburg is where William Hamilton Merritt presided over a sod turning ceremony on November 30, 1824 to mark the beginning of construction for the first Welland Canal. There is a cairn marking the location where the ceremony took place on the West side of the Allanburg Lift Bridge. There is a small part of the first Welland Canal that joins the fourth Canal on the West bank just south of the Allanburg Bridge. Also at Allanburg are the remains of the West wall for an unnumbered safety lock that was built as part of the second Welland Canal. The West bank of the present canal through Allanburg was also the West bank for the second and third Welland Canals. The canal/deep cut was widened east for each subsequent canal after the second canal.

Image x: Section of first Welland Canal channel, Allanburg, South view.78 Image x: Site of sod turning ceremony, November 30, 1824, East view.79

76 Rene Ressler. Image No. Lock24site. 77 Rene Ressler. Image No. L251. 78 Rene Ressler. Image No. allanburg1st1. 79 Rene Ressler. Image No. allanburgsodturn. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 84 of 181

(c) Port Robinson River Lock

Prior to 1833 Port Robinson was the Southern terminus of the first Welland Canal. Vessels left the canal to continue their journey east down the Welland River where they were towed to Lake Erie against the current of the Niagara River. Port Robinson was an international Port with a Customs House and an extensive shipyard. After 1833, the Welland Canal was extended to Gravelly Bay (Port Colborne) where all subsequent versions of the Welland Canal joined Lake Erie.

The only visible remnant of the old Welland Canals in this once thriving canal village is the partially visible River Lock. The River Lock is an unnumbered lock built similarly to the same specifications and using the same Queenston limestone construction as locks of the second Welland Canal. The lock was located approximately at the midway point of an artificial channel that linked the Welland River and the second Welland Canal. The lock can still be viewed and is located opposite the park on River Street in the Village of Port Robinson.

Image 62: Port Robinson River Lock, West view.80 Image 63: Port Robinson River Lock, circa 1914, West view.81

80 Rene Ressler. Image No. Rlock 5. 81 Rene Ressler. Image No. Rlock 1914. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 85 of 181

Image 64: Port Robinson River Lock, circa 1924.82 Image 65: Port Robinson River Lock, circa 1966.83

82 Rene Ressler. Image No. Rlock 19242. 83 Rene Ressler. Image No. Rlock 1966. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 86 of 181

6. Welland/Port Colborne

Map 8: Welland/Port Colborne sections of the first and second Welland Canal.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 87 of 181

Points of Interest (a) Second Welland Canal Aqueduct (b) Feeder Canal Junction Lock (c) Lock 27, Second Welland Canal

Overview

The Cities of Welland and Port Colborne respectively owe their very existence to the building of the first Welland Canal. Settlement of present day Welland and Port Colborne began as a result of the building of the canal. There are few surviving remnants of the second Welland Canal in Welland and Port Colborne and no surviving elements of the first waterway. As all four Welland Canals coursed through what is now the City of Welland and joined Lake Erie at Port Colborne, virtually all previous incarnations of the canal were erased or absorbed into each subsequent version of the canal. Though little of the second canal infrastructure remains the few surviving bits were once crucial and integral to the operation of the entire waterway. The Feeder Canal and Junction Lock located on the West bank of the abandoned portion of the fourth Welland Canal (now the Welland Recreational Waterway) in Welland was basically an adjunct navigable waterway while serving its primary role as the water source for the first and second Welland Canals.

In their own eras, the four Welland Canals each had to overcome the obstacle of the Welland River that ran East/West into the Niagara River. The builders breached this obstacle with an aqueduct that carried the canal over top of the Welland River. The second Welland Canal Aqueduct which is located in downtown Welland still survives and has been converted into a canal bank park area. The timber aqueduct of the first canal has long since vanished and the larger stone aqueduct of the third Welland Canal was demolished to make way for the even larger fourth Welland Canal channel.

Port Colborne is also the location of Lock 27 of the second Welland Canal. Lock 27 was in fact a lift lock as opposed to the final locks of the third and fourth Welland Canals which are safety locks.

(a) Second Welland Canal Aqueduct

As with the first Welland Canal the enlarged second waterway required an aqueduct to carry the canal over the Welland River. The second aqueduct was constructed southeast of the first aqueduct using the same limestone blocks as the second Welland Canal locks proper. The aqueduct was designed to be aesthetically pleasing as well as functional. Built at a juxtaposition of 90 degrees over top of the Welland River which flowed beneath it, the second Welland Canal aqueduct was in operation for over 40 years until replaced by the larger third Welland Canal aqueduct. The third aqueduct was constructed immediately to the North and adjacent to the second canal structure. In 1940 the abandoned second Welland Canal Aqueduct was converted into a large public swimming pool that was in use into the early 1990s.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 88 of 181

Image 66: Third Welland Canal and aqueduct with second Canal aqueduct in the bottom right, Northeast view, circa 1917.84

Image 67: Second Welland Canal aqueduct, west wall, South.85

It is an interesting fact that original settlement of Welland began at the first Welland Canal aqueduct construction site with a few sheds and shanties for the various tradesmen and workers, along with their families. In fact, for a short time the name of this burgeoning shanty town that sprang up around the site was "Aqueduct". With the construction of the second aqueduct in the 1840s the settlement of Welland spread south along the banks of the Welland Canal. For its time the three 19th-century Welland Canal aqueducts were each a staggering feat of civil engineering, especially the first two aqueducts which were constructed in the days before powered excavation and lifting machinery.

The second aqueduct has since been filled in and makes up the centerpiece of a large floral garden on the bank of the Welland Recreational Waterway. The above water portion of the North wall of the aqueduct is still visible and showcases the graceful lines and solid construction of this magnificent example of mid-19th-century civil engineering.

84 Rene Ressler. Image No. 2ndand3rdaqueduct1917. 85 Rene Ressler. Image No. Aq22. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 89 of 181

(b) Feeder Canal Junction Lock

Unearthed in 2010, the Feeder Canal Junction Lock has been brought back into the forefront of the City of Welland's historical canal consciousness by being incorporated into an informative and interpretive static display. The Junction Lock is located along the Welland Canal Recreational Trail on the West bank of the Welland Canal Recreational Waterway, just South of Ontario Road. Buried within a decade of being closed to navigation in 1914, the lock was virtually forgotten. The construction and opening of the fourth Welland Canal in 1932 made the Junction Lock even less visible as its entrance was plugged at the Welland Canal.

One role of the Junction Lock was to allow ships to transit the Feeder Canal from Port Maitland to the Welland Canal proper. Built to the same specifications and architecture as the other locks on the second Welland Canal, the Junction Lock had a counterpart at the opposite end of the Feeder Canal in Port Maitland. The Feeder Canal linked to the Grand River in Port Maitland and provided water for the first two Welland Canals.

The Feeder Canal still runs straight and true from Welland to Port Maitland and is navigable to canoes and kayaks for virtually its entire length.

The Feeder Canal Junction Lock was the second of two locks that fed secondary navigable channels to and from the main line North/South canal. The Port Robinson River Lock made it possible for ships to access the Welland Canal from the Niagara River via the Welland River.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 90 of 181

Image 68: Junction Lock, Welland, East view and plaque.86

(c) Lock 27, Second Welland Canal

Lock 27 of the second Welland Canal looks much the same as the rest of the second Welland Canal locks that precede it all the way North to Port Dalhousie except for one detail, Lock 27 is about twice as long as the rest of the locks on the second waterway. The lock also had two pairs of gates, one at each end. The reason for the extended length may have something to do with fluctuating water levels between the upbound and downbound approaches to Lock 27. Lock 27 of the third Canal and Lock 8 of the present canal, which are safety locks specifically built to adjust for fluctuating water levels of just a few feet. The massive Lock 8 on the present canal which is the longest canal lock in the world only has a lift of about 12 feet.

The other reason for an extended lock was possibly to avoid traffic jams. Lock 27 appears to have been able to handle locking two or more ships, depending on their length. It would be easy to imagine a backlog of vessels patiently (or impatiently) waiting their turn to access the canal for the downbound transit, or, to enter Lake Erie for the upbound trip. The lock is intact and even has some of its original gate opening hardware visible from the West bank of the lock.

86 Rene Ressler. Image No. Feed9 and Feed10. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 91 of 181

Image 69: Panorama, Lock 27, East lock wall.87

Image 70: Period postcard depicting Lock 27 of the second and third Welland Canals, North West view.88

87 Rene Ressler. Image No. L275. 88 Rene Ressler. Image No. Lock272ndpc from Niagara Falls Library Historical Digital Collection. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 92 of 181

B: Third Welland Canal

1. Port Dalhousie Section

Map 9: Port Dalhousie section of the third Welland Canal. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 93 of 181

Points of Interest (a) Piers, Outer and Inner Range Lighthouse (b) Muir Brothers Shipyard (c) Locks 1 to 3

Overview

With the opening of the first Welland Canal in 1829, Port Dalhousie rapidly transformed into a small but bustling port at the outflow into Lake Ontario of Twelve Mile Creek. The early 1840s saw Port Dalhousie's Outer and Inner Harbour created out of the marsh and wetlands that were previously located at the mouth of The Twelve. The once serpentine Twelve Mile Creek was dredged and its banks flooded to create Martindale Pond which later became known as the Inner Harbour. Present day Lakeside Park was created with the spoils of earth removed in the straightening of the lower portion of Twelve Mile Creek and the dredging of the creek bed and marshlands at the mouth of the creek. By the 1847 opening of the second Welland Canal, Port Dalhousie Harbour was a busy international port at the Northern terminus of the Welland Canal. The majority of the businesses in operation in the Village of Port Dalhousie were established to service the needs of the vessels that transited the canal, as well as, the sailors and tow crews that moved the ships through the canal.

In 1887 the new third Welland Canal opened to navigation and with its construction, the Outer Harbour was widened considerably to the East. The width of the Inner Harbour was more than doubled to facilitate the lock approach to Lock 1 and the lock itself. Steamships transiting the Welland Canal under their own power needed much more room within the harbour to manoeuvre as to safely enter the first lock of the third waterway. Lock 1 of the second Welland Canal still operated in tandem with Lock 1 of the third canal and greatly increased vessel traffic in the Inner Harbour.

Image 71: Ship approaching Lock 2, across Martindale Pond circa 1920s.89

89 St. Catharines Historical Museum, St. Catharines. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 94 of 181

Within a decade of the opening of the third Welland Canal, two new lighthouses were built on the West pier. The Outer Range light was built at the tip of the West pier and the Inner Range Light further South, closer to the centre of the half kilometre long pier.

The largest of the previously mentioned Port Dalhousie firms that serviced vessels that transited the canal and sailed the Great Lakes was the Muir Brothers Shipyard. Muir Brothers was located on the East bank of the Inner Harbour just above Lock 1 of the second Welland Canal. By the 1860s, the Muir Shipyard had become the largest shipyards in Niagara, surpassing the tonnage and prominence of the Shickluna Shipyard at St. Catharines by the 1870s. With a large dry dock and an expanse of docking areas and fitting out basins, Muir Brothers became one of the busier yards for both shipbuilding and ship repair on the Great Lakes. Access to Martindale Pond gave Muir's Shipyards almost unlimited docking space in the Inner Harbour made the yard a popular location for winter lay-ups where ships could be refitted and serviced during the winter months when the canal was closed.

In the early years of operation on the third Welland Canal, sailing ships still used tow crews to transit the canal. A large floating towpath similar to one used on the second canal was used to pull ships across the Inner Harbour to Lock 2. By the turn of the 20th-century, steam operated tow tugboats replaced horses as the means of moving sailing ships within both the Inner and Outer Port Dalhousie Harbours. The floating towpath had also been replaced by a concrete path that spanned the entire length of the Inner Harbour save for a gap in the centre for the movement of ships from the shipyard to the canal proper. The concrete towpath also served as a berthing area for vessels. The steam tugs also led sailing vessels into the locks during their transit of the third Welland Canal.

Located at the Southeast corner of the Inner Harbour at Lock 2, the third Welland Canal continued its nine kilometre track across Grantham Township (now St. Catharines) to the foot of the Niagara Escarpment.

(a) Piers, Outer and Inner Range Lighthouse

The East and West piers of the third Welland Canal are enlargements of the original piers of the second Welland Canal that were in the same location. The channel between the piers had been dredged to allow for deeper draught vessels to navigate Port Dalhousie's Outer Harbour which was widened considerably during the construction of the third Welland Canal. In their heyday, at the turn of the 20th-century, both piers had rail lines that serviced passengers on the West pier and freight and cargo on the East pier. The East pier was and is still known as the "Michigan side" as the pier was the Northern terminus of the Michigan Central Railroad in Niagara. A large grain elevator and coal depot with adjacent rail access were both in operation on the East pier well into the 20th-century. The West pier hosted a passenger ferry terminal and was the Northern terminus of the Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway. In the summer months, thousands of visitors from Toronto and other locales along Lake Ontario descended upon Port Dalhousie via ferries and boarded the streetcar that carried them to nearby Niagara Falls. In the days before the automobile, Port Dalhousie Harbour was the primary access point for visitors to Niagara. The ferry service also continued on to Niagara-on-the-Lake and Queenston.

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The Outer and Inner Range Lighthouses were both constructed around 1898 or 1899 and were manned by lighthouse keepers. The Outer Range Lighthouse still operates as an unmanned beacon at the very tip of the West pier. The Inner Range Lighthouse has been decommissioned and restored several times over the years and was repainted as recently as 2011. The lighthouse is not open to the public and was most recently used by Niagara College as a sailing school classroom. After the canallers and passenger ferries left Port Dalhousie nearer to the end of the 1950s, the piers have been reinforced and capped with smooth concrete, making for a spectacular twin promenade with benches for strollers and service hook ups for docking pleasure craft.

Image 72: Inner Range Lighthouse, North view.90 Image 73: Outer Range Lighthouse, Northeast view.91

Leisure vessels, large and small are constant and plentiful along both piers during the navigating season and anglers utilize both piers all year round. With two adjacent marinas and a yacht club using the channel between the piers to access Lake Ontario, there is always a plethora of vessels of all stripes and types, to be seen. After all these years, the East and West piers of the third Welland Canal in Port Dalhousie still serve as the recreational craft gateway to St. Catharines and North Niagara.

(b) Muir Brothers Shipyard

Established in the mid-1840s by the five brothers of the Muir family, the Muir dry dock and shipyard was to become the largest employer in Port Dalhousie before its closing in the late 1960s. Muir brothers replaced the Shickluna shipyard as one of the most prolific yards on the Great Lakes. The shipyard office and filled in dry dock are still prominent features of Rennie Park, which was constructed on the former shipyard and dry dock site. Groupings of evergreen trees demarcate the center of the filled in dry dock, located adjacent to the Tim Horton’s parking lot.

90 Rene Ressler. Image No. Irange2. 91 Rene Ressler. Image No. Orange2. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 96 of 181

Image 74: Muir Brother's Shipyard and Dry Dock, circa 1920, North view from tow path.92

Image 75: Former offices of Muir Bros. Shipyard.93 Image 76: Entrance to former Muir Bros. dry dock, East view.94

With the opening of the fourth Welland Canal in 1932, larger vessels were unable to access the shipyard through Lock 1 of the third canal and marked the beginning of a slow decline of operations at the Muir yard. A much larger shipyard and dry dock soon opened on the fourth canal at Port Weller that was able to service and build the newer "Super Lakers" as they were called. Muir Brother’s focused their efforts to building smaller workboats, barges and tugs as well as, servicing the smaller vessels of the Great Lakes fleet. Muir Brothers continued to provide winter berthing and quayside refits to vessels as well.

92 Archives of Ontario Digital Image Collection. 93 Rene Ressler. Image No. Muir2. 94 Rene Ressler. Image No. Muir3. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 97 of 181

(c) Locks 1 to 3

Lock 1 of the third Welland Canal has the distinction of being the only surviving lock on the waterway to have its gate hardware intact and lock gates still hung. Though severely deteriorated and non-functioning, the lock gates are original and were constructed at Port Dalhousie at the canal gate shed which used to be housed in the building now occupied by the Port Dalhousie Legion Branch 350 which is located a short distance from the lock. The gearing for the opening and closing mechanisms of the lock gates are intact though inoperable. All of the locks on the third Welland Canal were constructed using identical hardware and gates. The downbound two-thirds of the lock are exposed and visible while the remaining one-third of the lock is buried. Adjacent to the lock is its stone waste weir which continues to drain water from Martindale Pond into the Outer Harbour and finally, Lake Ontario.

Image 77: Lock 1, West wall and downbound lock gate.95

Image 78: Lock 1, Lock gate winch gearing, West wall.96 Image 79: Lock 1, gate operation mechanism, West lock wall.97 Image 80: Downbound end of Lock 1, Remaining gate hinge hardware, East wall.98

95 Rene Ressler. Image No. L132. 96 Rene Ressler. Image No. L131. 97 Rene Ressler. Image No. L133. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 98 of 181

The closely spaced Locks 2 and 3 were constructed in such a way as to align the canal for its straight shot to the escarpment. The third Welland Canal was constructed in a straight line across Grantham Township from Lock 4 to 11. Though the entire length of the third canal that once crossed present day St. Catharines has long since been buried, its footprint is clearly visible on contemporary maps of the city. Today, Lock 2 is visible and can be explored. The lock chamber itself can be accessed by kayak or canoe and is one of only two surviving locks of the third Welland Canal that is fully watered. Virtually all of the original bollards line both lock walls and banks of Lock 2. After 80 years, one bollard located on the East wall, still has a steel cable attached. The waste weir for Lock 2 is still visible slightly southeast to the upbound end of Lock 2.

Image 81: Lock 2, downbound view.99 Image 82: Bollard with steel cable still attached and running through the ground, east lock wall100

After 1932, Lock 3 was used as a garbage dump and was filled with local trash. For the creation of Jaycee Gardens in the late 1970s, Lock 3 was cleared of garbage and backfilled with cleaned soil. At the upbound end of Lock 3 there was a swing bridge that spanned the canal at Ontario Street. One of the supporting abutments for the swing bridge at the upbound end of the lock is still visible adjacent to the road entrance to Jaycee Gardens.

98 Rene Ressler. Image No. L136. 99 Rene Ressler. Image No. L235. 100 Rene Ressler. Image No. L234. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 99 of 181

2. Grantham Township Section

Map 10: Grantham Township section of the third Welland Canal.

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Points of Interest (a) Sites Lock 4 to 10, Third Welland Canal (b) Remnants of Rail Bridge over the 3rd canal, Scott St.

Overview

The few surviving third Welland Canal locks and structures, as well as the sites that locks once occupied, bear witness to the grandiosity of British Imperial public architecture at its best. Commissioned by Canada’s first Prime Minister, John A. Macdonald and opened to navigation in 1887, it is apparent that the 3rd Welland Canal was constructed with a boldness of spirit and artistry that reflected the ambitions of a new nation. As the third canal was one of Canada’s earliest large scale public works projects, it is apparent that aesthetics and beauty were as important as functionality, to the design of the waterway.

The third Welland Canal has long been completely buried and the locks that were once within the former Grantham Township (now the City of St. Catharines) have been totally or partially demolished. The canals footprint is still quite evident on any map of St. Catharines and its former course across Grantham greatly determined the placement of future streets and neighbourhoods that came after it in the modern day City of St. Catharines. The burying of the canal began almost immediately after the fourth Welland Canal became fully operational in 1932. Unlike its predecessor, the second canal was used extensively after its replacement opened. The canal channel and adjacent feeder channels were covered over almost immediately. The locks were put to use in a much more utilitarian fashion such as the case of Locks 3 which was converted into a garbage dump. Lock 4, behind Anchor Pointe Residence on Ontario Street had a more noble use as a pistol range during WWII.

By burying the third waterway, Grantham was immediately presented with new real estate in which to build neighbourhoods as the need for housing increased. In 1939, Grantham Township was divided east to West by the newly opened QEW and whole neighbourhoods began to be built on the highways North side on lands previously occupied by orchards. By 1940, the need for housing for workers increased as wartime manufacturing stepped up in Grantham and St. Catharines. The lands once occupied by the third canal were used for this wartime housing boom. The Doncaster Blvd, Plymouth Ave. and Franklin Blvd. neighbourhoods were all developed during WWII on former third Welland Canal lands and are all recognised and celebrated as St. Catharines once crucial "Wartime Housing" neighbourhoods.

The only surviving visible remnants of the third Welland Canal in Grantham are Lock 4 and the partial abutments of the rail bridge between Locks 5 and 6 on Scott St. Both private and public facilities and buildings now occupy former third canal lands. The third Welland Canal took about 15 years to build and was in service for 45 years. Though in operation for such a short time comparatively, the third Welland canal has left an important legacy to the building of Grantham Township, the City of St. Catharines and the Seaway as a whole.

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(a) Sites Lock 4 to 10, Third Welland Canal

Located behind Anchor Pointe Seniors Residence, Lock 4 has been made the centrepiece of a beautiful back garden for the residence. Flower beds and a walking path with benches alongside blend in well with the massive stonework of the lock. A commemorative plaque noting the lock and third canals importance was installed at the downbound end of the lock in 2004. After being closed to navigation in 1932, Lock 4 was used by the local militia as a pistol range during WWII. Though on private property, Lock 4 is accessible by foot from the parking lot of Bill Burgoyne Arena. The residences of Anchor Pointe welcome respectful visitors to the lock and grounds and are keen to share their canal treasure.

Image 83: Lock 4, North view.101

Lock 5 is buried beneath the Eastern half of the school yard of Sheridan Park School. The upbound end of the lock extended partially into the lands currently occupied by the City of St. Catharines Lake Street Service Yard. The feeder channel for Lock 5 can still be seen as the forested ravine to the immediate West of the school yard.

101 Rene Ressler. Image No. 431. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 102 of 181

Image 84: Site of Lock 5, Sheridan Park School field, South view.102

Lock 6 of the third Welland Canal was located immediately behind the Fairview Mall LCBO and EB Games Outlet. In the spring of 2012, the newly built Kiwanis Seniors apartment building at 311 Geneva opened. The building was built directly overtop the site of Lock 6 and is aligned on the same axis as the lock that was most probably demolished during, or just after WWII.

The former site of Lock 7 is at the intersection of Doncaster Blvd. and Carlton St. The downbound end of the lock was located approximately at Carlton St. It is unknown if Lock 7 was totally removed or just partially dismantled before being buried. It would be a fair guess that the lock was destroyed and its limestone blocks crushed for subsequent construction uses within the new neighbourhood built overtop the site.

Lock 8 of the third Welland Canal was located beneath the longer straight segment of Franklin Blvd. Lock 8 was also probably demolished to make way for the new Franklin Blvd war time housing neighbourhood.

Present day Bunting Road straddles the former site of Lock 9. As there is a slight raised area of pavement at this site, it is possible that footings and sill of the lock are still buried at the site. The upbound end of Lock 9 was located approximately where the Jewish Community cemetery mausoleum is located today.

The site of Lock 10 is within the environs of Victoria Lawn Cemetery. It is unlikely that the lock was buried as the site is presently occupied by many rows of graves.

102 Rene Ressler. Image No. 530. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 103 of 181

Image 85 Site of Lock 6, 311 Geneva Street, North view.103 Image 86: Site of Lock 7, Doncaster Blvd. and Carlton Street, North view.104 Image 87: Site of Lock 8, Franklin Blvd, North view.105

Image 88: Site of Lock 9, Franklin Blvd and Bunting Road, South view.106 Image 89: Site of Lock 10, Victoria Lawn Cemetery, black van is approx. centre of lock chamber, Northwest view.107

(b) Remnants of Rail Bridge over the 3rd canal, Scott St.

Located on Scott St. in St. Catharines, John Page Park is a small nondescript parkette with a playground and a few benches. What makes John Page Park unique though is that within the park are located remnants of a third Welland Canal rail bridge. The abutments in question are those “ruins” that one quickly glances at while driving past the Bike Fit/Avondale Plaza on Scott Street.

The third canal tracked through what is now the South end of the park in a Southeast/Northwest orientation. The canal was filled in by 1933 but the abutments of the rail bridge remained. The bridge carried the Michigan Central Line across the third canal and ended at the Northern terminus at Port Dalhousie. The Port Dalhousie terminus was located on the East side of the harbour where there a grain elevator and a coal dock/depot. Remnants of the former Michigan Central Line can be followed along the East side of Lakeport Road, where it crosses Lakeshore and continues along the West side of Lighthouse Road down to the harbour. The East side of Port Dalhousie harbour is still named the "Michigan" side in recognition of the railroad's terminus at Port.

103 Rene Ressler. Image No. 630. 104 Rene Ressler. Image No. 730. 105 Rene Ressler. Image No. 830. 106 Rene Ressler. Image No. 930. 107 Rene Ressler. Image No. 1033. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 104 of 181

The bridge abutments are of the same late Victorian cut and faced limestone block construction used in virtually all of the structures on the third Welland Canal. The bridge remnants are in three separate components and on the most southerly of the three can be seen the part of the archway that water once flowed through. The bridge design appears to be quite similar to that of the former Michigan Central, now C.N Line, to the South on the third canal at Lock 17.

Image 90: Remnants of rail bridge over 3rd canal, Scott St., South view.108 Image 91: Remnants of rail bridge over 3rd canal, Scott St., North view.109

The stone abutments are just one of two surviving third Welland Canal Bridges left in existence and, the only third canal remnant that is not a lock, in the North end of St. Catharines.

The channel of the third Welland Canal was relatively wide where the bridge was located. To the immediate South, the canal ran through what is now the Kiwanis Village senior’s community, at 421 Geneva St. Lock 6 of the third canal was located behind the Fairview Mall LCBO. Lock 6 abutted yet another swing bridge where Geneva St crossed the waterway. To the North there was another bridge, a swing bridge that carried Lake St. Across the canal where present day Nihan Drive and Secord Drive intersect with Lake Street. Nihan and Secord Drive were built overtop the former East and West banks of the third canal.

108 Rene Ressler. Image No. 3rdBr1. 109 Rene Ressler. Image No. 3rdBr5. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 105 of 181

3) Escarpment/Summit Section

Map 11: Escarpment/Summit section of the third Welland Canal.

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Points of Interest (a) Locks 11 to 18 (b) Michigan Central Rail Tunnel (c) Locks 19 to 24 (d) Lock 25 and the Summit Gate Lock

Overview

The Escarpment/Summit Section of the third Welland Canal contains the most concentrated and intact remnants of the waterway still in existence. In fact, the best and only place to view almost intact third Welland Canal locks is on the Niagara Escarpment. The area is colloquially known as the "Welland Canal Parklands".

Between Locks 3 and 11, the third Welland Canal follows a straight route across Grantham Township. At Lock 11, the canal course gently curves to the Southeast and then follows a diagonal, southwest course across the face of the Niagara Escarpment to the summit at Lock 24. Having been built well outside the boundaries of St. Catharines and Merritton, the third canal was not confined to the natural waterway of Twelve Mile Creek and its enclosing valley as were the first two Welland Canals. The third canal was built utilizing a much wider, more gradual approach and over a much larger area, to overcome the obstacle of the Niagara Escarpment.

Image x: Aerial view, Locks 11 to 16, looking South up the Niagara Escarpment, circa 1921.110

At the time of the building of the third Welland Canal, the Ontario Plain portion of the canal was not located in an urban setting. The canal cut across prime orchards and farmland through Grantham Township and sparsely settled lands upon the escarpment itself, East of Thorold.

It was mandated by the Government of Canada that no commercial development or enterprises be allowed to build alongside the new canal and that no water rights whatsoever would be granted to any enterprise or property owner along its banks. The decision to not allow industry to utilize the canal greatly disappointed business speculators and second Welland Canal firms that hoped to expand their operations on the new, third Welland Canal. The only commercial entities allowed to

110 St. Catharines Historical Museum, St. Catharines. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 107 of 181 access the third canal were at the North and South terminus of Port Dalhousie and Port Colborne. As a result of the limitations concerning local commercial access to the third canal, the harbours of both termini quickly became quite busy and overcrowded.

Since the closing of the third Welland Canal in 1932, the original canal prism was immediately altered to facilitate its new role as a large waste weir/run off and reservoir for the new ship canal to the immediate West. Locks 19 and 24 were demolished to make way for the North Gate House and Lock 7 of the fourth canal respectively. As of today, Locks 11 through 25 are intact and in situ with the exception of the fore mentioned Locks 19 and 24. Lock 25 has been buried but is intact.

In the 80 years since its closing to navigation, it was once a beautifully landscaped waterway on the escarpment, but has been taken over by the lush and sometimes dense Carolinian forest. Though the third Welland Canal on the escarpment has been transformed into a wild and often used recreational area, the trees and brush also act as pry bars on the remaining locks and are slowly undermining the stability of each lock. As a result of the effects of the forest on each lock as well as bank erosion, the locks themselves will not last much longer if left unabated.

The area now known colloquially as the, "Welland Canal Parklands" has become a vast all-season recreational area for locals and visitors alike. The Bruce Trail has been incorporated along the canals East bank up the escarpment from Lock 13 to 18. Hikers, cross country skiers, and even ice hockey enthusiasts all utilize the former third Welland Canal lands on the escarpment even though such activities are discouraged and considered trespassing.

It would take minimal effort and expense to make improvements to the Welland Canal Parklands. It might be much to expect the locks to be restored to a level that would suggest navigability for watercraft but at least the trails and lands within the Parklands could be better utilized as a multipurpose recreational area.

(a) Locks 11 to 18

Locks 11 through 18 are for the most part intact. Locks 11 and 12 have been incorporated into the Lock 3 weir pond of the ship canal. Both locks are watered and officially inaccessible to the public though there are established trails accessing both locks and they are extensively used by hikers. The masonry of both East and West sides of the downbound end of Lock 12 has collapsed in two massive segments, into the lock chamber.

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Image 92: Lock 12, downbound/North view.111

The third canal locks on the escarpment all had large weir ponds directly adjacent to the West of each lock. The ponds were what actually made it possible for the locks to operate as water from the pond directly south and thus, higher than the lock would drain into it to raise ships. A lock would drain into the pond immediately to the North and lower than itself to lower ships. The weir pond for Lock 11 is the only example of an intact and watered third Welland Canal weir pond in existence.

Image 93: Weir and submerged weir footings for Lock 11 Weir.112

111 Rene Ressler. Image No. L1233. 112 Rene Ressler. Image No. L113weir. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 109 of 181

Glendale Avenue crosses directly overtop Lock 13 where two immense metal culverts lie side by side within the lock chamber. Lock 13 is the outflow point for excess water taken off the top of escarpment at Lock 7 of the ship canal. Locks 14 through 16 are in a straight line in a slightly Southwest orientation up the Niagara Escarpment. Each of these locks is for the most part intact. Lock 14 has extensive deterioration on its upbound West end as the masonry has broken loose en masse and is tipping ominously into the lock chamber. It is only a matter of time when the portion of lock wall of Lock 14 collapses into the lock chamber. The downbound ends of Locks 13 to 18 have all had the masonry on both lock walls "stepped" as the backfill and approach masonry of the downbound ends have been removed to prevent collapse of the lock walls. The once beautiful pincer like lock approach walls that were constructed at each end of all third Welland Canal locks have been, for the most part, demolished on the escarpment locks. On the escarpment locks, some partially intact approach walls remain and the graceful lines of these walls can be seen in the dense forest that lines both banks of the canal.

Image 94: Lock 13, downbound/North view, from East lock wall.113 Image 95: Lock 14, upbound West lock gate recess, near collapse, circa 2012.114

At Lock 16, below the East bank on the lands of the Royal Niagara Golf Club, can be seen the sealed East entrance to the pedestrian and cart tunnel that runs beneath the canal between Locks 16 and 17. The tunnel carried St. David's Road beneath the canal and was once a busy right of way as the only other road bridge that crossed the canal at the escarpment was at Lock 13 (present day Glendale Ave). Between Locks 16 and 17 the canal course changes yet again to a more Southwest track as the gentle loop across the slope of the escarpment closes just below the summit at Lock 24. Between Locks 16 and 17, the former Michigan Central (now the CN mainline) Railway Bridge crosses the canal just North of Lock 17. The rail bridge was built in the first years of the 20th-century to accommodate a realignment of the rail line away from its previous route beneath Lock 18 through

113 Rene Ressler. Image No. L1332. 114 Rene Ressler. Image No. L1433. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 110 of 181 the Michigan Central Rail Tunnel. The bridge was originally steam operated then converted to electric. The massive main gear of the bridge turntable and rollers can still be viewed beneath the bridge. Lock 17 is located immediately South of the rail bridge. Lock 18 is the last of the accessible locks along the Bruce Trail which follows the East bank of the third Welland Canal up the Niagara Escarpment.

Image 96: Abandoned East entrance to pedestrian/horse drawn vehicle tunnel beneath Lock 16, tunnel is backfilled and sealed, West view.115

Image 97: Turntable for former steam operated swivel bridge/present day CN Rail Bridge.116 Image 98: Lock 18, upbound/South view from East lock wall.117

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(b) Michigan Central Rail Tunnel

The Michigan Central Railroad Tunnel beneath Lock 18 of the third Welland Canal is arguably the most popular and most often visited old Welland Canal site in the Niagara Region. Since the third waterway closed in 1932, the Michigan Central or, as it is colloquially known, the "Blue Ghost" tunnel has been the destination for hikers and Welland Canal buffs for 80 years. The wings of both tunnel entrance are constructed of massive cut blocks of locally quarried, Queenston Limestone. They are an impressive example of the grandiose style of late Victorian era public construction. For something as humble as a rail tunnel, style and flair were as equally important design features, as was functionality. The stone facing of the tunnel and wings are quite redoubtable, indeed. In stark contrast, the ornate late Victorian masonry paired with the tunnels current surroundings, make for a semi-surreal scene.

Construction of the tunnel began in early 1880 with the digging of curved trench approximately 650 feet long. The distance from the tunnel’s rail bed to the top of the tunnel vault was eighteen feet with a clearance of four feet between the tunnel vault and the railcars utilizing the tunnel. Once the tunnel vault was completed the trench was filled in and the canal channel was constructed overtop the buried tunnel. The tunnel took only a year to complete and was operational by March of 1881. As locomotives and rail cars became larger, within 20 years the tunnel became obsolete and was abandoned to rail traffic by 1902 and was replaced by the steel to the North of Lock 17.118

Image 99: Michigan Central Tunnel, Under construction, circa late 1870s.119 Image 100: Michigan Central Tunnel, East tunnel entrance, circa 1918.120

118 Styran, Roberta and R. Taylor. This Great National Object. McGill University Press: 2012; Chapter 7, Page 241. Print. 119 St. Catharines Historical Museum, St. Catharines. 120 St. Catharines Historical Museum, St. Catharines. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 112 of 181

Image 101: Michigan Central Tunnel, West tunnel entrance, circa 1900.121 Image 102: Michigan Central Tunnel, West tunnel entrance, circa 2010, East view.122

(c) Locks 19 to 24

After Lock 18, the canal course gently curved to the West for its final tack to the top of the Niagara Escarpment. Lock 19 was removed from the landscape during the construction of the Flight Locks weir pond of the Ship Canal. Lock 19 was located approximately 100 meters to the immediate West of the North Gate House.

Lock 20 is completely submerged in the Flight Locks Reservoir and can only be seen when the reservoir is dewatered between late December and mid-March each year. The lock walls of Lock 20 have been shaved off so as to not be visible when the reservoir is full. The lock is oriented on a Northeast/Southwest line as the mainline of the canal approached the present Ship Canal.

Image 103: Lock 20, downbound/Northeast view, only visible when present canal is dewatered during winter lay-up.123

121 St. Catharines Historical Museum, St. Catharines. 122 Rene Ressler. Image No. MCT7. 123 Rene Ressler. Image No. L20130. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 113 of 181

Lock 21 of the third waterway is visible on the Southwest shore of the reservoir. The West wall of Lock 21 is surrounded by water during the shipping season and currently acts as the outflow into the reservoir. During the annual shutdown of the Ship Canal when the reservoir is dewatered, the entire lock can be viewed. Lock 21 is the only surviving third canal lock that has both of its approach wing structures fully intact. The spectacular approach masonry demonstrates the elegant, yet functional engineering of the third Welland Canal. Every lock on the waterway had identical approach masonry that sadly has been lost with the exception of the downbound approach walls of Lock 21.

Image 104: Lock 20, upbound/Southwest view, only visible when present canal is dewatered during winter lay- up, Lock 6 of present canal in background.124

Further up the escarpment, Lock 22 has been incorporated into a runoff and drain for Lock 7 of the Ship Canal. A runoff channel has been constructed almost perpendicular to Lock 22 and incorporates the locks East wall to create a waterfall along the length of the lock wall. Lock 22 is inaccessible to the public and is located on GLSS property.

124 Rene Ressler. Image No. L2034 ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 114 of 181

Image 105: Lock 22, upbound/South view from East lock wall.125

The lock chamber of Lock 23 has been incorporated in to a road for Seaway vehicles accessing the East lock walls of Locks 4 to 6 of the Ship Canal. Lock 23 is aligned parallel to the present Ship Canal and is located just below Lock 7. Lock 24 of the third canal was demolished and removed and was located to the immediate East of the present day upbound end of Lock 7. The lock was removed to facilitate the Lock 7 Valve House and waste weir pond to the immediate East of Lock 7.

Image 106: Lock 23, East lock wall, East view.126

125 Rene Ressler. Image No. L2231. 126 Rene Ressler. Image No. L2330. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 115 of 181

(d) Lock 25 and the Summit Gate Lock

After the Ship Canal opened in 1932, the third Welland Canal channel below Lock 25 was plugged with fill and the entire lock was filled in. The filled in upbound approach to Lock 25 was used to stockpile pile sulphur used by the local paper mills up until the 1960s. A fair amount is of sulphur is still on the ground on top of the filled in lock approach. Near one such deposit can be seen the top of the West upbound approach wall for Lock 25. Immediately South of Lock 25 plug, the former third canal is watered again and to the immediate South of this watered area is the Summit Lock. The Summit Lock is a safety lock rather than a lift lock and was used to control the water flow down the escarpment as well as adjusting ships to the varying levels of water in the canal at the top of the Escarpment. Just south of the Summit Lock, the third canal channel joins the former channel of the first and second Welland Canals. The Summit Lock is accessible via an adjunct path off the Welland Canal Trail that follows the West lock wall of the buried Lock 25. The lock also has substantial remnants of its lock gates. The Summit Lock was built to accommodate one set of gates.

Image 107: Lock 25, plugged lock approach entrance, Lock 25 waste weir structure in background right (now a footbridge), upbound/Southwest view.127

127 Rene Ressler. Image No. L2533. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 116 of 181

4) Welland/Port Colborne Section

Map 12: Welland/Port Colborne section of the third Welland Canal.

Overview

There is no discernible trace of the third Welland Canal in Welland as the present Ship Canal was constructed along its route by simply widening the banks of the third and dredging the channel to accommodate the 600 to 700 foot long vessels that sail on the present Ship Canal. The only third Welland Canal infrastructure located in Welland was the massive aqueduct which carried the Chippewa River beneath the canal. Again, the third canal aqueduct was almost an exact copy of the second canal aqueduct to its immediate South. The third aqueduct took a full decade to construct and was built using the same impressive late Victorian architecture with its imposing stone work and graceful arches in its design. Unfortunately, to facilitate the construction of the ship canal in the early 1930s, the third canal aqueduct was demolished and removed. The third canal aqueducts former location would be approximately mid channel of the Welland Recreational Waterway opposite the second canal aqueduct.

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Image 108: Third Welland Canal Aqueduct, circa 1880s.

Image 109: Third Welland Canal Aqueduct, early 1900s, Southeast view.

Just North of Port Colborne, the third Welland Canal channel made a stretched "s" turn at Ramey's Bend. Once the Ship Canal opened in 1932 a portion of the third canal immediately east of the new canal was filled in to accommodate the new waterway. The present day Stone Dock which is located on the East bank of the Ship Canal occupies the space where the third canal channel once was. On the West bank of the Ship Canal, the third waterway channel continues towards Lock 26 and Lake Erie, the Southern terminus. The monolithic Robin Hood Flour Mill was built along the West bank ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 118 of 181 of the third canal where it meets the Ship Canal. The stretch of the third waterway bordering the flour mill made for an excellent docking area for the loading of ships.

Further South at Lock 26, which was a safety lock as opposed to a lift lock, vessels would be lifted or lowered slightly in adjustment to fluctuating water levels of Lake Erie. Lock 26 was built alongside its predecessor, Lock 27 of the second Welland Canal which is located immediately to the East of Lock 26. Immediately West of Lock 26, an intake tunnel was built to allow waste water to enter the canal. This new intake tunnel provided the necessary volume of water to feed the third canal thus making the Feeder Canal in Welland obsolete. Water no longer had to be drawn from the Grand River to feed the Welland.

Image 110: Lock 26, North view.128 Image 111: Lock 26, Southeast view.129

128 Rene Ressler. Image No. L2631. 129 Rene Ressler. Image No. L2632. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 119 of 181

C) The Welland Ship Canal: The “New” Canal

The Welland Ship Canal or fourth Welland Canal, colloquially known as the “new” canal, was completed and became fully navigable on August 6, 1932. The construction of the new canal took 19 years, cost about $130-million, and claimed the lives of 118 men, between 1912 and 1932.130 Surveying lands for the new canal began as early as 1907 and after a final site was chosen among a short list of four potential sites, excavations and construction began early in 1913. It is ironic indeed that many people in Niagara still refer to the fourth Welland Canal as the “new” canal even though as of 2012, construction on the waterway began 99 years ago and the canal has been open to navigation for 80 years.

As with its three predecessors, the Welland Ship Canal brought significant cultural and social changes to Niagara that resonates to this day.

In 1887, when the third Welland Canal became fully operational after a lengthy construction period of seventeen years, it became apparent within the first few years of operation that the new canal could not keep up with the rapid advances in shipping technology, not to mention the sheer volume of traffic utilizing the new waterway.

Marine architecture and shipbuilding techniques changed drastically during the latter years of the 19th- century and the early years of the 20th-century. The switch to primarily iron and steel, self propelled vessels from wooden sailing vessels was one of the most dramatic innovations to marine architecture and technology. Vessels could now be constructed more rapidly and cheaply due to powered machinery and new advances in lightweight metals that were used in their construction. Shipyards became more efficient, cost effective and prolific due to these new technologies as well as advances in the automated manufacturing of ship components, now available to shipbuilders.

As ships were being built much longer and wider than their predecessors of just a few years earlier, the 270 foot by 45 foot wide locks of the third Welland Canal, which by the turn of the 20th-century, were proving too small for a growing number of newer vessels plying the Great Lakes. The draft of the third canal was deepened to 14 feet early in the 20th-century to accommodate the larger vessels using the canal. With no more room to practically or efficiently enlarge the third Welland Canal, in 1906, the federal Department of Railways and Canals began exploring the necessity and feasibility of a new and vastly enlarged Welland Canal.

In 1911, the Minister of Railways and Canals, George Perry Graham briefed then Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier about the need to create a navigable waterway from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean which would accommodate vessels with a draft of 25 feet and a length of at least 600 feet.131 Surveying and boring of potential canal sites had been underway sporadically since 1907 and as late as the summer of 1911, the most favoured location for the new canal was Jordan Harbour. The chosen route for the Ontario Plain segment of the new canal was along Ten Mile Creek located within Grantham Township. As with its predecessors, the construction of the new canal would be

130 Styran, Roberta and R. Taylor. The Welland Canals: The Growth of Mr. Merritt’s Ditch. Boston Mills Press, 1988. Chap. 9, Pg. 127. Print. 131 Weller, John Laing. The Man Who Does Things. Vanwell Publishing, 2007. Chap. 5, Pg. 45. Print. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 120 of 181 completed by companies bidding for contracts to complete individual sections of waterway, rather than one firm being tasked with the burden of completing the entire project. Work on section one of the new ship canal began in 1913 at the Lake Ontario terminus where a new man-made harbour and approach was built from scratch. The contract for the first section of canal included the construction of Lock 1.

Through the 1913 construction season and into the 1914 season significant work had been completed on Lock 1 and the artificial harbour. Progress was also being made with work that began for the construction of Lock 2, as well as excavations for the canal channel linking the first two locks. The Engineer-in-Charge of the new ship canal, John Laing Weller estimated in 1913 that the canal would be completed and opened to navigation by 1918 and that the cost of the project would be $50-million.132 Weller did not anticipate when giving his estimates were the implications that a world war, future labour troubles and material shortages would have on the Welland Ship Canal project.

In August of 1914, Canada went to war in Europe. Work progressed on the ship canal project through the remainder of 1914. By 1915, work slowed on the project due to a reduction of the labour force as more and more workers enlisted into Canada’s Armed Forces. In addition to the dwindling labour pool, the war placed greater demands on the government for resources and materials. By November 1916, all work on the ship canal was suspended until further notice. It was not until January 1919 that construction of the new canal resumed. It took another thirteen years for the canal to become fully operational. In addition, throughout the 1920s there was stiff competition for labour and resources as the Province of Ontario was simultaneously constructing the hydro canal and reservoir to service the new Adam Beck Generating Station at Queenston. Workers on the provincially funded hydro project were paid more than their counterparts on the Welland Ship Canal project which was funded by the Federal Government.133

On January 1, 1919, Alexander Joseph Grant replaced John Weller as the Engineer-in-Charge of the canal project. Grant was a 33-year veteran of the Department of Railways and Canals and remained in his new appointment through to the Welland Ship Canal’s opening day in August of 1932.134 The dimensions of the new canal were staggering and second in size only to the Panama Canal (as it is to this day).

The fourth Welland Canal continues to be a marvel of civil engineering. Not only is the canal unique because of its size, the simplicity by which the locks work to raise and lower transiting ships is remarkable as well. The only powered components of the locks on the canal are the filling and draining valves and the lock gates. The heavy lifting is done by gravity. Like its predecessors, ships are raised inside the lock chambers by filling from a water source above the lock. Large ponds are located alongside Lock 7 at the brow of the escarpment as well as at the Twin Flight Locks in Thorold. A third pond, adjacent to Lock 3, provides the necessary water to raise ships inside the lock. Locks 1 and 2 are serviced by the canal itself as the width of the canal channel is such that the requisite water is available to drive both locks.

132 Weller, John Laing. The Man Who Does Things. Vanwell Publishing, 2007. Chap. 6, Pg. 49. Print. 133 Weller, John Laing. The Man Who Does Things. Vanwell Publishing, 2007. Chap. 8, Pg. 81. Print. 134 Weller, John Laing. The Man Who Does Things. Vanwell Publishing, 2007. Chap. 7, Pg. 79. Print. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 121 of 181

The locks of the first three canals were operated by opening or closing sluices built into the lock gates themselves. The ship canal locks are filled and drained via tunnels running alongside the outside of the lock chambers on both sides for the entire length of each lock. The tunnels carry water to and from the lock as needed. Valves at the end of the tunnels are opened and closed to facilitate locking evolutions at each lock.

The Twin Flight Locks in Thorold are the most spectacular components of the Welland Ship Canal. Built on the North slope of the Niagara Escarpment the Flight Locks were constructed as one massive structure made up of six individual locks. The Flight Locks make it possible for vessels to transit the Niagara Escarpment section of the canal in opposite directions simultaneously.

Lock 7 is the last step for vessels climbing the Niagara Escarpment. At the top of the escarpment the canal is quite wide and the Flight Locks present a narrow channel down the mountain. If such a large volume of water were to be allowed to flow through the Flight Locks down the escarpment they would be veritable rapids. As a result the majority of the water flowing down the Welland Canal from Lake Erie is diverted before it reaches the brow just above Lock 7. Much of the water is diverted to the West to feed the man-made lakes that provide water for the DeCew Generating Stations located at the headwaters of Twelve Mile Creek. A portion of the water is also diverted through a channel running parallel to the flight locks and incorporates an abandoned segment of the third Welland Canal on the escarpment. Lock 23 of the third canal now acts as a catch basin for water drained from Lock 7 as well as waste water from the canal proper, above the brow.

As with the three preceding Welland Canal, the ship canal also brought dramatic cultural changes to Niagara. The building of the first two Welland Canals saw a great influx of Irish and Scottish workers and their families. The roots of the Welland Canal Corridor communities were built and forged by the canal workers who built the 19th-century Welland Canals. Construction of the Welland Ship Canal also attracted a great many workers from the UK and Ireland. Especially when work resumed on the ship canal after World War One, workers from Ireland and the UK were again well represented within the canal labour pool. In addition, large numbers of workers and craftsmen from Italy, Ukraine, Poland and other nations, also flocked to Niagara for employment on the canal project. All of the canal workers who came from other countries established their own communities and cultural and social enclaves within Niagara. The descendants of these workers today represent the foundation for the strong diversity within our communities along the canal corridor.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 122 of 181

Image 112: Italian labourers building construction railway near Lock 2, circa 1915.135

In 1967, construction began on the Welland Canal By-Pass. A straight channel was dug from just South of Port Robinson where the ship canal turned westward towards downtown Welland, to Ramey’s Bend, just North of Port Colborne. The reason for the Canal By-Pass was to circumvent the City of Welland as the ship canal and its three predecessors followed the same route through the centre of the city. Traffic woes and late rail schedules increasingly became the norm as ship traffic in the 1960s increased. After World War II, the City of Welland grew rapidly along both banks of the canal. Growing surface road usage caused severe and lengthy traffic backups at virtually all of the bridge crossings located within the city. The Welland Canal By-Pass measurably alleviated road and rail congestion within the city.

The new Welland Canal By-Pass came with a new “1,000 foot dock” where ships could tie up for repairs or take on stores and fuel. The dock is also a favoured winter tie-up spot for vessels. The by- pass channel is also recognised as the first component of a fifth Welland Canal. By 1974, the canal by-pass was completed and opened for navigation. The stretch of the fourth Welland Canal through Welland was plugged at Netherby Road in Dain City. Today, the abandoned portion of the canal is now known as the Welland Recreational Canal and is a great example of waterway reutilization. The recreational waterway features an extensive passive water area exclusively for non-motorized watercraft and angling. At the Southern end of the waterway, In addition to the passive water area, a world class rowing and dragon boat course has been created at the Southern end of the recreational waterway.

135 St. Catharines Historical Museum. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 123 of 181

While some components of the Canal have been buried since their replacement by the succeeding routes, many of the locks and waterways remain as a testament to earlier eras of canal technology. It is fortunate route changes have been necessary during upgrades so that the first three routes of the Welland Canal can be easily viewed, studied and understood. Each route of the Canal has had a great impact on the development of the communities that grew along it and through its history has stood among the greatest of Canada’s – and North America’s – canals.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 124 of 181

D) Fifth (proposed but uncompleted) Canal

There have been plans for a fifth Canal, of which the Welland By-Pass is a part. The SLSMC owns lands to the East of the fourth Canal where the next route may be built. A 2008 article on designnews.com states:

“As a key link in the 2,340-mile St. Lawrence Seaway connecting inland North America to the Atlantic, the Welland Canal could be labeled an unofficial “Wonder of the World” although it’s open to debate if it would fall into the “modern” or “ancient” category. Today’s canal is the fourth version of a remarkable man-made waterway connecting the two Easternmost Great Lake since 1829. And a fifth canal with five “super locks” is in the talking stage.”136

Significant improvements have been made to the Welland Canal from 2005 to present to complete a hydraulic conversion. Testing is also being done on a hands-free mooring system. There is no mention of plans for a fifth canal nor of a super lock on the SLSMC website however it may not ever be a question of if there will be a fifth canal so much as when a fifth canal might cross the Niagara Peninsula.137

136 Dodge, John. “Repowering the Welland Canal.” Design News. 25 Feb. 2008. Web. 1 Sept. 2012. 137 Jenish, D’Arcy. The St. Lawrence Seaway: 50 Years and Counting. The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. Penumbra Press: Manotick, ON, 2009. PDF. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 125 of 181

Map 13: Lands acquired for the proposed fifth Welland Canal.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 126 of 181

Historic and Technological Evolution of Canals

Historic Development in Relation to Other Canals

The Welland Canal has not only been a part of the canal building tradition in North America but has been and continues to be a key player in the development of canals worldwide. To provide some general context the following timeline138 is presented with major canal milestones. Select Canadian canals and the Erie and Panama milestones are featured. The Welland Canal milestones can be found in bold.

4,000 BC Canal building began as early as 4,000 B.C. when King Menes builds a canal in Upper Egypt with canal building continuing through Egypt, China, the Mediterranean to France, and the Romans in Britain. 1065 First lock was built in 1065 by the Dutch. 1601 Samuel de Champlain publishes his Brief Narrative, describing his voyage to the West Indies. In it he proposes a canal across Panama. 1730 The first canal in New York State is built, across a neck in the Mohawk River. 1779 Improvements are begun on the St. Lawrence River, including a number of short canals. 1797 The Canadian government builds a canal at Sault Ste Marie, bypassing rapids between Lakes Huron and Michigan. 1816 A wooden lock is built on the Ottawa River at Vaudreuil. 1818 The legislature of Lower Canada grants authority for a canal to bypass the Chambly Rapids on the Richlieu River. 1819 Oct 22 The Erie Canal opens between Rome and Utica, New York, when the canal boat ‘The Chief Engineer’ arrives in Rome, after a four hour trip. 1821 Construction begins on the Lachine Canal, to connect Montréal and Ottawa, bypassing rapids on the St. Lawrence. Construction on the Erie Canal reaches Rochester, New York. 1822 The Erie Canal's Great Embankment is built, a mile in length and seventy feet high, to carry the canal over Rochester's Irondequoit Valley. 1824 Oct 26 The cutting of the Western end of the Erie Canal, Lockport to Lake Erie, breaks through. 1824 Nov 30 Construction begins on the Welland Canal, to bypass Niagara Falls. 1825 Oct 26 De Witt Clinton officially opens the Erie Canal. The Lachine Canal is completed. Construction begins on the Carillon and Grenville canals, on the Ottawa River. 1826 Construction begins on the Rideau Canal. 1829 The Welland Canal is completed as far as Welland River (Chippewa Creek) thus connecting with the Upper Niagara River, linking lakes Erie and Ontario. Nov 27 The schooners ‘Annie and Jane’ and ‘R. H. Broughton’ become the first ships to use the Welland Canal. 1830 Construction begins on the Port Robinson to Port Colborne section of the Welland Canal. 1831 Construction begins on the Chambly Canal.

138 Minor, David. Untitled. Eagles Byte Historical Research, 1996. Web. 1 June 2012. The timeline is a selection of a full timeline prepared by David Minor of Eagles Byte Historical Research in July 1996 it is endorsed by the American Canal Society as an accurate history of canals. Any additions to this timeline are footnoted individually. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 127 of 181

The Welland Canal opens from Port Robinson on the Welland River to Lake Erie's Port Colborne, forming the first direct link between lakes Ontario and Erie. 1833 A Canadian commission is formed to investigate a Trent-Severn Waterway, to connect Lake Ontario with . Construction is completed on Port Robinson to Port Colborne section of the Welland Canal. 1840 Construction begins on the St. Anne Canal on the Ottawa River. 1841 William Roberts assists on improvements to the Welland Canal. The government buys out private interests. 1843 The Chambly Canal begins initial operations until faulty construction techniques force its closing. Construction begins on the Cornwall Canal. The enlargement of the Welland Canal is begun. 1844 Work on the Trent-Severn Waterway is suspended when funds run out. 1845 The Beauharnois Canal is completed, avoiding rapids in the St. Lawrence River above Montreal. The enlarged Welland Canal opens with 27 stone locks replacing 40 of wood. 1853 The enlargement of the Welland Canal is completed. The U.S. and Great Britain sign the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, agreeing to promote a ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama. 1872 Construction begins to improve the route of the Northern portion of the Welland Canal. This is the third route. 1878 France obtains a Columbian charter to build a canal across Panama. 1879 The Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique de Panama is formed. 1881 January French work forces arrive in Panama but are delayed by politics and contractor problems. 1882 The French begin a Panamanian canal. 1883 Canada resumes work on the Trent-Severn Waterway. 1887 Canada lets contracts for a canal on its side of the Soo. Work on the Trent-Severn Waterway is halted. The third route of the Welland Canal is completed. 1888 The Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique de Panama goes bankrupt 1889 A new French Panamanian canal company is formed. May The New French Panamanian Canal Company go bankrupt. 1895 Canada opens its Soo Canal. Work resumes on the section of the Trent-Severn Waterway between Lakefield and Port Perry. 1902 Jan 18 The Walker Commission recommends a Panamanian canal to Roosevelt. Jun 19 The U. S. Senate passes the Panamanian canal bill. Jun 26 The U. S. House of Representatives passes the Panamanian canal bill. Jun 28 President Teddy Roosevelt signs the Spooner Bill, authorizing construction of the Panama Canal. 1903 August Columbia refuses to permit a canal through her Panamanian territory. Nov 4 A Panamanian revolution takes place, with one fatality. Nov 6 The U.S. officially recognizes the Republic of Panama. 1904 Feb 26 Roosevelt signs a treaty granting Panama independence. 1905 July U. S. engineer John Stevens is hired to supervise construction of the Panama Canal. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 128 of 181

1904 The Lakefield-Port Perry section of the Trent-Severn Waterway is completed with the opening of the Peterborough hydraulic lift locks. 1907 Jan 30 John Stevens resigns, leaving the Panama Canal project. Mar 31 George W. Goethals becomes Chief Engineer and General Superintendent of the Panama Canal. 1913 Oct 10 The temporary Gamboa Dyke is dynamited by President Wilson, via remote control, joining the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans at Panama. 1914 Aug 15 The Panama Canal is formally opened to traffic. Construction begins on the Severn division of the Trent-Severn Waterway. 1918 The Rice Lake-Bay of Quinte section of the Trent-Severn Waterway opens. 1920 The Severn division of the Trent-Severn Waterway is completed. July The motor-launch ‘Irene’ makes the first passage through the completed Trent-Severn Waterway. 1932 The Welland Canal is rebuilt to facilitate the passage of larger ships. 1938 Madden Dam is constructed on Panama's Chagres River to provide additional water for the canal. 1939 The U. S. Congress grants funds for strengthening the Panama Canal's defenses. 1941 Feb 19 Construction begins on a third set of ship locks for the Panama Canal.

The Welland Canal: An Engineering Feat

The challenge in canal building in the 19th-century was that the routes followed the courses of rivers. In the case of the Welland Canal it followed Twelve Mile Creek. A canal in the Niagara Peninsula enabled shipping to by-pass Niagara Falls where goods had to be portaged around the Rapids, Whirlpool and Falls. However the route taken had to be considered carefully as these first canals could only lift a barge about 2.4 to 3 metres (eight to ten feet) meaning that to climb one hundred feet required ten to fifteen locks yet it still needed to raise the ships a vast height.139 This understanding puts the engineering feat of the 99.5 metres (326.5 feet) climb of the Niagara Escarpment in perspective. The Welland Canal continues to be the steepest climb any canal in the world must make. Jackson remarks, “In no other country are large ocean-going vessels taken over a slope as abrupt and steep as the Niagara Escarpment.”140

The Welland Canal had to hurdle the Escarpment, a change in elevation of 99.5 metres (326.5 feet) and length of 42 km (26 miles). The Erie has a change in elevation of 174.65 metres (573 feet) and travels 584.19 km (363 miles). Of the Canadian canals, the Rideau and the Trent-Severn have the greatest change in elevation, 134.4 metres and 261.5 metres respectively. Yet the distance travelled is far greater than the Welland Canal; the Rideau, travelling a distance of 202 km and the Trent Severn, 386 km. So although it is not the greatest change in elevation, at the time it was built the Welland Canal had to make the greatest change in height in the shortest distance, an elevation greater than for all other world canals.141

139 Rodrigue, Jean-Paul. The Geography of Transport Systems. Hofstra University, 2012. Web. 6 June 2012. 140 Jackson, John N. and Fred A. Addis. The Welland Canals: A Comprehensive Guide. Lincoln Graphics, St, Catharines, Ontario: 1982. Page 1. Print. 141 Jackson. Page 7. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 129 of 181

The Welland Canal Compared to Other Prominent Canals

Erie Canal

The Erie Canal began in 1817 and was completed in 1825. It was the precedent for canal building in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. People who saw or heard about the Erie Canal recognized that it spurred economic development. A trip between Albany and Buffalo that once took three weeks by ox and cart changed to a four day trip by canal. It also meant that goods were kept safe throughout the journey. As an example, Wedgewood China was originally shipped by pack mule and two-thirds of it would be broken by the time it reached its destination. The use of canal shipping meant minor breakage, translating to greater profit. The development of canals was crucial to the industrial development. Suddenly factories could ship their goods long distances and in Albany a horse shoe factory developed and began shipping. This required less specialized work in each community. The local blacksmith now only needed to customize a standard mass produced shoe rather than working from scratch.

These changes in Upstate New York were felt in the Niagara Peninsula and were the inspiration for the Welland Canal. It was the encouragement that Canadian business owners needed to ensure they could compete with those in the United States by shipping through a Canadian waterway. William Hamilton Merritt, at the inaugural ceremony of 1824, recognized the influence of Erie,

"This canal, from its peculiar and most favourable situation, will be the means of creating within itself, or by its own erection, a greater amount of transportation than will pay the interest of the capital expended, over and above the transit it will draw from Lake Erie, and the profits of its hydraulic situation. This canal will afford the best and most numerous situations for machinery, within the same distance in America; wet or dry, warm or cold, we always have the same abundant and steady supply of water. A general tide of prosperity will be witnessed on the whole like and surrounding country."142

Rideau Canal

The Rideau Canal has received recognition as the oldest continually operating canal in North America. It was built initially because central Ontario had better military advantage than the Niagara Peninsula and the route through the St. Lawrence River. The Niagara Peninsula was considered to be too close to the United States and therefore not as secure as the Rideau. However, today, the Welland Canal’s location and proximity to the U.S. has ensured its survival as a trade and shipping route. The Welland Canal was completed three years prior to the Rideau which constructed between 1829 and 1832.

The Rideau remains operational along its original route with most of its original structures still intact though the purpose has changed from military to recreational. This has meant that it has not required any upgrade to the size of the locks as ship size has increased nor has it been forced to find a more efficient route. The Welland Canal is one of the few Canadian canals that continue to be used for its original purpose, both as a source of water and a transportation route, it has therefore been required to upgrade the technology, find more efficient routes and build larger locks to remain relevant. So although

142 Jackson, John N. and Fred A. Addis. The Welland Canals: A Comprehensive Guide. Lincoln Graphics, St, Catharines, Ontario, 1982, page 33. Print. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 130 of 181 it does not still make use of its original route and structures the Welland Canal has remained true to its original role as a working commercial and industrial canal.

Lachine Canal

The Lachine Canal is the oldest in Canada, built in 1821. However the building of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 made it redundant. It has been revitalized as a recreational waterway but like the Rideau this was not the original purpose. This means of the three oldest canals in Canada the Welland is the only one still being used for its original purpose.

An article published by Hofstra University confirms that the Welland Canal is the last remaining 19th- century canal that continues its tradition of commercial use,

“By the late 19th-century the great majority of the canals were abandoned as they lost their commercial utility. Many had limited draft, had high upkeep and were no longer able to compete effectively with railways. Those that are left today, such as the Erie Canal, the Rideau Canal and the Champlain Canal, are used for recreational purposes and managed by state or federal governments as parks. Portions of some canals have been restored, again for recreational purposes. The only commercial exceptions are the Welland Canal, upgraded several times, which is now part of the St. Lawrence Seaway that was completed in 1959, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal that links to the Illinois River and which has been supplemented by the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1900.”143

Panama Canal

Canal building, as with all type of construction, drastically changed at the turn of the century. A description of the Panama Canal144 from the American Canal Society data sheets describing the historic importance of the canal:

“Begun in 1904 by the Americans after the “magnificent failure” of the French Canal, the six pairs of locks are twice the size of those finally started on the French Canal – only 250’ shorter than the Empire State Building. Every aspect of the project has its superlatives, which have filled many books, although its completion in 1914 was not celebrated with an opera, as the French did for Suez. Not least among the secrets of success were major technological advances, and great strides in medical research; it was not until 1898 that it was proved, in India, that mosquitoes carry malaria. The Corps of Engineers had also given Col. Goethals practice in building monolithic concrete locks, such as Plaquemine Lock in Louisiana.”145

Given this understanding of the superlatives of the Panama, it is impressive that in an article from Popular Mechanics from 1929, the first image caption reads, “Looking Down What Is Claimed to Be the World’s Longest Canal Lock, 1,380 Feet in Length and Eighty Feet Wide; It Is One Unit in the 325-Foot Lift of the Welland Canal.” The body of the article goes on to describes how remarkable the engineering of the fourth Canal is compared with the Panama Canal,

143 Rodrigue, Jean-Paul. The Geography of Transport Systems. Hofstra University, 2012. Web. 6 June 2012. 144 Canal de Panama. Panama Canal Authority, 2012. Web. 6 June 2012. 145 “Panama Canal.” American Canals Society Canal Index. American Canals Society, n.d. PDF. 6 June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 131 of 181

“Today the genius of the builder, who has shaped and fashioned time-defying cement into a ship canal, thus creating one of the masterpieces of modern engineering, has at last brought to life the dream of the adventurers. For the new Welland ship canal, cutting a twenty-five-mile slice straight across Niagara peninsula, in Ontario, is nothing short of a monument to which future generations will point with pride.”

It continues,

“This ship canal is an achievement which compares with any, and surpasses many world-famous canals. With its opening the longest, deepest-draft “lakers,” giant 600-foot grain ships, may steam from the head of the Great Lakes to the St. Lawrence. The twin locks are similar to those in use at the Panama Canal. The Gatun locks have an eighty-five-foot lift, while those on the Welland canal have a lift of 139½ feet. These locks are 820 feet long and eighty feet wide. At the highest point in the lock walls, the huge structure towers more than 130 feet in the air. The giant gates, which control the flow of water and thus lift or lower the large ships, are among the largest in the US.

The projection of the canal called for rare engineering skills. The greater part of the lift over the Niagara escarpment occurred within a comparatively short distance. This necessitated excavating down to eighty feet, to bury the bottom of the locks in the rock. The excavation was done in the dry, and protection to the bank was placed before the earth bank was cut and dredged away.”146

146 Gage, Earle W. “The New Welland Canal.” Popular Mechanics Magazine. Digitized by Google Books. August 1929. Pages 275 to 276. Web. 27 May 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 132 of 181

Image 113: Article from Popular Mechanics, August 1929.147

The Welland Canal stands apart from many well recognized canals as a magnificent feat of engineering from the first route through to the current operating route. No other canal is required to make such a steep lift. As well it has remained a relevant shipping route as part of the St. Lawrence Seaway system due to its position on the Great Lakes and proximity to the United States. Not only does it connect the Eastern Seaboard and Western Provinces, it also has had a great impact through its history on the development of the economy in the Niagara Peninsula.

147 Gage, Earle W. “The New Welland Canal.” Popular Mechanics Magazine. Digitized by Google Books. August 1929. Pages 275 to 276. Web. 27 May 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 133 of 181

Economic Drivers

Early Industry and Commercial Activity

For each community the Welland Canal travels through, and for the Niagara Region, the Canal has been and continues to be a highly valued asset. Historically this area of the Niagara Peninsula was made up of the Counties of Welland and Lincoln. An area settled in the late 18th-century by the influx of United Empire Loyalists. These people were mostly farmers and the people were attracted to the area because of the open fields, fertile soils and permanent streams.

Map 14: 1876 Map of Welland and Lincoln Counties.148

While communities were growing in many areas throughout the Peninsula (around Niagara Falls and the Portage Route, as well as communities surrounding the many other falls in the area, like Ball’s Falls), with the opening of the Welland Canal in 1829 the wheel was set in motion for the direct influence it would have on the growth and pattern of development for many communities in Niagara. Prior to the Canal there were communities that had grown along others rivers in the area. However with the building of an improved, reliable waterway industries moved to the Canal.

Building the Welland Canal

The development of industry and Canal building in the Niagara Peninsula went hand-in-hand. William Hamilton Merritt, the main force for the development of the Welland Canal, sought power for his saw and grist mill. His father, Sheriff Thomas Merritt had opened the business on Twelve Mile Creek in 1816;

148 “Map of Lincoln and Welland.” In Search of Your Canadian Past: The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project. McGill University, 2001. Web. 1 June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 134 of 181 however this source was unreliable and often did not provide the power necessary. In 1818, W.H. Merritt surveyed possible canal routes with George Keefer and John DeCou (DeCew) and tried to solicit his idea to the governments of Upper and Lower Canada, though both declined involvement. Instead, W.H. Merritt, Keefer and DeCou established the private Welland Canal Company and by 1824 the first Canal was under construction.

The building of the Canal had to happen during the summer months however the local labour force was made up of farmers who did not have time for such work which caused an influx of labour into the area. This immigration to the area meant only good things for the economy. All the workers needed to be fed and housed, so their wages circulated back into the businesses that grew up along the route. Expenditures from the Welland Canal Company were also spent locally boosting business. As well as the labourers, there was also work in administrative offices created and tolls to be collected. Water was used to power mills, like Merritt’s, and the import and export of goods began.149

A History of Industry

Milling

Milling was happening along the many rivers throughout the Niagara Peninsula prior to the building of the Canal but the source was often unreliable. By 1847, less than twenty years after the completion of the Canal there were successful mills operating in Dunnville, Wainfleet, Port Robinson, Allanburg, Thorold, St. Catharines producing flour, timber, cloth and metal goods.

Port Colborne is considered the “flour milling capital of Canada” beginning with the Maple Leaf Flour Mill opening in the harbour October 12, 1911. “This mill was able to produce 363,000 tonnes of flour per day. In 1917 the mill was expanded to include another milling unit allowing the mill to produce a total of 1,180,000 tonnes of flour daily. Not only did the mill grow in output, but also operations. It expanded to include a bag factory, feed plant, rye mill, corn mill and storage. This amount made the mill the ‘largest flour mill in the British Empire’.”150 This mill is now operated by Archer Daniels Midland. Further into the Canal was the Robin Hood flour mill which closed just a few years ago.

Some others of the many mills that grew up along the second Canal route, were: Hutchinson’s Mill, White Mill and Red Mill in St. Catharines; Phelps Saw Mill, Beaver Cotton Mills and Gordon MacKay’s Cotton Mill in Merritton; and Keefer’s Flour Mill in Welland.

With the building of the third route in the 1880s Beaverdams Creek once again had an abundance of water flowing through it. Prior to this period a dam constructed by the City of St. Catharines Water Works Commission in 1875 interrupted the supply and subsequently purchased a gristmill from Robert Chappel as compensation for the lack of water. Wilson Morningstar purchased the property in 1883 from the city and site, now called Morningstar Mill is named for him.

149 Jackson. Page 35. 150 “Maple Leaf Mills.” Ontario Editorial Bureau Fonds. Brock University Archives. PDF. 29 Sept. 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 135 of 181

Image 114: Government Elevator and Maple Leaf Flour Mill, Port Colborne at East and West sides of the South terminus of the Canal, circa 1920.151 Image 115: Robin Hood Flour Mill, West bank, third Canal at Ramey’s Bend.152

Image 116: 1871, Hutchinson’s Mill looking East, second Welland Canal.153

151 Postcard Collection and Francis J. Petrie Collection. Niagara Falls Public Library, Niagara Falls. 152 Balcer. “(Former) Robin Hood Mills in Port Colborne, Ontario.” Wikipedia. 16 March 2009. Web. 19 June 2012. 153 Jackson & Wilson, 1992 (image supplied by John Bonnett). Brock University Digital Exhibit. Originally published in Canadian Illustrated News, 1871. Web. June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 136 of 181

Image 117: Red Mill constructed 1882 at Lock 4 on the second Canal, had a water wheel installed. It was later purchased by Packard Electric who produced incandescent lamps after converting the building, during the war years. It was converted again to a war munitions plant, demolished 1965.154

Image 118: Phelps Mill in Merritton at Lock 8 on the second Welland Canal. Two brothers Noah and Orson built this sawmill in 1850 but it burnt down in 1888.155

154 John Jackson, 1988. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. 155 Jackson & Wilson, 1992. Brock University Digital Archives. Styran & Taylor, 2004. Brock University Digital Archives. Web. June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 137 of 181

Image 119: Lybster Mill, originally Gordon MacKay's Cotton Mill, then the Canadian Coloured Mills and then Lybster Mill. Finally this building was sold again to Lincoln Paper Mills.156 It has been redeveloped recently into a multi-use building with Johnny Rocco’s Restaurant, Stone Mill Inn, and a Spa.

156 Herod, Doug. St. Catharines Standard. 2009. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. Merritton: A Community within a Community. n.d. Web. June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 138 of 181

Image 120: Beaver Cotton Mills, Merritton, established 1856, one of the first major textile factories in the city. Produced yarn, batting and wadding. Later owned by Independent Rubber Co. purchased in 1912 to produce boots. At one point it was used as storage by Domtar Paper. This is now the site of The Keg Steakhouse and Bar developed by Nino Donatelli.157

157 Styran & Taylor, 2004. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 139 of 181

Image 121: Welland Mills, Thorold, this former flour mill considered the largest in former Upper Canada, has been redeveloped into a multi-use commercial and residential building with eight street townhouses added.

Pulp and Paper

The pulp and paper industry has been prevalent throughout the region relying on the Canal water for processing. These plants include: Riordan Mill, mentioned above; St. Catharines Paper Factory (later Cuthbert Pattern Works and then Broom Factory); Kinleith Paper Co.; Montrose Paper, Thorold; Davy Pulp and Paper; and Ontario Paper Company, Thorold. In 1988 Ontario Paper Company was the fifth largest manufacturer of newsprint in North America. In Merritton alone there were four paper mills through the years: Abitibi-Price, Domtar, Kimberly-Clark and Interlake Tissue Mill.

Image 122: Riordan Paper Mill built in 1867. This was one of the first mills to introduce sulphate pulp processing in 1875. This is noteworthy because all the local wood sources had been exhausted and this novel technology allowed softwood timber from the Canadian Shield to be processed. The Riordan Mill was a pioneer in the mass production of inexpensive paper. John Riordan died in 1883 and his brother Charles took over ownership.158

158 Jackson & Wilson, 1992. Brock University Digital Exhibit and Francis J. Petrie Collection, Niagara Falls Public Library. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 140 of 181

Image 123: Kinleith Paper Co.159 Image 124: Ontario Paper Mill Company.160

Image 125: Interlake Paper Mill, later Kimberly-Clark.161 Image 126: Montrose Paper Mill, later Provincial Paper.162

Shipbuilding and Dry Docks

Shipbuilding has been prevalent along the Canals with the Muir Brothers Dry Docks at Port Colborne, the Shickluna Shipyards and Dry Docks in St. Catharines and the Abbey Brothers Shipyard in Port Robinson. It was in Port Robinson that WWI minesweepers were built.

Shickluna Shipyards was the earliest of the shipyards and was located in the now unassuming area beside Highway 406 as it passes through St. Catharines, now recognizable for the pink fire practice tower. Opened by Lewis Shickluna, a Maltese immigrant, it operated between 1838 and 1894. At peak operation in the 1870s, it employed over three hundred men and was renowned for the quality of steam ships produced.163 The property stretched one kilometre along the canal banks and included blacksmith shops, a planning and saw mill, two dry docks and lumber yards.164 Later the yards were used by Frank Dixon’s tow tug boat company.

159 Jackson & Wilson, 1992. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. 160 Brock University Map Library. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. 161 Francis J. Petrie Collection. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. 162 Brock University Map Library. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. 163 Styran & Taylor, 2004. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. 164 Jackson, 1997. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 141 of 181

Image 127: Shickluna Shipyard.165

Maritime History of the Great Lake details the boom of shipbuilding activities in this area between 1870 and 1875. An excerpt from this website follows:

“In St. Catharines, the Weekly News published a letter, written on the 27 March, describing the city and going into some detail as to shipping. At the shipyard below Lock 3, Louis Shickluna and his foreman, George Thurston, who had left the employ of Wm. Power & Co. in 1871, were busy as usual. They had a propeller ready for launching, built for Sylvester Neelon and another, about one-third finished, as well as two other vessels just about completed. Across the canal from the shipyard and a little above the Wheel Works, the schooner LINNIE POWELL and three other vessels were wintering. Past McCourt's sail loft at the swing bridge was the Merchants Line wharf with the propeller LINCOLN alongside. Across the canal from the stone White Mills, was Shickluna's large sawmill and dry dock. Here the schooner JANE C. WOODRUFF and the propeller DOMINION lay. The stonework forming the approaches to Lock 3 was being widened. At Hutchinson's Mill, the propellers SCOTIA and EUROPE; were in winter quarters. Farther up the canal was the Saw Works and George N. Oille's Foundry and engine works, which had turned out five low-pressure engines in the past 15 months. Beyond this were McCordick's Tannery, the City Foundry & Machine Shop and the Red Mill. Here, the steamer ST. ANDREW, probably the side wheel tug of that name, as well as the propellers AMERICA and OCEAN were berthed. Neelon's lumber yard, the Gas Works and Simpson's Shipyard where three propellers were under construction, in addition to one for the Lake & River Steamship Co. and one for McDonald & Co., completed this tour of the canal.”166

The Muir Dry Dock in Port Dalhousie operated between 1850 and 1960. In 1946, Charles Ansell, who managed the shipyard for twenty-five years, leased 11 acres of land near Lock 1 on the fourth Canal for

165 Brock University Special Collections and Archives. Brock University Digital Archives. Web. June 2012. 166 Brookes, Ivan S. “.” Maritime History of the Great Lakes. Special Collection Hamilton Public Library. n.d. Web. June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 142 of 181 dry docking vessels in the event of emergency. In 1956, Ansell sold the company to Upper Lakes and St. Lawrence Transportation Ltd., for a period it was known as Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd., and is now operated by Seaway Marine & Industrial Inc. continuing the tradition of shipbuilding along the Canal.

Automotive

The first automobile to cross Canada was built at the REO Motor Car Company plant in St. Catharines. This division of the Lansing, Michigan company opened in 1910 and the Trans-Atlantic journey happened two years later. Fonce V. (Jack) Haney, the mechanic and driver and Thomas W. Wilby, a journalist travelled 6,720 km from Halifax to Vancouver in a 1912 REO special touring car.

“In 1878, Lachlan McKinnon set up a wholesale and retail hardware store on St. Paul Street opposite James Street, “ recalls The St. Catharines Centennial Book, “A small building was erected behind the store on the Old Welland Canal to manufacture buggy and wagon hardware to be sold in the store. This, then, was the seed that grew into General Motors of Canada.” Car manufacturing continues on the banks of the third Canal at the General Motors plant, which rely on the Canal water supply for their manufacturing process.

Beer and Wine Making

St. Catharines was the home of Barnes Wines on the banks of the Canal. An early poster for the company advertises that it is the earliest winery in the area. The company first received a charter in 1873 under the name The Ontario Grape Growing and Wine Manufacturing Company Limited. In 1894, it opened as Barnes Wines Limited. The company produced table wines, dessert wines, sherries, ports and both crackling and sparkling wines. It operated under the name Barnes Wines until 1988 even though it was sold to Grimsby Wines in 1932.

In the St. Catharines Centennial Book, published in 1975, tells a story about Barnes Wines:

“The skippers of the old sailing vessels would stop in at the winery as their ships were being towed by mules up the canal. They would sample and choose the various vintages they would put aboard for future appearances on the Captain’s table.”

As of 1975, the original Barnes Winery, off Martindale Road, still stood near the second Canal.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 143 of 181

Image 128: Poster advertising Barnes Winery. Image 129: A Barnes Royal Port label.

Taylor & Bates Brewery was established in 1834 across the second canal from the Shickluna Shipyard. Their major products were beer, porter and cream ale. One can imagine this would have been a successful business when James Taylor purchased the Burgoyne House in 1874 and Henry N. Bate built 27 Yates Street. Both homes are in the affluent neighbourhood now known as the Yates Historic District. They were in business until the Depression.

Image 130: Taylor & Bate Brewery.

Power Generation

The Canada Hair Cloth Company initially used the second Welland Canal to provide power. As technology advanced, the company produced its own electricity from a water power generator. This company’s primary activity was manufacture of fabric for train seats, parachute silk and men's suit linings but they also provided a power source for the first select homes in St. Catharines to receive lighting. While the portion of Canal that once served the company has now been filled and paved for parking, the building remains as a notable St. Catharines landmark. It is now being renovated to house the Brock University Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (SEPA) and a new for the Arts (NCFA). ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 144 of 181

The area around DeCew Falls, named for Welland Canal Company advocate and director, John DeCou, was acquired in 1942 by the Hydro-Electric Commission of Ontario. This land is located West of Morningstar Mill on Beaverdams Creek. It expanded the DeCew Fall generating station which in its early days was responsible for blocking the flow down the creek. With the construction of the third Canal flow improved. Since then, the DeCew Falls generating stations have existed with water provided by the reservoir at which is fed by the Welland Canal.

Image 131: Canada Hair Cloth Company building.167

Other Industries

As well other industries have operated in this area because of the Canal. Welland has been home to Atlas Steel, John Deere, Page Hersey, Welland Tube Works of the Steel Company of Canada and Union Carbide. Port Dalhousie was home to the Maple Leaf Rubber Company and building continues to be used for manufacturing by Lincoln Fabrics.

Image 132: Maple Leaf Rubber Company, now Lincoln Fabrics, with Canadian Henley Regatta Course in foreground.168

167 John Jackson, 1988. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 145 of 181

Image 133: Present day Lincoln Fabrics.169

There continues to be employment created by the Canal operation. The ships require supply companies to supply goods while they lock through. There is employment for crew on the ships and ship repair docks. During winter months the Canal does not operate and this is the time for maintenance and repairs. From business like the Port Weller Dry Dock to General Motors there continues to be a wide range of industries both in service of the Canal and its shipping operations that make use of the water the Canal provides. Not all industries that have existed in the past two hundred years could possibly be mentioned here. There are several histories written about the Welland Canal that explore this relationship fully. Of particular interest for study would be the survey maps for the second Canal created by the Welland Canal Company. These maps identify structures and features associated with the Canal. These maps are held by Brock University in the James A. Gibson Special Collections and Archives.

Continuing Commercial Activity: The St. Lawrence Seaway

The St. Lawrence Seaway opened to commercial shipping in 1959. Tom Whitelaw remembers ships tied up waiting to go through the locks and how busy the Canal was in the 1960’s. This was when talks began about the possibility of a fifth canal, the Super Canal. The building of the Welland By-Pass was the first step in this endeavour. By the end of the 1960’s came the introduction of container shipping and more goods being moved by land. The Canal now only operates at about half capacity however, the lands are owned to make the next era of canal possible.

As more emphasis is placed on the environmentally sustainable movement of goods and as fuel prices continue to increase, canal shipping may once again become more prevalent. The Seaway is now considering future opportunities including short sea shipping which would move goods shorter distances through the seaway. The government has also supported this by removing tariffs on short sea ships and Algoma Lakers has begun renewing its fleet, ordering five new lakers to be built, after twenty years with no new ships.

168 General Photograph Collection, Francis J. Petrie Collection. Niagara Falls Public Library, Niagara Falls. Web. June 2012. 169 Zamaria, Ryan. Photo’s by Ryann. Tumbler. 3 July 2011. Web. 19 June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 146 of 181

Apart from the Seaway, the Canal is also used to generate power for St. Catharines Hydro and the water is utilized in the water treatments plants in St. Catharines and Port Colborne and the industries mentioned in the prior section.

Port Dalhousie: The recreational hub

Over the years many ships travelled between Port Dalhousie and Toronto including the Empress of India built in 1876 (the first), the Lakeside, the Garden City, the Northumberland and the Dalhousie City which ran until 1950 (the last). They brought people to this busy beach to escape Toronto. Visitors had plenty to amuse them right in the port or they could continue all the way to Niagara Falls by rail. The Brock University Digital Exhibit describes Lakeside Park: “Lakeside Park, Port Dalhousie was created in 1902 by the Canadian National Railway Company, in association with the Canadian National Steamship Company. By the 1920s, the park had developed into a popular tourist destination that included an amusement park, midway, extensive picnic area and dance hall.” The inner harbour was developed for recreational use and the outer harbour remained for passenger ships between Toronto and Port Dalhousie

Rush (a popular rock band from Toronto with hits from the 1970’s to today) wrote hit song “Lakeside Park” about Port Dalhousie. Neil Peart who grew up in the area wrote the lyrics,

Midway hawkers calling "Try your luck with me." Merry-go-round wheezing same old melody. A thousand ten-cent wonders, who could ask for more. A pocketful of silver, the key to heaven's door.

Lakeside Park, willows in the breeze. Lakeside Park, so many memories. Laughing rides, midway lights, Shining stars on summer nights. [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/r/rush/lakeside_park.html ] Days of barefoot freedom, racing with the waves, Nights of starlit secrets, crackling driftwood flames, Drinking by the lighthouse, smoking on the pier, Still, we saw the magic was fading every year.

Everyone would gather on the twenty fourth of May, Sitting in the sand to watch the fireworks display. Dancing fires on the beach, singing songs together, Though it's just a memory, some memories last forever.

Neil Peart describes, “Another important setting in my childhood and early teens was Lakeside Park, in Port Dalhousie. When I was 14 and 15, I worked summers at Lakeside Park as a barker ('Catch a bubble, prize every time,' all day and night), and there was music: some of the kids brought transistor radios to work, and the music of that summer of 1966 played up and down the midway. At night, when the midway closed, we gathered around a fire on the beach, singing. Lakeside Park resonated in my life in so ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 147 of 181 many deep ways, especially those fundamental exposures to music that would be forever important. It's all gone now. All that's left, apart from memories, is the old merry-go-round.”170

Not far down from Lakeside Park is Martindale Pond. This year, 2012, marks the 130th anniversary of the Henley Regatta held in Port Dalhousie. Now the largest of its kind in North America, attracting over 2,000 men and women from over 100 rowing clubs and universities.171 It makes use of the remains of the first Canal. It began in 1880 as the Canadian Association of Amateur Oarsmen and its home base was Toronto. They hosted annual rowing tournament in various Canadian cities and just over twenty year later it made its permanent home in Port Dalhousie on the Martindale Pond. The Clubhouse had three different locations; the most recent built in 1954 on Henley Island (then called Reid's Island). Last summer over 2,000 men and women came from over 100 rowing clubs and universities in Mexico, Egypt, United States and Canada. Martindale Pond is also the home of the annual charity Chicken Chuckin' Tournament that attracts over one hundred participants.

Image 134: Caption reads, “On the Beach, Port Dalhousie, Ont., Canada.” The ship can be seen in the distance heading back to Toronto.172 Image 135: A view of Lakeside Park.173

Image 136: Caption reads, “Awaiting the Racers, Finishing Line, Canadian Henley Regatta Course. Port Dalhousie (near St. Catharines), Ontario, Canada.”

170 Peart, Neil. Traveling Music. Web. 9 June 2012. 171 “Royal Henley Regatta.” Ontario Trails Council. 2012. Web. 9 June 2012 172 John Burtniak Collection. Brock University Map Library. Web. June 2012. 173 John Burtniak Collection. Brock University Map Library. Web. June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 148 of 181

Image 137: Caption reads, “Looking North from Grand Stand, showing crowd watching Local Regatta Races, Port Dalhousie, Ont."

Summer recreation on the beach at Port Dalhousie continues and marina facilities for yachts and power boats have taken over the harbour. This activity has prompted the renewal of buildings facing the Canal and Port Dalhousie continues to be a vibrant place to visit.

Redevelopment of Inactive Canals

When the Welland Canal By-Pass was built diverting Canal traffic around Welland, the city was left with a large remnant of the fourth Canal. Following in the tradition of Port Dalhousie, this area has been redeveloped as the Welland International Flatwater Centre (WIFC). This is an area that hosts both international-standard competitive water sport facilities and recreational opportunities. There are 272 acres of calm water surface and 411 acres of parkland that make up the Flatwater Centre.

Trails have also been established along the routes of the Canal. The Bruce Trail follows the third Canal and the Greater Niagara Circle Route has been incorporated into the fourth Canal.

The American Canals Association suggests that it is possible to redevelop parts of the second Canal to navigation,

“This was the second of the four Welland Canals and could provide a route for smaller pleasure boats from Port Dalhousie to the top of the Niagara Escarpment independent of the large locks and ships of the current [4th] canal. For great lake and canal capable boats, re-establishing this canal would create a cruising ring for smaller craft when combined with Lakes Erie & Ontario and the Erie & Oswego Canals.174

One can only imagine this would be a costly endeavour which would need much community interest. This is not to say that it is not possible only that reopening of any portions of the Canal would need to be considered within the context of the entire system.

There have consistently been activities surrounding the Canal that promote the economy of area. They have been mainly industrial but have also included recreational activities especially more recently as portions of the inactive routes are redeveloped for other purposes.

174 “ACS Restorable Canals and Navigations.” American Canal Society. 24 Jan. 2009. Web. 27 May 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 149 of 181

Social Implications

An article from the first volume of The Popular Science Monthly from 1872, titled The Past and Future of Niagara by Professor W. D. Gunning discussed the amount the Falls recede each year. He notes that the water diverted from the Niagara River by the Welland Canal is 14,000 cubic feet every minute leaving an astounding 18,000,000 cubic feet of water per minute to plunge over the Falls.175 It is interesting that Niagara was chosen for an article in the first year of publication of an American science and technology magazine. This area was clearly on people’s minds. There was concern that the Falls were receding far too rapidly but the conclusion was that prior estimations had been incorrect.

The importance to Canada of the Welland Canal Corridor lies in its position as a critical component in the transportation system that has carried goods from the Western prairies to the Eastern seaboard. The Canal has been critical to advancing shipping on the Great Lakes and developing industry along its route.

A Piece of the Past Continuing Well into the Future

It is the engineering and the continued shipping through this area that has necessitated the rebuilding of the Canal throughout its history. As engineers continued to improve technology the Canal has been able to be straightened, reducing the length of travel from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. As such, components of previous canals have remained in place, their removal unnecessary. While other canals in Canada only represent one era of technology, Canada is fortunate to have both a commercially prosperous piece of history continuing to be used and access to an understanding of almost two hundred years of canal technology.

The St. Lawrence Seaway has operated the Canal since 1959 and it states, “Virtually every commodity imaginable moves on the Great Lakes Seaway System. Annual commerce on the System exceeds 200 million net tons (180 million metric tons), and there is still ample room for growth.”176 “The Welland Canal is and always has been in a state of change as the economy, trading patterns and technological abilities continue to progress,” states Jackson.177

The Canal Builders

Several generations of people were involved in the building of the Welland Canal, from the initial route built of oak timber, the second and third routes built of stone and the fourth route built of concrete. The stories of canal building centre on the Scottish stonemasons and the Irish labourers. Presumably with more intensive research other nationalities of immigrants may have had a role in the building of the Canal.

175 Gunning, W.D. “The Past and Future of Niagara.” The Popular Science Monthly. Digitized copy on Google Books. Sept. 1972. Pages 565 to 573. Web. 27 May 2012 176 “The Vital Waterway.” Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System. St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, 2012. Web. 8 June 2012 177 Jackson, John N. and Fred A. Addis. The Welland Canals: A Comprehensive Guide. Lincoln Graphics, St, Catharines, Ontario, 1982. Page 12. Print. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 150 of 181

John Haggart Sr. was a Scottish stonemason who immigrated to Upper Canada in the 1820s from Breadalbane, Scotland and worked on the Welland Canal as a stonemason and on the Rideau Canal as a contractor. His legacy was carried forward by his son, John Graham Haggart, who became a prominent mill owner in Perth and a politician.

An even more prominent Scottish stone mason found himself involved in the building of the second Welland Canal. In his biography it states, that after suffering an injury to his foot and leg,

“For a time he was unable to endure much fatigue, or to labor at building, so Mr. Crawford, the contractor, procured for him the position of foreman on work being done on the enlargement of the Welland Canal. In June, 1844, he went from Kingston to Slabtown, between St. Catharines and Thorold, as foreman for Messrs. Thomson & Haggart, on Lock number 12. In the fall of that year, when frost had stopped further work, he returned to Long Island, opposite Kingston, where a good quarry had been found, and here he superintended the men that winter in getting out stone to be built into the Welland Canal during the coming summer.”

That man was The Honourable Alexander Mackenzie prior to becoming Canada’s second prime minister between the years 1873 and 1878. He had immigrated to Canada in 1842. Slabtown was in Merritton at Oak and Elm Streets. In that same year many others immigrated to work on the canal,

“With the Second Canal’s enlargement plans about ready, tenders were called and ads were placed seeking labourers. At the end of June 1842, about 4,000 men, many with families, came to St. Catharines to work on the canal. For reasons, now hard to explain the contractors were not ready to go on with the work. As a result gangs of men who came for work faced great sufferings, with no money or food they threatened attacks on provision stores and in fact did break into some stores and a schooner, stealing thirteen barrels of pork. A fund was set up for these people with William Hamilton Merritt heading the subscription list. Finally, through public pressure, the contractors were ready to proceed.”178

Other immigrants, mainly the Irish labourers, were not so fortunate though,

“Many did secure work for a season or a few years. The massive canal construction programme undertaken by the government of the during the 1840s created a demand for as many as 10,000 unskilled labourers at one time in Upper Canada alone. The work was labour intensive, relying on the manpower of gangs of labourers. While mechanical inventions such as the steam- excavator in the Welland’s Deep Cut played a small role in the construction process, unskilled labourers executed most aspects of the work, digging, puddling, hauling and quarrying. The Cornwall Canal needed 1,000 labourers during peak construction seasons in 1842 and 1843; the Williamsburg Canals required as many as 2,000 between 1844 and 1847; while the improvements to the Welland employed between 3,000 and 4,000 labourers from 1842 to 1845. Despite this heavy demand, there were never enough jobs for the numbers who flocked to canal construction sites. Winter brought unemployment of desperate proportions. While some work continued on the Cornwall and Williamsburg Canals and on the Welland to a greater extent, the

178 St. Catharines Cenntenial Book, 1975. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 151 of 181

number of labourers who could be employed profitably was severely limited. Of the 5,000 along the Welland in January 1844, over 3,000 could not find jobs.”179

The following excerpts from The Irish on the Welland Canal by Lawrence Runnalls180 give more insight into the Irish involvement,

“Many fleeing Irish, especially from the counties of Cork and Connaught, came to Canada seeking a fresh start and found it in the Niagara region. The Welland Canal, a man–made waterway meant to carry ships around the Falls at Niagara, would require many workers and as advertisements (from 1821) showed, a wage of $12 a month was waiting for the men who would build it. ‘Slabtown’ Irish men swarmed in, many with their families, so many that towns were soon brimming past full or springing up along the canal at construction sites. Merriton and Thorold were two such and St. Catharines grew extensively with the influx. Difficulties in funding for the Canal, changes in course, or stoppages of work altogether, along with poor living conditions made life for these immigrants difficult. Also, coming to a new country did not erase old rivalries and bigotry among the workers, and indeed irritated them, since there was competition for jobs both here and on other similar projects. Slabtown was the nickname given to the community of Welland Canal workers who lived in rough slab shanties. Many of these workers were Irish and tensions mounted which were directly rooted in the Catholic–Protestant split within the community. Trouble occurred constantly and in 1843 rioting broke out.”

The same rough living and working conditions continued for those who worked in and around the third canal. This example was described in The St. Catharines Centennial Book. These conditions would have likely been prevalent throughout the peninsula and not unique to St. Catharines.

“Men, women and children could be found on the streets of St. Catharines at 5:30 in the morning around the year she became a city [1875]. Women and Children were on their way to their jobs in the mills and the men to their own various labours. Child labour was a fact of life in St. Catharines at that time. For a sixty hour week, children might have earned eighty cents towards the cost of keeping the family fed and clothed. A man was often excluded from work in a factory in favour of cheaper women and children employees. Working conditions were very poor and would shock and even frighten today’s industrial employees. About this time, unionism was slowly taking root in the Niagara Peninsula. The Third Welland Canal, under construction during this period, was hit by a number of strikes along its sections. Stonecutters, teamsters and labourers all struck the canal at one time or another. Their demands seem trivial by today’s standards. Labourers, for instance, on one section of the canal were earning one dollar a day and they wanted $1.25.”

179 MacDowell, Laurel Sefton and Ian Radforth. Canadian Working-Class History: Selected Readings. Canadian Scholars Press, 2006. Page 29. Print. 180 Runnells, Lawrence. The Irish on the Welland Canal. St. Catharines, 1973. Reprinted on Irish Hamilton. Stephen Barlett, 2010. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 152 of 181

A June 23, 1875 article in Capital and Labour, a weekly journal of facts and arguments on questions relating to employers and employed adds further insight into what the situation would have been like for people arriving in the peninsula,

Image 138: Scottish stonemasons and rough stone for third Welland Canal, circa 1880s.181

181 St. Catharines Historical Museum, St. Catharines. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 153 of 181

Image 139: Scottish stonemasons dressing stone blocks for third Welland Canal, circa 1880s.182

During construction of the fourth Canal while workers suffered, there were acts of heroism as evidence by the courage of Gordon Cyr,

“On August 1, 1928, a lock gate fell at one of the twin locks killing nearly a score of workmen and injuring many more. A young man named Gordon Cyr, who drove the Ontario Paper Ambulance, was the only ambulance driver who would risk backing up the steep hill and onto the big timbers. He and young Father Clancy of Holy Rosary Church in Thorold crawled through the tunnels in the walls administering first aid to the injured and comforting the dying.

A Part of People’s Lives

A collection of obituaries from the Niagara Peninsula have been compiled and published in a book titled, Sincerely Lamented.183 These obituaries, for people who died between 1817 and 1918, can give great insight into the lives of the people who lived around the Canals. Twenty deaths during this period include mention of the Welland Canal.

There are very sad stories of accidental death, like that of Patrick Brennan and Patrick Egan who were just boys, aged nine and ten, when in 1846, “bathing at the canal on the concession line between the farms of J. Johnson and the late G. Adams, Esqs.” they “were drown after slipping off into deep water.”184 Another reads,

182 St. Catharines Historical Museum, St. Catharines. 183 Sincerely Lamented St. Catharines Obituaries 1817-1918. Compiled by Paul Hutchinson. Slabtown Press, St. Catharines: 1995. Print. 184 Ibid, Page 10-11. From St. Catharines Journal, August 20, 1846. Page 3. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 154 of 181

"Accidental Drowning.---We regret to state, that Mr. Thomas Duffin, Lock Tender, at Lock No. 2, Dry Dock, below St. Catharines, was accidentally drowned, on the 14th instant, by slipping of one of the gates into the lock; but what renders the circumstance still more distressing, if possible, is, that it was witnessed by his agonized wife, without her being able to render the least assistance. An Inquest was held, and a verdict rendered accordingly. In this case, the Jury viewed it as a matter of deep regret, that the lock gates are unprovided with "footbridges,” as no less than eleven deaths have occurred in consequence, it is believed, of this very reprehensible omission. This neglect in the old lock gates, will, we are happy to know, be remedied in the new; as there is to be attached to each pair of gates a substantial footbridge, for the convenience and safety of those employed about the locks."185

Others lived a long and prosperous life in the area like long-time resident Dr. William C. Chace,

“Died (in 1875), at his residence in Maryville, Chautauqua Co., NY, at the advanced age of 80 years.” A druggest and merchant, owned and carried on the Stephenson House Baths, first manufactured the medicinal compound for the Water, "He was among the earliest residents of St. Catharines, and participated in our public improvements, including the building of the Welland Canal.”186 One “Mr. Richard Collier, of St. Catharines, died on Saturday morning, aged 71 years. He was Deputy Superintendent on the Welland Canal from 1833 till 1876, when he was superannuated.”187

One particularly lengthy obituary from 1914 is fraught with scandal as it details the murder of a young man. The headline reads, “Private Theodore Burgoyne Done to Death While on Duty at Lock 9 of the New Canal.”188

All of these incidents serve to remind us of the very human stories that surround the canals. Since the Canal was built it has been a place of recreation and danger, a source of employment and industry, as well as a prominent part of the communities that has grown up around it. These are just a few of the many stories that must exist and could be further explored to help tell the tale of the people who live in these places.

Canadia

Although only operating from 1967 to 1970, Canadia featured scaled (1:24) models of buildings and sites from across Canada. It included a railway, the Parliament Buildings, Casa Loma, the Bluenose, grain towers, the Toronto International Airport, the longest covered bridge from Nova Scotia and an operating set of Welland Canal flight locks. This inclusion amongst Canada’s great places of interest is an honour and demonstrates an appreciation of the Welland Canal, the Corridor and what it represents as a part of Canada. This was a fascinating way for children to learn about these iconic sites in a relatable scale.

185 Ibid. Page 25. St. Catharines Journal, November 16, 1843, p2. 186 Ibid. Page 14. Daily TImes (St. Catharines), August 19, 1875, p3. 187 Ibid. Page 18. Thorold Post, April 19, 1878, p4. 188 Ibid. Page 11-13. St. Catharines Standard, October 8, 1914, pp.1, 7. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 155 of 181

Image 140: Children with the Welland Canal flight locks at Canadia and under construction.189

Federal Commemoration

In a study from 1987 called Heritage Canals: Status and Significance historian Robert W. Passfield of the National Historic Parks and Sites Directorate the history of commemoration is discussed. The following are excerpts from the text:

189 “Canadia.” Amusement Park Historical Association of Niagara. 2012. Web. 7 June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 156 of 181

These considerations provide an understanding of why just the turning of the first sod is commemorated and why there have not been further investigations into how the Welland Canal fits into Canada’s history and the history of canal shipping. It is important to understand that in the early years of designation of entire sites; especially those as comprehensive as the whole Canal Corridor were not commemorated. The understanding of a cultural landscape approach to heritage is relatively new.

Designations of the Welland Canal

Part of the understanding of the heritage surrounding the Canals can be found in the statements of significance that have been written for the canal components. These include,

“The early history of the Welland Canal, one of Canada’s most important early waterways”;

“Along with the construction of the fourth Welland Canal, was part of one of the most massive public works projects ever undertaken by the federal Government, and played a crucial role in the economic and social development”, and;

“Development in this area began shortly after the opening of the First Welland Canal, in 1829.”

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 157 of 181

The designations also refer to the Canal as a landmark, referencing that the site is within walking distance of the Canal or has views over the Canal. In some cases even events that happened prior to the building of the Canal reference their location in relation to the Canal. (A full listing of the designations associated with the Canal can be found in Appendix C with the related statements quoted.) It is clear that the Canal has changed the landscape of the area drastically and is a marker both geographically and chronologically.

Community Perspectives of the Welland Canal

The Welland Canal runs through the Niagara Region which includes twelve municipalities, all of which have been identified in the past as having an important relationship with the Canal. They are: City of Niagara Falls; City of Port Colborne; City of Welland; Niagara-on-the-Lake; St. Catharines; Thorold; Wainfleet; Pelham; Fort Erie; West Lincoln; Lincoln; and Grimsby. In gaining a greater understanding of the cities and towns attitude towards, and relationship with the Welland Canals it is helpful to examine what information is provided on their official websites. In this section the following questions will be explored: Are the canals a part of their history? Are the canals critical to their current economy? Are the canals being used as a form of promotion?

The only community to exist prior to the building of the Welland Canal, St. Catharines, was utilizing Twelve Mile Creek for saw and grist mills as early as 1790. The history of the city on the website190

“In 1815, leading businessman William Hamilton Merritt abandoned his wharf at Queenston near the border and set up another at Shipman's Corners. He became involved in the construction and operation of several lumber and grist mills along Twelve Mile Creek. Shipman's Corners soon became the principal milling site of the Eastern Niagara Peninsula. In 1825, the Erie Canal was completed, linking Lake Erie with the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean. Canadians decided that efforts were needed to move Canadian exports wholly through Canada rather than remaining dependent upon access via the Erie Canal through the United States. Merritt devised a canal scheme from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario that would provide a more reliable water supply for the mills while at the same time function as a canal. He formed the Welland Canal Company, and construction took place from 1824 to 1829. The canal and the mills made St. Catharines the most important industrial centre in Niagara. The Welland Canal became essential for ship building and St. Catharines prospered from the presence of the canal, while areas away from the route of the canal stagnated or declined.”191

This critical role of the Canal continues throughout the history of St. Catharines. It now promotes the Welland Canals Centre at Lock 3 on the fourth Welland Canal and the Welland Canals Parkway Trails. However, it is only this idea of the canal as a tourist destination that is taken advantage of and not business development opportunities.

Thorold describes its history on the website,192

190 Official Website: http://www.stcatharines.ca/en/. 191 “History of the City.” City of St. Catharines. The Corporation of the City of St. Catharines, 2010. Web. 27 May 2012. 192 Official Website: http://www.thorold.com/siteengine/activepage.asp. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 158 of 181

“In 1824, the badly-needed first Welland Canal was built. The fourth and present Canal was completed in 1932. The Canal attracts thousands who view, with wonder, the great barrier that traps the water and lifts huge ships to higher levels and on to the Great Lakes. Although there are other Flight Locks in the world, Thorold's locks are unique in that they lift ships higher, over a shorter distance. This heritage rich city is situated on top of the Niagara Escarpment, 350 feet above sea level.”193

Image 141: City of Thorold pictographic map, using the ship, which is also larger than any other object on the map, to bear the City’s name.

Thorold also uses the Canal to define its current identity,

“Thorold is proud to be "Canada’s Canal City", and has one of the few authentic canal downtown areas remaining in Canada. The Welland Canal currently in operation is the fourth to be built; and during the shipping season, one can watch the remarkable passage of ocean and lake-bound vessels through the Allanburg lift bridge and twin flight locks from many viewing areas within the community. For a great view of the historic second Welland Canal, follow the Merritt Trail which runs along its route through the City.”194

The City of Welland website195 tells its history with the Welland Canal being prominent in its development. Its name reflects its close connection to the Canal and William Hamilton Merritt, as prior to being named Welland, in 1858, the town was called Merrittsville. The main source of pride stems from the turning of the first sod by George Keefer, President of the Welland Canal Company.

193 “Community Overview.” The City of Thorold. n.d. Web. 27 May 2012. 194 “Community Overview.” The City of Thorold. n.d. Web. 27 May 2012. 195 Official Website: http://www.city.welland.on.ca/. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 159 of 181

The City of Port Colborne shows a great deal of pride of its part in the movement of goods along the Welland Canal through the information provided on the city’s official website.196 The City of Port Colborne encourages all aspects of the canal from its strategic location and contribution to the economy to unique features it provide to the surrounding trails and parks. The celebration of the re-opening of the Canal each year is held in Port Colborne and the grain elevators are considered key to their existence, “the flour milling capital of Canada.”197 Port Colborne is named for Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Colborne, who was instrumental in securing funding for the canal project.198 It has retained this name, received in 1834, through amalgamation with the Village of Humberstone. The website describes its history,

“Ever since the first vessel emerged from the canal here in 1833, the presence of the Welland Canal, which effectively bisects the city, has been the major determining factor in the city's pattern of growth. Throughout the [19th-] century, Port Colborne developed into a business community serving the marine trade along the Welland Canal. As the 20th-century progressed, improvements to the harbour and the enlargements of the Welland Canal facilitated industrial development and small 19th-century commercial and manufacturing works began to increasingly be displaced by larger conglomerates.”199

Canal Days is the annual summer festival in Port Colborne. Information is offered from the SLSMC, there are activities at the Canal Museum and there are opportunities to ride and tour ships and other vessels. Otherwise the festival is not much different than summer festivals that happen throughout North America. It is most interesting though that the focus is on the Canal – a part of celebrating the history.

196 Official Website: http://portcolborne.ca/ 197 “FAQ.” City of Port Colborne. n.d. Web. 27 May 2012. 198 “History.” City of Port Colborne. n.d. Web. 27 May 2012. 199 “History.” City of Port Colborne. n.d. Web. 27 May 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 160 of 181

Image 142: Kids swimming in the Canal during Port Colborne Canal Days.

Although it does not promote the Welland Canal as a current asset, as a community along the Feeder Canal, Wainfleet recognizes this relationship within its history on its website200, providing a detailed description,

“The construction of the Welland feeder canal from the Grand River across the clay plain to Welland, undertaken to provide a sufficient head of water for the operation of the Welland Canal, brought about a change in the settlement geography of the township. The completion of the canal prompted the municipal government to install a grid of drainage into the feeder canal. The excavated material from the ditches was utilized to form a road foundation thus allowing the building of a grid of roads through the low-lying clay and sand regions. The installation of the roads and ditches encouraged agricultural settlement inland, and the completed feeder canal (1832) was large enough to accommodate horse drawn barges and schooners loaded with cargoes of lumber and wheat, thus providing shipping facilities for people who settled near the canal's bank.”201

200 Official Website: http://www.wainfleet.ca/ 201 Township of Wainfleet. n.d. Web. 27 May 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 161 of 181

Image 143: Picture of Feeder Canal from Wainfleet website.

The City of Niagara Falls official website202 does not speak of any relationship with the Welland Canal as part of its history. It does describe its pre-canal origins as the settlements that formed along the Portage Route beginning in 1790. It does not describe when the transportation of goods was moved to the Welland Canal and the Niagara River was no longer used for this purpose. However, on the Community Development page it promotes its close proximity to the canal, “The St. Lawrence Seaway’s Welland Canal also offers a global port for bulk shipping and large scale manufacturing needs.”203

The history of Lincoln only begins in 1970 with the amalgamation of the Town of Beamsville and the Townships of Clinton and Louth. On the website,204 the history of one community in this area, Ball’s Falls, is recounted. Their story is a reminder of the sometimes negative impact of the Welland Canal on communities that moved industry away,

“The hamlet was known as Ball's Mills, Louth Mills, Glen Elgin, and finally as Ball's Falls because of the two delightful cataracts on the property. In the mid 1800's, however, significant developments such as the railway and the Welland Canal led to the rapid growth of other villages below the escarpment, and by the turn of the century, most of the activity at Balls Falls had ceased.”205

Niagara Regional Economic Development Corporation

The Welland Canal is listed by the Niagara Regional Economic Development Corporation as the number one reason for business to locate in Niagara as it provides worldwide access. “The region is less than a one-hour drive to Toronto, Buffalo or . Businesses are within one day’s drive of 55% of all U.S. manufacturing activity, almost half of the U.S. population. Niagara is accessible worldwide through the St. Lawrence Seaway and Welland Canal.”206

Canal Namesakes

202 Official Website: http://www.niagarafalls.ca/ 203 Niagara Falls. City of Niagara Falls. n.d. Web. 27 May 2012. 204 Official Website: http://www.lincoln.ca/ 205 “Ball’s Falls Conservation Area.” Town of Lincoln, 2010. Web. 27 May 2012. 206 “Top Reasons to Locate.” Niagara Economic Development Corporation, 2010. Web. 6 June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 162 of 181

It is interesting to note the importance the community placed on those men who contributed to the building and development of the Canal by naming their home after them. These men include: George, Earl of Dalhousie, William Hamilton Merritt, Hon. John Beverley Robinson, Sir John Colborne, Hon. William Allan (a director of the Welland Canal Company), J.L. Weller (Engineer in charge of construction operations from 1912 to 1917).

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 163 of 181

Physical Landscape and Boundaries

Physical Landscape

Jackson in his book, The Welland Canals and their Communities, describes, “The Welland Canal, constructed as a slender ditch across the Peninsula in 1829, has become landscape of the highest order and a major sponsor of new landscape features.”207 Formerly built along existing rivers, engineers widened and deepened these waterways to allow for the passage of ships. Sailing ships required the aid of animals to tow it through the system creating paths that stretched the length of the channel. These ships would still have been extraordinarily tall to the homes and barns they passed. These features would generally make a distinct impression in the landscape; making the Canal a stark, unnatural cut through the area. This impression would be like the when a single road is built through an otherwise undeveloped area.

Image 144: The impressive height of a sailing ship going through the third Canal route (a waste weir in the foreground).208

It was not just the waterway that made a distinct impression on the landscape. To ensure their growth communities needed means to cross the Canal. The walking, auto and rail bridges built through the years also greatly change the landscape. As the Canal route changed remnants of the prior Canal were left behind and larger bridges were required. As ship size increased higher bridges were built and technology developed to lift bridges to let them pass. Infrastructure, like the enormously tall concrete poles designed by civil engineer J. L. Weller, was also required. These concrete poles carried electric cables across the Canal at Lock 3 and were each 150 feet. The impressive height was needed so they would not interfere with the passing of ships and at the time would have been a marvel akin to the CN tower.

207 Jackson. Page 43. 208 Grant, G. M. (1882). Picturesque Canada: the country as it was and is. Toronto: Belden Bros. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 164 of 181

Image 145: Westchester Bridge.209

Image 146: Glenridge Bridge at Lock 3.210

209 Brock University, Visual Arts Dept. slide collection. slide # IIBM89. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. 210 Brock University Special Collections and Archives. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 165 of 181

Image 147: Concrete poles being raised to carry wires over the Canal.211

The physical landscape has been greatly changed by the building of the Canal and is visible even today as one crosses any of the lift bridges or the in St. Catharines. The Canal and related infrastructure have greatly changed the landscape of the Niagara area.

Definition of Boundaries

Boundaries are important to understanding of the cultural landscape. To begin to define the criteria for the boundaries of a canal corridor, The Cultural Landscapes of the Rideau Canal Corridor: Part II Study has been used as a precedent. These criteria are:

○ “boundary definition should facilitate Corridor management; ○ boundary definition should ensure inclusion of cultural landscapes whose development is directly and strongly associated with the Canal itself; ○ boundary definition should ensure inclusion of relatively whole landscape patterns and units; ○ boundary definition should acknowledge existing Corridor identity where this exists in the regions' communities.”212

It was determined in the case of the Rideau Canal that the boundaries would include the entire township, town and/or city that borders on the Canal though the entire corridor. As in the case of the Rideau Canal, it is suggested that the most appropriate boundaries for the Welland Canal Corridor include the whole of those townships, towns and/or cities adjacent to the Canal and associated waterways. This would include the communities surrounding all four periods of the Canal and the Feeder Canal.

211 Brock University, Visual Arts Dept. slide collection. slide # IIBM94. Brock University Digital Exhibit. Web. June 2012. 212 Stoval, Herb et al. The Cultural Landscapes of the Rideau Canal Corridor: Part II Study. The Institute for Heritage Study Team, March 1998. Print. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 166 of 181

Conclusion

For centuries man has needed to move goods from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie and the natural place for this shipping was along the Niagara River which connects the two Great Lakes. Yet, the rapids, whirlpool and the massive Niagara Falls make this an enormous task. So a portage route was established to transfer goods out of the Niagara River at Queenston bypassing these obstacles by land and then continuing the shipment along the River at Chippewa. This transportation route was first used by the Neutral First Nations and then the Mississaugas.213

In 1783 when the British lost control of the East side of the Niagara River to the United States the authorities transferred their portage route to the West bank. According to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board (HSMB) plaque marking the occasion the route was opened in 1789 by a group of private traders led by Robert Hamilton and became the official government route in 1791. Not long after, early in the 19th-century, Merritt saw an advantage in building a Canal to increase water flow along Twelve Mile Creek which, like the Niagara River, also ran North-South through the Niagara Peninsula (although a much more serpentine route). This increase in water was to provide a consistent, reliable power source for his mill. At the same time his vision was also much grander. He dreamed of a complete St. Lawrence transportation route that included “his” Canal.

The Queenston-Chippawa Portage Route plaque text continues, “Until the completion of the Welland Canal in 1829 and the building of railways in the 1850’s, it was the principal link in trade, travel and war between Lake Ontario and the upper lakes.”214 However business dwindled in communities along the Niagara River because of the Merritt’s Welland Canal. Best efforts were made to offset the loss of business by applying for and receiving a charter to build a railway, the Erie and Ontario Railway, commonly known as the Chippawa-Queenston Railway and construction began in 1835.215 This was the first railway in Upper Canada. But by the 1860s Queenston was no longer part of the key transportation network.216

Since its construction, nearly 200 years ago, the Welland Canal has been and continues to be the defining feature of the Niagara Peninsula. It impacted the development patterns of towns and cities in early Niagara. Towns developed with the Canal at their centre – Port Dalhousie, St. Catharines Merritton, Humberstone and Port Colborne, Marshville – and have matured into the present day, larger municipalities of St. Catharines, Thorold, Welland (once Merrittsville), Port Colborne, and Wainfleet; while communities along the Niagara River previously critical to shipping like Queenston and Chippewa saw declining growth as shipping move from the River to the Canal. The building railways were directly related to the Welland Canal with some railways running North-South along the Canal to complement shipments and others running East-West to carry goods from the Canal into . Roads were also built in relation to the Canal which accounts for the unconventional pattern still persistent in many of the communities. The Canal also necessitated the building of bridges to connect each side. This feature makes a distinct visual impact in the area, altering the development of communities and the way the Niagara Peninsula is navigated.

213 “8,000 Years of History.” Willowbank. Willowbank National Historic Site. n.d. Web. 1 Sept 2012. 214 Ontario Historical Plaques, 2012. Web. Aug. 2012. 215 “The Erie and Ontario Railway.” Niagara Falls History Museum. n.d. PDF. Aug. 2012. 216 “8,000 Years of History.” Willowbank. Willowbank National Historic Site. n.d. Web. 1 Sept 2012. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 167 of 181

The key definitions stated previously from the World Heritage Committee and the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places aid in understanding the Welland Canal Corridor as a significant cultural landscape. The Welland Canal meets the value criteria as set out by the World Heritage Committee (WHC),

“May be of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history or technology, either intrinsically or as an exceptional example representative of this category of cultural property. The canal may be a monumental work, the defining features of a linear cultural landscape, or an integral component of a complex cultural landscape.”217

The Welland Canal also fulfills The Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places criteria of a cultural landscape as,

“Any geographical area that has been modified, influenced or given special cultural meaning by people, and that has been formally recognized for its heritage value [and] are often dynamic, living entities that continually change because of natural and human-influenced social economic and cultural processes.”218

The Welland Canal is truly of outstanding universal value and a monumental work. It is an amazing engineering accomplishment being the steepest canal in Canada. It makes the greatest change in height over the shortest span because of the Niagara Escarpment. In the first era (built 1824-1829, and 1933) of the Welland Canal this change was made in forty oak timber locks, in the second (built 1842-1853) it was reduced to twenty-six Queenston limestone locks, the third (built 1872-1887) to twenty-five and the current canal (built 1913-1932) makes the change in seven locks. This technology has been a spectacular feat during each era of the Canal even prompting Popular Mechanics to declare it more impressive than the Panama Canal. The Welland Canal was the response to the American Erie Canal and ensured the economy did not lose strength to the United States. It is also Canada’s oldest continually operating commercial canal (opening three years prior to the Rideau Canal and although it opened eight years after the Lachine, the Lachine has not been in continual operation). The building of this Canal has special meaning to Canadians because of this status.

The building of the Welland Canal directly influenced the type of industry attracted to the area. With industries like milling of all varieties, pulp and paper, shipbuilding and dry docks, automotive, beer and wine making, power generation, and others (Lincoln Fabrics, John Deere, Welland Tube Works, Union Carbide, Atlas Steel) booming as a result of their proximity to the Canal. The Canal has also been a place for recreation throughout its history with residents enjoying its cool waters in the summer for swimming and its flat frozen surface in the winter for skating. It currently serves these purposes and attracts cycling along the route as well. Unused portions of the Canal have been converted for recreational purposes like the flatwater courses at Port Dalhousie and Welland.

217 UNESCO, Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, Eighteenth Session, 12-17 December 1994. Information Document on Heritage Canals. 218 Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada. A Federal, Provincial and Territorial Collaboration. Second Edition, Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2010. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 168 of 181

The building of the Welland Canal influenced immigration to the area, attracting Scottish stonemasons and Irish labourers who made the journey to Upper Canada specifically for these jobs and people like John Haggart Sr. and Alexander MacKenzie. The Canal holds special meaning for people who pass their day sitting by the edge of the Canal watching the ships lock through. So many provincially and nationally significant places make mention of their important relationship to the Welland Canal and for many the Canal is a key part of their history and defines the essence of their community.

Being a dynamic, living entity that is in continual change is also an important understanding brought forth by the WHC. They state, “One distinctive feature of the canal as a heritage element is its evolution over time. This is linked to how it was used during different periods and the associated technological changes the canal underwent.” The Welland Canal has certainly evolved over time. So much so that the general understanding of it has been as four distinct canals rather than as one that has undergone necessary change to remain relevant. Its relevance lies in the shipping industry the Welland Canal has served throughout its history it has been updated five times (each distinct era and the building of the Welland by-pass in 1973). These upgrades, including lock size, material and number, were made to accommodate the latest ships navigating the St. Lawrence waterway and the Great Lakes. These upgrades also took into consideration the time it took to travel the length of the Canal and the means by which the Canal traversed the Escarpment. The Welland Canal Corridor is unique in that as these advancements occurred the route also was altered leaving behind remnants of earlier eras. This is an evolution that can be clearly seen today from Port Dalhousie South to Port Colborne and West to Dunnville.

This corridor is certainly of national significance. Throughout its history the Welland Canal Corridor has been a place where people have sought ways to connect to the whole of Canada while improving the place they live. From Merritt’s dream of a complete St. Lawrence transportation route that would include the Welland Canal, to the Province of Canada West government who recognized the importance in this young, struggling company and the number of industries who have located their business along the banks of the Canal all the way up to the continued investments of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. This corridor has been critical to the production and shipment of goods from the Eastern Seaboard to Central North America.

The Welland Canal Corridor as an industrial cultural landscape that has had great impact on the social and economic development of the area. With the continued use of this shipping system the Canal will continue to grow and the community will be left with remnant components from prior eras. Creative ideas will need to be pursued to ensure the remnants are put to good use however these considerations should never go against the primary interest, the operation of a major commercial shipping canal and industrial use along the waterway, which has persisted as the oldest Canadian canal operating for industrial and commercial purposes.

As the Welland Canal Corridor approaches 200 years of industrial and commercial use, it is exciting both for the Region and for Canada to have such a rich industrial and cultural resource.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 169 of 181

Map 15: Welland Canal Cultural Landscape Boundaries.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 170 of 181

Statement of Significance

The following Statement of Significance is suggested.

Description

The Welland Canal Corridor is defined by the townships, towns and cities surrounding the Welland Canal, principally St. Catharines, Thorold, Welland and Port Colborne in the Niagara Region of Ontario and the communities along the Welland River to the East and the Feeder Canal to the West. The Welland Canal Corridor has an operating commercial and industrial Canal that has taken four distinct routes between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie since the initial construction began in 1824.

Key Heritage Values

The value of the Corridor lies primarily in the economic impact the Welland Canal has had on the communities that grew up around it. Each period of canal building brought an increase in jobs related to its construction and the services that are required to support these people. As the second oldest Canal built in Canada it remains the only one still operating for its original dual purpose, water power and shipping. These purposes as well as the industries that have operated throughout the Canal’s history also provide economic stimulus for the surrounding communities. These impacts go beyond the boundaries of the Welland Canal Corridor when seen within its context as part of the St. Lawrence Seaway. It is a vital component of the shipping network that extends from the Eastern Seaboard to the Western Provinces.

The Canal has dictated the growth of communities and settlements in the Niagara Region. The impact of land patterns persist.

The Canal is also valued for the unprecedented engineering feat it overcame. The series of lifts over the Niagara Escarpment amount to the steepest change in elevation.

As the technology of the Canal has been upgraded and the route modified there have been components left in place. These remnants are valued for the understanding of past Canal technology they provide and serve as a physical reminder of the rich history of the Niagara Peninsula and its impact on the development of Canada

Character-Defining Elements

 The existence of components remaining from each canal period including but not limited to archaeological remains of the first era, Queenston and Kingston limestone locks from the second and third eras, towpaths, bollards, feeder canal, bridges both pedestrian and vehicular and related railway lines and bridges. All operating components of the fourth canal era and Welland By-Pass including unused components, operational components and future upgrades in technology and additions to the canal workings.

 The primary industrial and commercial use of the canal to support industrial activities requiring water for its operation and shipping of goods through the Niagara Peninsula. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 171 of 181

 The relationships of and views from all locks to each other from the same canal and compared to past and future canal eras.

 The relationships of the canals to the built features of the communities including the development of road patterns and building associated with canal use, including industrial, commercial and residential.

 The relationship with the movement of goods up and down the Niagara Escarpment.

 The dramatic cuts through the landscape and sounds and sights of water passing through the operating canal and each prior era.

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 172 of 181

Appendix A: Historical vs. Current City Names

The following list has been included for reference when comparing historic place names to current municipalities, towns and cities. The heading names the current municipality and listed below each are prior names associated with the city.

Historically all of the municipalities fell under Lincoln (established 1792) and Welland (established 1851) Counties. In 1970, these counties were amalgamated to form the Regional Municipality of Niagara.

City of Niagara Falls - Drummondville: Incorporated 1831 - Chippawa: Incorporated 1850 - Elgin - Clifton: 1856 Elgin and Clifton merge and continue name of Clifton - Town of Niagara Falls: 1881, from Clifton - Village of Niagara Falls: 1881, from Drummondville - City of Niagara Falls: 1904, Town and Village amalgamate - Stamford

City of Port Colborne - Sugarloaf: pre-1833 - Gravelly Bay: pre-1833 - Port Colborne: 1834, renamed for St. John Colborne, former British Army, instrumental in securing funding for canal project - Humberstone: amalgamated 1952

City of Welland - 1788, settlement began - Merrittsville: 1844, in honor of William Hamilton Merritt, Welland Canal Company - Village of Welland: 1858 - Town of Welland: 1878 - City of Welland: 1917

Niagara-on-the-Lake - Butlersburg - Newark: 1781 - Niagara: 1788 - Niagara-on-the-Lake: 1880 - Queenston - Virgil - St. David’s - Town and Township of Niagara-on-the-Lake: 1970, amalgamated

St. Catharines - The Twelve ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 173 of 181

- Shipman’s Corners: named for Paul Shipman, tavern owner (although the only evidence of this is Merritt’s diary). - Village of St. Catharines: named for Catharine Hamilton, wife of Hon. Robert Hamilton of Queenston - Town of St. Catharines: 1845 - City of St. Catharines: 1876 - Town of Merritton, Village of Port Dalhousie and Grantham Township: Incorporated into St. Catharines in 1961 - Part of Louth Township: Amalgamated 1970

City of Thorold - Allanburg - Beaverdams - Port Robinson - St. John’s - Thorold South - Village of Thorold: 1850 - Town of Thorold: 1875, amalgamated all villages listed above - Town of Thorold: 1970, combined former Township of Thorold and Town of Thorold - City of Thorold: 1975

Township of Wainfleet - Attercliffe, Beckett's Bridge, Belleview Beach, Burnaby, Camelot Beach, Chambers Corners, Long Beach, Morgan's Point, O'Reilly's Bridge, Ostryhon Corners, Perry, Wainfleet (known until the 1920s as Marshville), Wellandport (which straddles the border with the neighbouring Township of West Lincoln), Willow Bay and Winger

Township of Pelham - Wellington Height: named for the Duke of Wellington - King George’s Battery - Fonthill, Ridgeville, Effingham, North Pelham and Fenwick: 1970, amalgamated into Township of Pelham

Town of Lincoln - Jordan: 1799 - Vineland: 1799 - Glen Elgin (now known as Ball's Falls), Tintern, St. Mary's (Jordan Station), Jordan, Rockway, The Thirty (now vanished) and Beamsville: milling spots - Villages of Beamsville, Campden, Jordan, Jordan Harbour, Jordan Station, Pelham Union, Rockway, Tintern, Vineland and Vineland Station - Town of Beamsville and Town of Clinton and part of the Township of Louth: amalgamated 1970

ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 174 of 181

Appendix B: How a Canal Operates

Image x: Modern Lock Features219 Image x: Lock Operation220

219 “Tommy’s Trent ABC’s of the Seaway.” St. Lawrence Seaway. St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, 2012. Web. 1 June 2012. 220 Ibid. ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 175 of 181

Appendix C: Designations Associated with the Welland Canals

The following details all designations associated with the Welland Canal. The descriptions included are the segment that specifically mentions the relationship with the Canal and are taken from the site’s Statement of Significance published on HistoricPlaces.ca.

Federal

Former Foghorn Building and Former Lighthouse Keeper’s Dwelling: St. Catharines Constructed: 1931 Designation Year: 1989 Search and Rescue Office: St. Catharines Constructed: 1953 Designation Year: 1989 “associated with the provision of navigational aids to ensure the safe usage of the Welland Canal. The Port Weller lighthouse station achieved international recognition as an important navigational aid on the Welland Canal, and later the St. Lawrence Seaway, as a result of the interest of lighthouse keeper Cyril Williamson and his wife Ethel in ham radio.”

Lighthouse: Mohawk Island National Wildlife Area Constructed: 1846-1848 Designation Year: 1993 “The Lighthouse is associated with the early history of the Welland Canal, one of Canada’s most important early waterways. The canal opened in 1829 and was substantially rebuilt and improved in 1845. Construction of the Lighthouse on Mohawk Island began in 1846 to serve as a navigational aid at the Southern end of the Canal.”

Front Range Lighthouse: Port Dalhousie Constructed: 1879-1880 Designation Year: 1989 “The Front Range Lighthouse is a good example of a building associated with the establishment of navigational aids on the Great Lakes. Constructed in the 1870s-1880s, to meet the needs of the new steamships plying the lakes, the Front Range Lighthouse was built to serve the third Welland Canal. Along with the Rear Range Lighthouse, located 300 feet (91.5 meters) away, it formed a dual-light system to guide ships on Lake Ontario and those entering the canal or the port. While the rear light is no longer operational, the front light continues to serve recreational boaters.”

Rear Ranger Lighttower: Port Dalhousie Constructed: 1889 Designation Year: 1990 “The Rear Range (Lighthouse) is a very good example of a building associated with the establishment of navigational aids on the Great Lakes. Built to replace an earlier lighthouse destroyed by lightning, the Rear Range (Lighthouse) was to serve the third Welland Canal and marked the narrow entranceway. Along with the Front Range Lighthouse, located 300 feet (91.5 meters) away, it formed a dual-light system to guide ships on Lake Ontario and those entering the canal or the port. The rear light is no longer operational, while the front light continues to serve recreational boaters.” ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 176 of 181

Southeast Shoal Dwelling: Point Pelee Constructed: 1927 Designation Year: 1990 “The Dwelling is associated with navigational aids on the Great Lakes. Located at the West end of Lake Erie at a strategic location, it is crucial to marine traffic passing to and from the Upper Lakes of Superior, Michigan, and Huron. Like the opening of the Welland Canal, the lightstation was integral to improvements being made in the 20th -century to the Great Lakes trade route.”

Light Tower: Long Point Constructed: 1916 Designation Year: 1987 “The Light Tower is closely associated with the provision of navigational aids for the heavy marine traffic passing the hazardous Long Point Peninsula. The present structure is the third lighthouse on the site, which, since 1830, has been maintained as an important landfall light for ships using the Welland Canal, one of Canada’s most important waterways.”

Welland Canal National Historic Event: Thorold Event Year: 1824 Designation Year: 1924 “Near this spot on 30th November, 1824, the first sod of the old Welland Canal was cut by George Keefer, President of the Welland Canal Company, in the presence of William Hamilton Merritt, chief promoter of the enterprise and about 200 other persons. This great work, connecting Lake Erie and Ontario for ship navigation, was planned and carried out by a private company.”

Queenston-Chippawa Portage Road National Historic Event: Stamford Event Year: 1789 Designation Year: 1925 Following the cession of the East bank of the Niagara River to the United States in 1783, the British authorities felt compelled to transfer the portage road around Niagara Falls to the West bank of the river. Opened in 1789 by a group of private traders led by Robert Hamilton, the road between Queenston and Chippawa, which passed to the East of this monument, became the official government route in 1791. Until the completion of the Welland Canal in 1829 and the building of railways in the 1850's, it was the principal link in trade, travel and war between Lake Ontario and the upper lakes.

Battle of Beaver Dams National Historic Site: Thorold Designation Year: 1921 “A large open industrial landscape including part of the Welland Canal on the East side of the City of Thorold, Ontario. The site encompasses a variety of properties including urban residential property in Thorold, parts of the Welland Canal, a cemetery, and industrial land. Official recognition refers to the site on its legal lots.” “Character Defining Elements: The open industrial and rural character of the landscape that includes parts of the Welland Canal. Viewscapes from the battlefield across the Welland Canal.”

Battle of Cook’s Mills National Historic Site: Cooks Mills, Welland Designation Year: 1921 ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 177 of 181

“The Battle of Cook's Mills National Historic Site of Canada is a rolling semi-rural landscape East of the Welland Canal bordering the North bank of Lyon’s Creek in the City of Welland, Ontario.”

William Hamilton Merritt National Historic Person: St. Catharines Lived: 1793 to 1862 Designation Year: 1974 “Born of a Loyalist family in the state of New York, Merritt became a pioneer merchant and industrialist on Upper Canada's Niagara frontier. In 1818 he began to promote construction of the Welland Canal, of which he became the first general manager (1824-41). Active in provincial politics from 1832 to 1862 as MLA, President of the Executive Council (1848-50) and Commissioner of Public Works (1850-51), he devoted his considerable energies to the economic development of the province through advocacy of such measures as the improvement of the St. Lawrence navigation and limited reciprocal free trade with the United States.”

Shickluna Garage, 293 King Street: Port Colborne Designation Year: 1995 In the 1800s the Shickluna family owned one of the largest shipyards on the Welland Canal. Louis Joseph Shickluna, established the Port Colborne shipyard, Known as Shickluna Brothers, in the 1860s. In 1925, the Federal Government expropriated all of East Street (the location of Shickluna Brothers) for canal widening and Louis J. Shickluna constructed a new garage and auto showroom.

Thomas Coltrin Keefer National Historic Person: Ottawa Lived: 1821 to 1915 Designation Year: 1938 “Born in Thorold, Upper Canada, Keefer began his career as an engineer working on the Erie and Welland Canals. He first gained prominence in 1850 through the Philosophy of Railways, an eloquent and persuasive essay promoting railway development. This gave him wide influence during the railway building era, although he built no lines himself. His public works, particularly the Hamilton, Montreal and Ottawa waterworks, established his reputation as an hydraulics engineer throughout the continent and abroad. He was a founding member and first president of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers. He died in Ottawa.”

Municipal Heritage Designation

Main Street Bridge (Bridge 13): City of Welland Constructed: 1927-1930 Designation Year: 1994 - City of Welland's most recognizable landmark - Associated with the fourth Canal “The bridge, along with the construction of the fourth Welland Canal, was part of one of the most massive public works projects ever undertaken by the federal Government, and played a crucial role in the economic and social development of Welland. The construction of the Main Street Bridge provided the only link between the East and West portions of downtown Welland. It serves, not only as an important transportation route for travellers, but as a symbol of the economic and social impacts of the projects undertaken by the federal government at the time.” “Character Defining Element: Position on the Welland Canal, a major waterway constructed to facilitate transport and trade in the early 20th-century.” ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 178 of 181

Welland Mills: Thorold Constructed: 1845-1847 Designation Year: 2002 - Positioned by the second Canal - Associated with Jacob Keefer “Was among the first mills that located on this improved inter-lake transport system. These mills shipped thousands of barrels of processed grains throughout the world. Prominent owners of Welland Mills include Thomas Rodman Merritt, the Howlands, Hedley Shaw Milling Co., and Maple Leaf Milling Co. It ceased operation in 1926.”

Central United Church: Welland Constructed: 1907-1908 Designation Year: 1987 “It is valued for its proximity to the banks of the historic fourth Welland Canal.” “Character Defining Elements: Location on King Street across from the fourth Welland Canal”

Robertson Public School: St. Catharines Constructed: 1829 Designation: 1978 “Building is connected to William Hamilton Merritt, a prominent businessman and founder of the Welland Canal Company in St. Catharines, who enrolled his three sons at the Academy: Jediah, William and Thomas. Built in the same year as the opening of the first Welland Canal. The bell in the front tower was presented to the Academy by Oliver Phelps, one of the original Trustees that worked on the “Deep Cut”, as the original Welland Canal was known. It is believed to be the first public bell in St. Catharines, used not only as a school bell, but to call people to fight fires and for work crews constructing the Welland Canal. The school is situated in close proximity to the first Welland Canal, which was located behind St. Paul Street. The opening of the canal in the same year as the school proved to be beneficial, as the property served as an educational facility for the children of the canal workers as well as businesspeople who were attracted to the city by its bright development.”

Bridgetender’s House: Welland Constructed: c 1855 Designation Year: 1997 “The house is named in honour of Eunice Shotwell's second husband Thomas Lord Box, who served as Welland's bridgetender in the 1860s.” “Character Defining Element: Location on Merritt Street, situated in close proximity to the Fourth Welland Canal.”

Port Dalhousie Conservation Heritage District Designation Year: 2003 “Comprises the original canal village of Port Dalhousie, which was incorporated by the City of St. Catharines in 1961. Remnants of an important canal-era shipyard, and the entry locks of the original three Welland Canals.” “The heritage value of the Port Dalhousie Heritage Conservation District lies in its representation of the history and development of the village of Port Dalhousie, from its inception as an important canal terminus and service location for the first three Welland Canals, to a period of recreational and light ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 179 of 181 industrial use in the early 20th-century. Port Dalhousie is among the best preserved 19th-century canal villages in Canada, displaying cohesiveness in its streetscapes, road patterns and orientation to the shoreline.” “Beginning in 1826 as the Northern entry of the First Welland Canal, the village of Port Dalhousie developed and prospered as the Lake Ontario terminus and service provider for the Second and Third Welland Canals until 1932. From the 1830s to the 1960s, shipbuilding, servicing and repairs were important industrial components, recognized throughout the by the shipping industry.” “Character Defining Elements: Historic street plan bordering the canals, harbour and lakeshore; Structures directly related to the canal's era of Port Dalhousie 1820's to the present, such as the entry locks of the first three Welland Canals, two historic lighthouses, Jail, Customs House building, Lockkeeper's shanty, harbour and piers; Remnants of the first Welland Canal - Surviving entry Locks from the 2nd and 3rd Welland Canals; Shipyard building (Dalhousie House) c. 1865; Canal side industrial building (presently Lincoln Fabrics) c. 1900; Variety of architectural styles of the residential buildings from the canals era of the village (1820's to present) ranging from modest, frame cottage style c. 1820's to c. 1930's Tudor revival style to the present; Orientation to the canal and harbour; Location on the peninsula between Lake Ontario to the North and Martindale Pond to the South.”

Ingleside: Port Colborne Constructed: 1867 Designation Year: 1987 “It is prominently located on King Street, an area with a number of buildings that have contributed to the development of Port Colborne and are strongly linked to the Welland Canal. Photographs from the Port Colborne Historical and Marine Museum dating from the 1880's show the Carter house after being hit by rocks from an explosion that occurred when digging the channel for the Third Canal. It is within walking distance to other prominent buildings and structures in the city, such as the Welland Canal, the Museum, and the Port Colborne Public Library. Ingleside, or “The Carter House”, was occupied by the Carter family for 118 years. Charles H. Carter came to Canada from New Jersey in 1834 at the age of three years; in 1838, he established a successful towing business on the Welland Canal. DeWitt Carter was an enthusiastic supporter of Port Colborne and a mariner with an enduring interest in the Welland Canal. Carter was the author of “The History of the Welland Canal” and contributed to other historical books on the Niagara Peninsula.” “Character Defining Element: Location within walking distance to Welland Canal”

Allanburg Village Cemetery: Thorold Designation Year: 2002 “named Allanburg by Samuel Keefer when he formally laid out a new settlement. The new name was in honour of William Allan, a banker and vice-president of the Welland Canal Company. Keefer's father, George, emigrated from New Jersey in 1792 when his lands were confiscated by the US Congress. George was to become the Welland Canal Company's first president and it was in Allanburg that he turned the sod for the very first canal.”

Humberstone Township Hall Constructed: 1852 Designation Year: 1981 “Made of cut stone taken from the Welland Canal, the hall is a simple rectangular, one-storey building located at 76 Main Street West on 'The Island' of Welland Canal.” ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 180 of 181

Millar House: Thorold Constructed: c 1876 Designation Year: 2005 “Just two blocks from the Welland Canal James Millar began his business as a merchant and tailor in Thorold; He was very active in the community, serving in a number of positions of responsibility.”

Glenview Mansion: Niagara Falls Constructed: 1870 Designation Year: 2003 “Glenview Mansion is associated with three of its early owners, each of whom played a significant role in the growth and prosperity of Niagara Falls. John Drew, Glenview's builder and first occupant, was a successful mason and contractor who was highly involved in community life of the Town of Clifton/Niagara Falls. Born in Okehampton, England, Drew arrived in 1854 and gained contracts to work on the enlargement of the Welland Canal and on railroads in Canada and the United States. Drew also served on the Clifton (and later Niagara Falls) town councils. Another notable owner associated with the house is John Ferguson, who found wealth in constructing railroads, canals and water works for the improvement of the Niagara region and served as a Member of Parliament for Welland County from 1881-1891. Ferguson helped develop tourism at the Whirlpool Rapids Park, and it was under his occupancy that Glenview became a prosperous agricultural estate and social venue.”

Burgoyne Residence: St. Catharines Constructed: 1870 Designation Year: 2001 “Contextually, the Burgoyne Residence located immediately outside of the Yates Street Heritage District boundary, is a strong focal point in the neighbourhood that is situated on the periphery of the downtown core. The historical development of this district has strong ties to the first Welland Canal and the Merritt Family, one of the founding families of St. Catharines. Within the context of the greater neighbourhood, the Burgoyne Residence adds to the heritage value of the district, which is made up of an eclectic mix of homes in various styles and from various time-periods.”

Cummington Square: Niagara Falls Constructed: 1920 Designation Year: 2006 “Cummington Square is a representation of the earlier days in Chippawa when it was a booming terminus at the Southern end of the old Portage Road and the First Welland Canal. For over 200 years, the square has served as an important local landmark.”

St. James Rectory: Port Colborne Constructed: 1875 Designation Year: 1988 “As conveyed by its name, this building served as the rectory to St. James' Church, which was affectionately nicknamed by locals as the 'marine church' because of the financial contributions received for its construction from Welland Canal ship captains. The older portion of the building was constructed in 1875 as a residence, most likely under the ownership of Lewis G. Carter. This was during a time of rapid growth for Port Colborne with the establishment of new port facilities and industries associated with the Welland Canal.” ICP 105-2013 October 23, 2013 Appendix I Page 181 of 181

Carr-Millar-McMillan Block: Thorold Constructed: c. 1868 Designation Year: 2006 “The Carr-Millar-McMillan Block is representative of Thorold's commercial development, which is centred mainly along Front Street. Development in this area began shortly after the opening of the First Welland Canal, in 1829. By c. 1868, Thomas D. Scott, a confectioner and baker, and George F. Florey, a merchant and miller, built this block. It has been a consistent part of the commercial district in downtown Thorold ever since.”

Chippawa Town Hall: Niagara Falls Constructed: 1842 Designation Year: 1983 “Precipitated by the opening of the Welland Canal in 1829, by the 1840s, Chippawa was a thriving town. A wide variety of business establishments were located around Cummington Square.”

160-168 St. Paul Street: St Catharines Constructed: 1867 Designation Year: 1986 “160-168 St. Paul Street, constructed circa 1867, is valued as the home to The St. Catharines Daily Journal, the first newspaper in St. Catharines. The newspaper, which began as a weekly, in 1826, under the name of The Farmers' Journal and Welland Canal Intelligencer, was later shortened to 'The St. Catharines Journal'.”

Ruthven: Cayuga Constructed: 1845 Designation Year: 1996 “Ruthven was associated with politician and businessman David Thompson I (1793-1851), the Grand River Navigation Company and five generations of the Thompson family. David Thompson I was born in the Niagara region and served as an officer in the . In 1832, while working as a contractor for the Welland Canal, he bought 1,200 acres of land on the Grand River and established the village of Indiana.”

October 23, 2013 ICP 105-2013 Page 5 of Appendix II Appendix