Welland ‐ 3 St. Lawrence Seaway Also known as , the St. Lawrence Seaway is a system of locks, and channels that cross between the United State and . Sea vessels can travel from the through a system of smaller lakes into the great lakes, ending in . The Seaway includes 13 Canadian and 2 U.S. locks. The distance covered by the system is 2,340 miles (3,700 km). This photo program will focus on one of the locks, the Lock Number 3. The information in this program comes from https://www.seaway.dot.gov/about/great‐lakes‐st‐lawrence‐seaway‐system and http://www.welland.library.on.ca/digital/history.htm. Annually, over 200 million net tons (180 million metric tons) of materials pass through the system. They include iron ore, coal, limestone, grain, general cargo, cement, salt and other aggregates. The Seaway is considered one of the most outstanding engineering feats of the 20th century. The Seaway was open to deep draft navigation in 1959. It is an international shipping conduit from the Atlantic Ocean to mid‐America and Canada. The Seaway serves , Quebec, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania. from Europe, the Middle East and Africa frequent the Seaway. The history of the and Lock 3 is rooted in the fact that early settlement of Canada lacked roads and trails. Lakes and rivers were the best and in most cases the only mode of travel. The great obstacle was with its deep gorge that included an elevation difference between and of 326 feet.

Bypassing Niagara Falls was the only way to make a connection between the two lakes to develop a canal. Hamilton Merritt was one of the key people to propose the use of a system of canals. In 1824, the Welland Canal Company was formed by an act of the legislature in Canada. The original route was to use both canal and railroad, but the use of locks to control the height and depth of water was finally chosen. In the fall of 1829, the first lock, Welland Canal One, was opened between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The canal’s depth was 8 feet.

Improvements to the canal system took place. A second Welland was opened. The cost of building the canal to allow bigger ships and reduce the number of locks became very expensive. Millions of dollars were poured into the effort. During , a disruption to the construction caused prices to rise in the initial loan principal. The Welland Canal was the fourth in a series of successively larger canals. The present canal was opened in 1932. The canal is not able to be used year‐round. It is usually opened from early April through December.

acuri.net John R. Vincenti