St. Lawrence River Canals

Although the St. Lawrence Seaway was officially opened in 1959, its inception can be traced back to the French Era (1608-1760). A significant share of Nouvelle France's economy was leaning on fur trade around the St. Lawrence / Great Lakes system. Furs were light commodities, so canoes were sufficient to support this trade. When rapids were encountered, canoes and commodities were simply carried on foot to the next navigable trunk of the river. Therefore, the French realized that to improve fur trade and strengthen the colony, waterways would eventually have to be built.

The first step to undertake such a goal was to build a canal passing by the Lachine Rapids to Lake St. François, the first major natural obstacle on the St. Lawrence. In 1689, a Sulpician named François Dollier de Casson initiated such a project, but failed because of technical difficulties and high costs. He also wanted to use this canal as a source of power for flour mills. The 1.6 km long, 3.6 meters wide and 0.45 meters deep canal was never completed. However, this project underlined the main rationale behind the foundation of the Seaway, that is power for the industries and navigation for commerce.

Lachine Canal

It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that the dream would become a reality. The Lachine Canal became a necessity for the Montréal merchants who sought to make their city one of the main hubs of North American trade. Work began in 1821. The canal was completed in 1825.

The first canal enabled the passage of small flat-bottomed sailboats. With the increase in shipping and in tonnage, it had to be enlarged twice the work was carried out from 1843 to 1848 and from 1873 to 1884.

In the middle of the 19th century, a chain of canals, of which the Lachine Canal was the first link, was set up to facilitate shipping between Montréal and the Great Lakes. In the same era, the first businesses were established on the canal's banks, attracted notably by its hydraulic potential. From 1847 to 1945, South-West Montréal had the most highly diversified concentration of industrial establishments in Canada.

In its heyday, just before the great crisis in 1929, nearly 15 000 ships used the canal annually. However, 30 years later, it would be replaced by the St. Lawrence Seaway.

American Invasion

The American Invasion of 1776-77 clearly underlined for the British the problem of linking the St. Lawrence to the Great Lakes with waterways. One of the first waterways to be build along the St. Lawrence was by the British military in the short section between Lake St. Louis and Lake St. Francois, just west of Montreal. This section is composed of three rapids, which are Coteau, Cedar and Split Rock rapids.

In 1783 the first lock canal, Coteau du Lac, was built at Coteau Rapids and was approximately 270 meters long, 2.1 meters wide and 0.75 meters deep. Its main purpose was the improve the military supply lines between Montreal and Kingston. This work was complemented by three other canals passing by Split Rock Rapids, the Split Rock Canal (1783), the Trou du Moulin and La Faucille Canals (1785) and the Cascades Canal (1805; which replaced the Trou du Moulin and La Faucille canals).

This picture evoques a period scene where some of the King's Royal Regiment soldiers of New York work around a boat coming into the Coteau-du-Lac Canal.
© Parks Canada / Rex Wood ( Maurice Dunberry) / 1967

In terms of navigation the Durham barge is gradually replacing the bateau in the 1800s. The first could carry between three and four tons of freight while the second could carry up to 10 tons. It required the enlargement of existing canals and locks. However, navigation along the St. Lawrence is still long and difficult. In the early 1800s, it took between three and four days to travel from Kingston to Lachine, but between ten and fourteen days to travel in the opposite direction. Rapids were thus a strong constraint for fluvial traffic along the St. Lawrence.

On the calmer sections of the St. Lawrence, downstream Montreal and on Lake St. Louis and St. Francois, larger ships were used. In 1809, the first steamer (the Accommodation) is being used between Montreal and Quebec. By the 1810s it was possible to travel between Montreal and Quebec in 24 hours and between 36 and 40 hours in the opposite direction (the difference is obviously attributed to downstream currents).

Durham Barge

The War of 1812 clearly underlined the need to have an efficient navigation system along the St. Lawrence for military supply lines. Between 1812 and 1819, further studies were undertaken to build a canal between Montreal and Lachine but funding was a major deferring issue. In 1819, when Americans started to build the Erie Canal between Albany and Buffalo, the treat of having the role of Montreal and the St. Lawrence overtaken in its role of transshipment point to the Great Lakes favored the creation of Company of the Lachine Canal with the goal to complete the canal.

The company went bankrupt in 1821 and the project was overtaken by the Lower Canada government. Work actually began the same year and by 1825 the canal was completed. It involved a 14.3 meters climb over 13.5 kilometers and had a minimum depth of 1.5 meters. This was too shallow so the canal had to be enlarged again between 1843 and 1848 to support larger ships with a minimum depth of 2.7 meters.

Several industries were attracted by the hydraulic power generated by the Lachine Canal and by 1847, land next to the locks began to be leased for industrial use. This was a major factor in the industrialization of Montreal. By 1870, more than 13,000 ships passed through the locks each year. The popularity of the canal initiated again enlargement works between 1873 and 1879 and the minimum depth reached 4.3 meters. The business generated by the Lachine Canal favored the emergence of important Canadian maritime companies such as the Canada Steamship Line, founded in 1913. In 1929, the canal was declared a National Historic Site, but with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, traffic dropped. The Lachine Canal was formally closed in 1970. In the 1990's, there was discussions about reopening the Lachine Canal to navigation for recreational purposes.

After the first canals were built (Coteau du Lac, Lachine, etc.), the need to improve the existing ones and to extend the system became clear, notably as the tension between Britain and the United States mounted and as Upper Canada was being settled. However, there was a divergence between economic interests and military interests. From an economic point of view, the waterway should take the most direct route between Montreal and Kingston, that is using the International Rapids. The problem was that this section is the border with the United States for around 160 km and that the Canada (Britain) relations with the United States at that time were rather tense. The military preferred an indirect but secure route passing by the Ottawa River and the Rideau Canal.

• Ottawa-Rideau Canal. The War of 1812 has underlined that the International Rapids between Montreal and Kingston could be unsafe in case of a conflict between Canada and the United States. With this view the British surveyed and alternative route using the Ottawa River until Bytown (the City of Ottawa initial name) and then Kingston. Work for the Ottawa-Rideau Canal began in 1826 and the canal was completed in 1832 The detour imposed by the canal is far longer than by the more direct route, 394 km against 294 by the St. Lawrence. Therefore, this canal was built for strategic reasons and as soon as Canada / United States relations became more cordial (in the middle of the nineteen century), the Rideau Canal lost a significant share of its "raison d'etre".

An engraving of the Rideau Canal locks at Bytown

On the St. Lawrence section, several canals and locks were constructed:

Cornwall Canal

During Ontario's early days, the St. Lawrence River was the earliest navigable route or 'highway' into the Great Lakes, its smooth flow broken only by the mighty Long Sault Rapids just west of Cornwall. Once into the Great Lakes system, ships could travel onward into the interior of Canada or southward into the United States. Navigators had been wrestling with the Long Sault for hundreds of years. Fierce and formidable, they dropped thirty feet over a span of three miles. At the end of the drop, the water poured into small channels that encircled a group of islands, shooting up a plume of spray a hundred feet into the air. Only a highly skilled mariner would dare to challenge the mighty Long Sault.

Coloured postcard of the lower lock in the Cornwall Canal. A canaller waits below the lock, a second is in the lock going down while the St. Lawrence Steamship Company canaller SIOUX waits its turn at the upper end.

Although the rapids couldn't be tamed, they could be circumvented. The first series of canals to bypass the rapids began to open in 1783. In 1834, construction began on the Cornwall Canal. When it was finally completed in 1842, the canal extended inland from Cornwall to Dickinson's Landing and could handle vessels up to 186 ft. long. Between 1876 and 1904, the canal was enlarged even further. By 1900 Lake Superior was finally connected to Montreal through a series of shallow canals via the Welland canal. Improvements to the canal were ongoing and continued until around 1940.

Postcard Canada Starch Co. steamboat RALPH T.HOLCOMB towing a two masted schooner, probably the FLORA CARVETH, in the Rapide Plat, with the Rapide Plat canal in the foreground and Morrisburg, ON in the background c 1914

Beauharnois Canal.

Completed in 1845 (construction started in 1842), this canal replaced the Cascades and Coteau canals. This canal had the particularity of going south of the St. Lawrence. It was superceded by the Soulanges Canal in 1901. However, it was re-opened and enlarged in 1959 to become part of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Williamsburg Canals.

Between Long Sault Rapids and Lake Ontario, there is a set of smaller and scattered rapids (Farran's Point, Rapid Point, Iroquois and Cardinal). Starting from 1835 these rapids were overcome by a set of canals known as the Williamsburg canals. One of them was called the Gallop Canal and was between Iroquois and Prescott while the Farran Point and Rapide Plat canals passed over these rapids. By 1840, all these canals were in operation.

Soulanges Canal.

The Beauharnois Canal proved to be inadequate for deepening and enlargement, required by larger ships. Starting from 1892, the Soulanges Canal was built on the northern shore of the St. Lawrence and was 4.25 meters deep. If was opened in 1899 and two years later the Beauharnois Canal closed.

 

The First Commercial Canal

During this period many efforts were made to obtain a better canal at Lachine, mainly because of the obvious inefficiency of the system then existing and also because of the discussions which were going on at the time for the building of the New York State Barge Canal system. The building of this canal was seen as a serious threat to the trade and rapidly expanding cities on the Canadian side of the border and the Government of Lower Canada decided to introduce legislation for the building of a proper canal at Lachine. This Bill had a chequered career and was subjected to much inquiry after being passed in 1815, being finally repealed in 1819. At this time a joint stock company with a capital of $600,000 was authorized but this also was repealed when in 1821 the government decided to undertake the building on its own account and to reimburse the stockholders in the joint stock company.

The construction of the canal across the southwest corner of the Island of Montreal, following fairly closely the route of the Sulpician project, was completed in 1825. The completed canal was 8 1/2 miles long with the canal prism 48 ft at the waterline and 28 ft at the bottom. Seven locks each 100 ft X 20 ft X 5 ft depth were built to overcome the lift of about 45 ft between the harbor at Montreal and the level of Lake St. Louis. The total cost of the project was $438,000 of which $50,000 was contributed by the British Government on condition that government stores were allowed to pass free of tolls.

A canal system around some of the worst rapids on the route was therefore in existence in 1825 and the effect on the traffic was considerable. By 1831 the average traffic per season was 700 Durham boats and 1300 bateaux bound upstream, the west-bound cargo having increased to 21,000 tons annually - almost four times as much as in 1824. Much of the downstream traffic was still being carried in lumber scows which shot the rapids, the downbound boat cargoes increasing only slightly to 66,000 tons per year.

The year 1832, however, saw a marked reduction in the number of vessels using the Cascades and Coteau canals. This was due to the opening of the canals on the Ottawa River. The Ottawa-Rideau-Kingston canal system had been projected immediately after the war of 1812 to provide an alternative route between Upper and Lower Canada in the event of any recurrence of hostilities between the United States and Canada. This system proved to be easier for westbound traffic than the shorter St. Lawrence route and the arrangements used by one company, Messrs. McPherson & Crane were typical of many. This company owned a fleet of thirteen steamers together with many bateaux and barges which were towed up the Ottawa and Rideau rivers to Kingston, returning via the St. Lawrence.

In November 1829 the first Welland canal, connecting Lake Erie with Lake Ontario was completed, thus opening a continuous waterway from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Sault Ste. Marie. The lock dimensions of this canal were 110 ft x 22 ft x 8 ft.

Steam-powered vessels had been in use on the lower part of Lake Ontario since 1816 when the SS Frontenac (the old name for Kingston, Ontario) a three-masted side wheeler, went into service. It was, however, several years before machinery was developed which was sufficiently powerful to enable steamers to attack the rapids.
After about 1833 vessels were able to descend as far as Dickenson's Landing, named after Horace Dickenson the owner of the Cornwall stage, and were able to stem the rapids on the return trip.

The Dolphin, typical of many vessels of the period, sailed every morning from Prescott to Dickenson's Landing at the head of the Long Sault rapids, where the passengers disembarked and were taken by stage to the village of Cornwall. From there they went by steamer through Lake St. Francis to Coteau du Lac where another stage was required to by-pass the Coteau to Cascades rapids section. Another steamer plied on Lake St. Louis, the passengers finally reaching Montreal by stage coach from Lachine.

It is interesting to note that in 1838 the Dolphin descended as far as Cornwall, whether by accident or design is not known, but getting the ship back up the Long Sault to Dickenson's Landing was a mammoth task involving 4 weeks' labor with twenty yoke of oxen aided by the ship's engine and an unknown number of men and many horses.

Also in 1838 a large sternwheeler, the Iroquois, was built to run on the same route between Prescott and Dickenson's Landing but the vessel had so much difculty at the Rapide Plat rapids that posts had to be sunk into the bank at intervals to which the ship could be moored for "breathers" for both crew and engines.

Another ship, the Ontario was built in 1840 and was intended to be powerful enough to navigate all the rapids. However, on its first return voyage from Montreal it was unable to ascend the Long Sault rapids. The ship returned to Montreal and was eventually sold, later operating successfully on the Montreal-Quebec trade.
In 1841 the Vandalia was built at Oswego, N.Y. and fitted with an Ericsson screw propeller, the first propeller-driven ship to be built in North America.

The introduction of the propeller had a marked effect on the canal trade as, for the first time, steam-powered vessels could be built to the full lock dimensions, having previously been seriously restricted in hull width by the overhang of the side paddle-wheel boxes. The Vandalia had another novel feature which is now commonplace -- the machinery was placed aft leaving a long clear hold available for cargo.

The Second Commercial Canal

In 1833 government commissions were appointed to investigate navigational conditions on the river and to make recommendations as to the most effective improvements. Their report recommended that a uniform system of locks all 200 ft X 45 ft with 9 ft of water over the sills be constructed along the entire route.

The Cornwall canal was the first of the new canals to be undertaken but was not completed until 1843. A lack of co-ordination seems to have existed in this period as the Second Welland canal, begun in 1841 was built to much smaller dimensions, 150 ft X 26 1/2 ft X 9 ft and had to be completely rebuilt a few years later, in 1870, when the entire system was enlarged to 270 ft X 45 ft X 14 ft.

The Cornwall canal, overcoming one of the river's worst rapids, the Long Sault, was built on the site of the present canal which is, in fact, simply an enlargement of the first. The canal is 11 miles long with 6 locks and has guard gates at the west end at Dickenson's Landing.

The second stage of this development was the Beauharnois canal. This canal was built to by-pass the Coteau to Cascades rapids section and connected Lake St. Francis and Lake St. Louis. Many surveys, reports and inquiries were made before the Board of Public Works finally decided to abandon the old canals on the north shore and this new canal was commenced on the south shore immediately following the act of Union between Upper and Lower Canadas in 1841. The canal, which is still in existence though now disused, commences near the town of Valleyfield and sweeps in an arc to enter Lake St. Louis near the village of Beauharnois. This route is shown in Fig. 2. When the canal was completed in 1845, it was found that the depth of water at the upper entrance was insufficient and two dams eventually were built across the main channel of the St. Lawrence just below Valleyfield with a dyke along the low lying south shore of Lake St. Francis. These dams raised the water to a satisfactory level and the canal was operated until the completion of the Soulanges in 1899.

In 1843 work was started on the enlargement of the existing Lachine canal to the new dimensions, three of the old lower entrance locks being combined into two in the process. These two locks, with much modification, now form part of the present system. The lower locks were arranged for a depth of 16 ft enabling seagoing vessels to reach the industrial sites which were then developing along the line of the canal. The cost of this enlargement was $2,149,000 part of which was again contributed by the British Government.

Farther upstream a completely new series of canals was begun in 1846. These canals, now known as the Williamsburg canals, were built to overcome a series of rapids extending for about 30 miles. Boats were at that time able to ascend these rapids but, as in the case of the Iroquois it was a difficult operation for most ships and seriously depleted their cargo capacities when bound upstream.

The first of the series (the most easterly) was the Farran Point canal, just over 1 mile long and with one lock. Ten miles farther upstream the Rapide Plat canal, 4 miles long and with two locks, overcomes the Rapide Plat, a large stretch of rapids, after which a 4-mile stretch of navigable river leads to the Galop canal. This is the largest of the Williamsburg canals and is 7 1/2 miles long and has 3 locks. The canal was originally built in two sections, one at Cardinal and one at Iroquois but was subsequently made continuous by the junction canal along the river bank.

By 1848 all of these improvements were completed and a continuous waterway existed with canals around all the difficult sections. The effect on the traffic on the canal was immediate and the figures given in Table 1 for the years 1848-1849 indicate the volume of westbound cargoes through the Lachine canal.

TABLE 1 TRAFFIC ON EARLY CANALS
Westbound (all in long tons) 1848 1849
Railroad and pig iron 1870 11439
Earthenware 473 1047
Liquors 537 45
Sugar and molasses 627 990
Furniture, etc 620 918
Castings 4225 5565
Salt, coal 4863 6141
Merchandise 9864 12851
Building materials 76 415
23530 40738
Passengers 16040 20814
Vessels 2890 2763
Toll receipts £11,661 £15,740

The completion of the chain of canals around all the important rapids signalled the beginning of a period of furious activity along the river and large numbers of ships were built to ply between the lake ports and Montreal.

Canallers were, at this time, vessels of about 175 ft maximum over-all length, with a beam of 35 ft and drawing about 8 ft. Those intended for the passage through to Lake Erie were restricted to about 135 ft in length to pass through the locks of the Second Welland Canal which was completed in 1845.

These ships were mainly sailing vessels, wood built and generally rigged as 2 or 3 masted schooners with a square rigged fore topsail, brigantines or barkentines.

These rigs became almost standard in the lakes and canals after many years of experimenting. Square-rigged vessels proved to be unwieldy in the narrow channels and in the variable wind conditions of the lakes. The crew requirements of the square-rigged vessel were usually greater than those of schooner rig and this was an important factor in the highly competitive trade in the canals. The topsail schooner and brigantine represented a compromise between the two extremes, the square sails being of great value when running downstream under the prevailing westerly winds. In addition the schooner-type rig enabled the booms to be swung well out of the way when loading and discharging, whereas the mass of stays of the square rigger seriously hindered cargo handling. The bowsprit of these ships was frequently inclined upwards at a steep angle to clear the lock gates.

These vessels were full formed with almost vertical sides and a small bilge radius, the sterns being cut up to a square-ended deck. The bow was built more nearly vertical than the ocean-going vessels of the period, in order to obtain the maximum displacement on the length available between the lock gates.

One of the unusual features of these vessels was the fitting of centerboards or drop keels, quite similar to those fitted on modern sailing dinghies. Two types were in use, the pivoted and vertical types, both being raised and lowered by a tackle hung from the crosstrees. These were necessary to prevent the relatively shallow draft vessels making leeway in the open water. Leeboards, such as were common in the sailing vessels operating in similar conditions on the Dutch coasts were tried but found to be impracticable for ships using the locks.

The deadweight capacity of these vessels was only about 1/8 that of their modern counterpart and averaged about 350 long tons. When canalling, these vessels were towed by teams of horses which, in many cases, were carried in the forecastle, others being hired as required from neighboring farmers.

Steam vessels were gradually being introduced to the canals but it was not until about 1880 that they outnumbered the sailing vessels.

Many of the old sailing ships survived until the 1900's when, with their topmasts struck, they were used as barges, towed by the steamers then in use.
As far as can be determined the last sailing vessel built was the wooden Minnedosa built at Kingston in 1892 and sunk in a storm on Lake Huron in 1905 while being towed by the steamer Westmount.

During these and the following years, railway building was going ahead rapidly - much of the material being shipped west via the canals as can be seen from the figures in Table 1, over 11,000 tons of iron being transported in 1849. The completion of the Grand Trunk railway in 1855 between Montreal and Brockville - well clear of the rapids, caused a recession in the canal trade.

The railway quickly absorbed much of the mixed general traffic and the down bound flour cargoes, but the canallers retained the bulk of the grain trade - ships having a great advantage then, as now, in the carriage of bulk cargoes.
The total traffic continued to keep pace with the growth of the settlements in the mid-west, westbound cargoes being generally supplies of all kinds for the settlers and railroad materials. The figures in Table 2 for 1864 give some indication of the volume of traffic at this period.

TABLE 2 CANAL TRAFFIC OF 1864
Westbound Eastbound
Canal Canal Rail
long tons
Salt 8580 Flour 468868 389637 bbl
Fish 1550 Grain 3769639 424572 bu
Pig iron 18420
Railroad iron 6200
Nails 3021
Miscellaneous 390
The number of vessels engaged in the canal trade during this year can be seen from the passage figures given in Table 3.

TABLE 3 VESSELS ENGAGED IN CANAL TRADE, 1864
Up Down Total
Canadian steamers 1207 1206 2413
Canadian sailing vessels 3826 3637 7463
U.S. vessels 115 111 226
Totals 5148 4954 10102
Passengers 6750 14771

The steamers listed in Table 3 were generally similar to those built in the 1870's, referred to later. The sailing vessels listed also included a number of barges which were towed in open water by steam towboats and through the canals by horses. These barges were of wooden construction about 186 ft X 44 ft 6 in. X 8 ft draft and were capable of carrying a cargo deadweight of about 750 to 800 tons. Most of the barges were equipped with a small lugsail to assist the towboats in open water and for steering purposes, their large rudders being arranged to turn at right angles to the ship to clear the lock gates.

No data on these vessels, beyond those already given, have been found. It is probable that the only plans of these vessels, like many others of their type, were in the minds of their builders.

The package freighter appears to have had its beginning about this time, a regular service being commenced from Chicago to Montreal in 1865 using four ships which, in their day, were described as "first class steamers" .

It is interesting to note that these vessels were still being built of wood although iron or composite construction was quite common for seagoing ships at that time. This was probably due to the fact that many of the ships were built by small family businesses familiar with wooden construction and in addition wood was plentiful whereas iron was mostly imported.

Inception of International Traffic

It was about this time that the first international traffic through the canals began. Initially this trade was carried on in vessels, built on the lakes, which loaded with grain, flour, or lumber, and traded mostly to Liverpool, England, where the ship as well as the cargo was sold. This was due to the acute shortage of ships in England at that time and wooden vessels could then be built very cheaply on the lakes.
In the 1850's European registered ships began trading through the canals. These vessels brought immigrant passengers to Canada and the U.S. and returned with grain and flour.
The St. Lawrence canals also contributed in a rather roundabout way to the development of the West Coast. Before the completion of the transcontinental railway, the overland journey from the Chicago area to the West Coast was a long and hazardous undertaking and in the 1850's regular passenger services were in operation between Chicago and San Francisco via the St. Lawrence, around the Horn and eventually to the California coast.

The Third And Final Commercial Canal

Immediately following the Act of Confederation in 1867, the Federal Government decided to institute a new program for the improvement of the canals. The object was to provide a continuous system from the Sea to Lake Superior with locks 270 ft by 45 ft with a 14 ft draft. This involved major reconstruction of the Lachine Canal, especially at the lower end, where new locks were built alongside the old. The old locks were later enlarged to the new dimensions so that a double channel with a draft of 17 ft on one side and 15 ft on the other was obtained. These led to a basin equipped with a large number of wharves clear of the navigation channel and close to the city of Montreal. As in the earlier developments the intention was to provide a deep channel for seagoing ships, one of which may be seen in Fig. 4. The schooner on the left was discharging a cargo of West Indian sugar at the refinery on the canal. The whole construction project was completed in 1884 at a cost of $6,500,000. Improvements were carried on after this date and have continued up to the present day.
The connecting links between the lakes were also being constructed at this time, the Third Welland canal, with 270-ft locks, being completed in 1884 and the Sault Ste. Marie Canadian lock in 1895 (5).
Work on the Cornwall-Williamsburg canals, overcoming what is now generally known as the International Rapids section of the river, was commenced in 1876. The 200-ft locks of the old canals were enlarged and deepened in stages, the canals being opened for traffic in 1901 although some work was not completed until 1913.
Fig. 7 Diagram Illustrating Development of the St. Lawrence Canals Systems
The Cascades-Coteau section again proved difficult and, as in the improvements of 1841, many surveys were made of this portion of the river before it was finally decided to abandon the Beauharnois Canal and build a new canal on the north shore. The main reason was that even 9 ft draft had been difficult to obtain in the Beauharnois Canal and to obtain a draft of 14 ft it was necessary to have the canal entrance farther west which was possible only on the north side. The new canal, the Soulanges, is shown on the map, Fig. 2 and was commenced in 1892 and completed in 1899.
The gradual development, Fig. 7, of the St. Lawrence River canals system as we know it today was therefore completed by 1901, 200 years after the Sulpician Fathers made the first attempt to defeat the rapids.