Incubator escapee wiki

Welland Canal

Article Discussion

Template:Short description Template:Use Canadian English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox Canal

File:Map of the Welland Canal.png
The Welland Canal connects Lake Ontario and Lake Erie through a series of eight locks, allowing ships to bypass the Template:Convert high Niagara Falls
File:Welland Canal image.png
Welland Canal with Garden City Skyway and Homer Lift Bridge
File:WellandLock3.JPG
A ship in Lock 3 of the Welland Canal in St. Catharines, just south of the Homer Lift Bridge and Garden City Skyway

The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, and part of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. The canal traverses the Niagara Peninsula between Port Weller on Lake Ontario, and Port Colborne on Lake Erie, and was erected because the Niagara River—the only natural waterway connecting the lakes—was unnavigable due to Niagara Falls. The Welland Canal enables ships to ascend and descend the Niagara Escarpment, and has followed four different routes since it opened.

The Welland Canal<ref name=":0" /> passes about 3,000 ships which transport about Template:Convert of cargo a year. It was a major factor in the growth of the city of Toronto, Ontario.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The original canal and its successors allowed goods from Great Lakes ports such as Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Chicago, as well as other heavily industrialized areas of the United States and Ontario, to be shipped to the Port of Montreal or to Quebec City, where they were usually reloaded onto ocean-going vessels for international shipping.

Since its initial opening on November 30, 1829, the canal has been reconstructed numerous times to accommodate larger vessels and provide for quicker navigation. The First Welland Canal was excavated between 1824 and 1829, and operated until 1845. The Second Welland Canal, built between 1841 and 1845, had locks made of stone rather than wood, and had greater width and depth than the First Canal; it remained in operation for nearly a century before closing permanently in 1935. The Third Welland Canal, built between 1872 and 1877, was deeper and wider still and cut a straighter path through the escarpment, and featured 26 masonry locks lined with wood to protect ships rubbing against the sides or bottom; it too operated until 1935. The Fourth Welland Canal began construction in 1913 and, after a delay due to World War I, was eventually completed in 1932; deeper and wider than the Third Canal, its opening permitted two large ships to pass going in opposite directions, and it featured only eight locks, as compared with the 40 locks of the First Canal. It remains in operation to this day.<ref name="The Welland Canals – History">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Welland Canal eclipsedTemplate:Citation needed other, narrower canals in the region, such as the Trent-Severn Waterway and, significantly, the Erie Canal (which linked the Atlantic and Lake Erie via New York City and Buffalo, New York) by providing a shorter, more direct connection from Port Colbourne on Lake Erie to Port Weller on Lake Ontario.

The southern, Lake Erie terminus of the canal is Template:Convert higher than the northern terminus on Lake Ontario. The canal includes eight Template:Convert ship locks.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Seven of the locks (Locks 1–7, the 'Lift' locks) are Template:Convert long and raise (or lower) passing ships by between Template:Convert each. The southernmost lock, (Lock 8 – the 'Guard' or 'Control' lock) is Template:Convert in length.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Garden City Skyway passes over the canal, restricting the maximum height of the masts of the ships allowed on this canal to Template:Convert.

All other highway or railroad crossings of the Welland Canal are either movable bridges (of the vertical lift or bascule bridge types) or tunnels. The maximum permissible length of a ship in this canal is Template:Convert. It takes ships an average of about eleven hours to traverse the entire length of the Welland Canal.

HistoryEdit

Template:More citations needed Before the digging of the Welland Canal, shipping traffic between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie used a portage road between Chippawa, Ontario, and Queenston, Ontario, which are both located on the Niagara River—above and below Niagara Falls, respectively.Template:Citation needed

First Welland CanalEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

The Welland Canal Company was incorporated by the Province of Upper Canada, in 1824, after a petition by nine "freeholders of the District of Niagara". One of the petitioners was William Hamilton Merritt, who was in part looking to provide a regular flow of water for his many water-powered industries along the Twelve Mile Creek in Thorold. The construction began at Allanburg, Ontario, on November 30, at a point now marked as such on the west end of Bridge No. 11 (formerly Highway 20). This canal opened for a trial run on November 30, 1829. After a short ceremony at Lock One, in Port Dalhousie, the schooner Anne & Jane (also called "Annie & Jane" in some texts<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>) made the first transit, upbound to Buffalo, New York, with Merritt as a passenger on her deck.

The first canal ran from Port Dalhousie, Ontario, on Lake Ontario south along Twelve Mile Creek to St. Catharines. From there it took a winding route up the Niagara Escarpment through Merritton, Ontario, to Thorold, where it continued south via Allanburg to Port Robinson, Ontario, on the Welland River. Ships went east (downstream) on the Welland River to Chippawa, at the south (upper) end of the old portage road, where they made a sharp right turn into the Niagara River, upstream towards Lake Erie. Originally, the section between Allanburg and Port Robinson was planned to be carried in a tunnel. However, the sandy soil in this part of Ontario made a tunnel infeasible, and a deep open-cut canal was dug instead.

A southern extension from Port Robinson opened in 1833, with the founding of Port Colborne. This extension followed the Welland River south to Welland (known then as the settlement of Aqueduct, for the wooden aqueduct that carried the canal over the Welland River at that point), and then split to run south to Port Colborne on Lake Erie. A feeder canal ran southwest from Welland to another point on Lake Erie, just west of Rock Point Provincial Park in Port Maitland. With the opening of the extension, the canal stretched Template:Convert between the two lakes, with 40 wooden locks. The minimum lock size was Template:Convert, with a minimum canal depth of Template:Convert.

Deterioration of the wood used in the 40 locks and the increasing size of ships led to demand for the Second Welland Canal, which used cut stone locks, within just a few years.<ref name="Chambers2008">Template:Cite book</ref>

Second Welland CanalEdit

File:Welland Canal - Second Canal - Lock.jpg
A lock of the second Welland Canal

In 1839 the government of Upper Canada approved the purchase of shares in the private canal company in response to the company's continuing financial problems in the face of the continental financial panic of 1837. The public buyout was completed in 1841, and work began to deepen the canal and to reduce the number of locks to 27, each Template:Convert. By 1846, a Template:Convert deep path was completed through the Welland Canal, and by 1848 that depth was extended the rest of the way to the Atlantic Ocean via the future path of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Competition came in 1854 with the opening of the Erie and Ontario Railway, running parallel to the original portage road. In 1859, the Welland Railway opened, parallel to the canal and with the same endpoints. But this railway was affiliated with the canal, and was actually used to help transfer cargoes from the lake ships, which were too large for the small canal locks, to the other end of the canal (The Trillium Railway owns the railway's remnants and Port Colborne Harbour Railway). Smaller ships called "canallers" also took a part of these loads. Due to this problem, it was soon apparent the canal would have to be enlarged again.Template:Citation needed On April 20, 1882 the canal was re-opened, increasing the depth to twelve feet throughout. The increased depth allowed for ships carrying up to 24,000 bushels of grain to navigate the canal whereas they previously they had only been able to carry about 18,000 bushels. The first trip from Oswego carried 700 tons of coal, compared to 500 tons which was possible before the increased depth.<ref name="Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc. 1882 pp. 279–279">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Third Welland CanalEdit

File:Welland canal a030556.jpg
Aerial photo of Port Dalhousie from the third canal era. 3rd canal lock at left, 2nd canal lock at right. Note 3rd canal towpath at upper left and Muir brothers' ship yard centre right.
File:Old welland canal lock 2.JPG
Abandoned locks of the third canal

In 1887, a new shorter alignment was completed between St. Catharines and Port Dalhousie. One of the most interesting features of this third Welland Canal was the Merritton Tunnel, built in 1876 on the Grand Trunk Railway line that ran under the canal between Locks 18 and 19. Another nearby tunnel carried the canal over a sunken section of the St David's Road. The new route had a minimum depth of Template:Convert with 26 stone locks, each Template:Convert long by Template:Convert wide. Even so, the canal was still too small for many boats.

Fourth (current) Welland CanalEdit

File:MS Isa Welland Canal Lock 7.jpg
MS Isa lifted in Lock 7
File:132 JUNO in den Welland-Kanalschleusen.jpg
MS Juno leaving Lock 4

Construction on the current canal began in 1913, but work was put on hold from 1916 to 1919 due to a shortage of men and workers during World War I (1914–18) and was completed and officially opened on August 6, 1932. Dredging to the planned 25 foot depth was not completed until 1935. The route was again changed north of St. Catharines, now running directly north to Port Weller. In this configuration, there are eight locks, seven at the Niagara Escarpment and the eighth, a guard lock, at Port Colborne to adjust with the varying water depth in Lake Erie. The depth was now Template:Convert, with locks Template:Convert long by Template:Convert wide. This canal is officially known now as the Welland Ship Canal. The Welland Canal's first "hands-free" vacuum mooring was tested in Lock 7 prior to 2014.<ref>Pilotage on the Welland Canal Template:Webarchive page 6</ref> The installation of the updated systems for Locks 1 through 7 was originally set to be completed in 2017, but the project was not finished until early 2018 after unforeseen delays.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:YouTube</ref><ref>Template:YouTube</ref><ref>Template:YouTube</ref>

Welland By-PassEdit

In the 1950s, with the building of the present St. Lawrence Seaway, a standard depth of Template:Convert was adopted. The Template:Convert long Welland By-Pass, built between 1967 and 1972, opened for the 1973 shipping season, providing a new and shorter alignment between Port Robinson and Port Colborne and by-passing downtown Welland. All three crossings of the new alignment—one an aqueduct for the Welland River—were built as tunnels. Around the same time, the Thorold Tunnel was built at Thorold and several bridges were removed.

Proposed Fifth Welland CanalEdit

These projects were to be tied into a proposed new canal, titled the Fifth Welland Canal, which was planned to by-pass most of the existing canal to the east and to cross the Niagara Escarpment in four twinned Panamax locks. While land for the project was expropriated and early designs initiated, the project never got past early planning or construction stages and has since been shelved.

The present Welland Ship Canal was originally designed to last until 2030, almost 100 years after it first opened, and 200 years since the first full shipping season of the original canal in 1830. Subsequent improvements to the canal infrastructure mean that it may last much longer before it needs to be replaced.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

AccidentsEdit

On June 20, 1912, the government survey steamer La Canadienne lost control due to mechanical problems in the engine room and smashed into the upstream gates of Lock No. 22 of the 3rd Welland Canal, forcing them open by six inches. The resulting surge of water flooded downstream, cresting the upstream gates of Lock No. 21 where five boys were fishing. One boy ran to safety and one of the boys was saved by a government surveyor. But the remaining three<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> were knocked into the water, drowning in the surge.

File:Port Robinson Welland Canal10 Bridge12 after collision with Steelton Aug25 1974.jpg
Aftermath of the collision with the Port Robinson Bridge 12

On August 25, 1974, the northbound ore-carrier Steelton struck Bridge 12 in Port Robinson. The bridge was rising and the impact knocked the bridge over, destroying it. No one was killed. The bridge master, Albert Beaver, and a watchman on the ship suffered minor injuries. The bridge has not been replaced and the inhabitants of Port Robinson have been served by a ferry for many years.

On August 11, 2001, the lake freighter Windoc collided with Bridge 11 in Allanburg, closing vessel traffic on the Welland Canal for two days. The accident destroyed the ship's wheelhouse and funnel (chimney), ignited a large fire on board, and caused minor damage to the vertical-lift bridge. The accident and portions of its aftermath were captured on amateur video.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The vessel was a total loss, but there were no reported injuries, and no pollution to the waterway. The damage to the bridge was focused on the centre of the vertical-lift span. It was repaired over a number of weeks and reopened to vehicular traffic on November 16, 2001. The Marine Investigation Report concluded, "it is likely that the [vertical-lift bridge] operator's performance was impaired while the bridge span was lowered onto the Windoc."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

At around noon on Wednesday September 30, 2015, the Lena J cargo ship collided with Bridge 19 in Port Colborne, closing the bridge to all vehicle and pedestrian traffic until an assessment could be made on the condition of the bridge.<ref name="niagarathisweek.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The vessel had sustained damage to its bridge, but was still able to continue on its voyage to Burns Harbour, Indiana. Pictures of the damage sustained to the vessel and Bridge 19 were captured.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On Friday October 1, 2015, Chris Lee, an acting direct engineer for the City of Port Colborne, said that the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) will likely close the bridge to all vehicle traffic until the end of the year. However, pedestrians will be able to cross the bridge, and emergency services will be able to cross the bridge on a limited basis.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="niagarathisweek.com"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On Tuesday October 6, 2015, the City of Port Colborne released a media statement, which stated that Bridge 19, "will remain closed to vehicular traffic until after the close of the shipping season in December. Repairs will begin in early January." Detour routes have been planned and mapped by the City of Port Colborne and the City of Welland in order to ease the flow of traffic over Bridge 19A.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial at Lock 3 was unveiled on November 12, 2017. This commemorates the 137 workers who died while building the canal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On July 11, 2020 two cargo ships, the Alanis and the Florence Spirit, struck each other while executing a passing manoeuvre near Port Robinson. According to the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, no one was injured, no cargo was spilled, and an investigation would be undertaken.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The final investigation report was released in August 2022.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

SabotageEdit

The Welland Canal has been the focus of plots on a number of occasions throughout its existence. However, only two have ever been carried out. The earliest and potentially most devastating attack occurred on September 9, 1841,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> at Lock No. 37 (Allanburg) of the First Welland Canal (Template:Coord) (approximately 180 m north of today's Allanburg bridge),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> when an explosive charge destroyed one of the lock gates. However, a catastrophic flood was prevented when a guard gate located upstream of the lock closed into place preventing the upstream waters from careening down the route of the Canal and causing further damage and possible injury or loss of life. It was suspected that Benjamin Lett was responsible for the explosion.

On April 21, 1900, about 6:30 in the evening,<ref name=Clark121>Clark The Irish relations: trials of an immigrant tradition, p.121</ref> a dynamite charge was set off against the hinges of Lock No. 24 of the Third Welland Canal (just to the east of Lock No. 7 of today's canal (Template:Coord)), doing minor damage. This time, the saboteurs were caught in nearby Thorold. John Walsh, John Nolan and the ringleader "Dynamite" Luke Dillon (a member of Clan-na-Gael)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> were tried at the Welland Courthouse and found guilty, receiving life sentences at Kingston Penitentiary. The "star witness" at the trial was a 16-year-old Thorold girl named Euphemia Constable, who caught a good look at the bombers before being knocked unconscious by the blast. While waiting to testify, the girl received death threats, but, they turned out to be a hoax.Template:Citation needed As for the prisoners, Nolan lost his sanity while incarcerated, John Walsh was eventually released while Luke Dillon remained in custody until July 12, 1914.<ref name=Clark122>Clark The Irish relations: trials of an immigrant tradition, p.122</ref>

The First World War brought with it plots against the canal and the most notable of them came to be known as "The Von Papen Plot". In April 1916, a United States federal grand jury issued an indictment against Franz von Papen, Captain Hans Tauscher, Captain Karl Boy-Ed, Constantine Covani and Franz von Rintelen on charges of a plot to blow up the Welland Canal.<ref name=obit>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, Papen was at the time safely on German soil, having been expelled from the US (where he had been serving as a German military attaché) several months previously for alleged earlier acts of espionage and attempted sabotage.

Von Papen remained under indictment on these charges until he became Chancellor of Germany in 1932, at which time the charges were dropped.

Shipping seasonEdit

The canal regularly opens late March through December, with closure in the winter due to hazardous weather. On March 20, 2007, the record for the earliest season opening was broken,<ref name="2007-opening" /> and matched the following year.<ref name="2008-opening" />

Facts and figuresEdit

Current canalEdit

Increasing lock sizeEdit

Canal First (1829) Second (1846) Third (1887) Fourth (1932)
Locks 40 27 26 8
Width (metres) 6.7 8.1 13.7 24.4
Length (metres) 33.5 45.7 82.3 261.8
Depth (metres) 2.4 2.7 4.3 8.2

List of locks and crossingsEdit

Locks and crossings are numbered from north to south. Template:Welland Canals map

Municipality Lock or bridge number † Crossing Remarks
St. Catharines Lock 1 Template:Coord
St. Catharines Bridge 1 Lakeshore Road (Regional Road 87) Bascule bridge
St. Catharines Bridge 2 Church Road (Now Linwell Road) Never installed
St. Catharines Lock 2 Template:Coord
St. Catharines Bridge 3A Carlton Street (Regional Road 83) Bascule bridge. Replaced original Bridge 3 (destroyed in accident)
St. Catharines Bridge 4A Garden City Skyway: Queen Elizabeth Way
St. Catharines Bridge 4 Queenston Street (Regional Road 81) (former Highway 8) Bascule bridge, also known as "Homer Lift Bridge"
St. Catharines Lock 3 Template:Coord
location of Welland Canal Information Centre
St. Catharines Bridge 5 Glendale Avenue (Regional Road 89) Vertical-lift bridge
St Catharines Bridge 6 Great Western Railway (Ontario)
(now Canadian National Railway) 		Bascule bridge
St Catharines Lock 4 twinned flight lock
Thorold Locks 5–6 Template:Coord
twinned flight locks
Thorold Lock 7 Template:Coord
southernmost lift over the Niagara Escarpment
Thorold Bridge 7 Hoover Street removed
Thorold Bridge 8 Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway
(now Canadian National Railway) 		removed
Thorold Thorold Tunnel, carries Highway 58
Thorold Bridge 9 Ormond Street removed
Thorold Bridge 10 Welland Railway
(now Canadian National Railway) 		removed winter 1998
Thorold Bridge 11 Canboro Road (Regional Road 20) (former Highway 20) Vertical-lift bridge. Lowered prematurely on Windoc in 2001
Thorold Bridge 12 Bridge Street (Regional Road 63) destroyed by the Steelton in 1974, replaced by a pedestrian ferry
Welland Main Street Tunnel: (Highway 7146)
Welland Townline Tunnel: Highway 58A and Canadian National Railway/Penn Central
Port Colborne Bridge 19 Main Street (Regional Road 3) Highway 3 Bascule bridge
Port Colborne Lock 8 Template:Coord
control lock
Port Colborne Bridge 19A Mellanby Avenue (Regional Road 3A) Bascule bridge
Port Colborne Bridge 20 Buffalo and Lake Huron Railroad
(now Canadian National Railway) 		removed winter 1997
Port Colborne Bridge 21 Clarence Street Vertical-lift bridge

ProfileEdit

The following illustration depicts the profile of the Welland Canal. The horizontal axis is the length of the canal. The vertical axis is the elevation of the canal segments above mean sea level.

File:Welland canal profile.svg
Profile of the Welland Canal from Lake Ontario (left) to Lake Erie (right)

Old alignment prior to Welland By-Pass relocationEdit

Municipality Bridge Number † Crossing Remarks
Welland Recreational Waterway branches off from the Welland By-Pass at Port Robinson
Thorold Canadian National Railway built during the relocation
Thorold Highway 406 built after the relocation
Welland Woodlawn Road (Regional Road 41) built after the relocation
Welland Bridge 13 East Main Street/West Main Street (Regional Road 27) vertical-lift bridge, counterweights removed Template:Coord
Welland Division Street (Regional Road 527) built after the relocation
Welland Bridge 14 Lincoln Street rebuilt as fixed-span after the relocation Template:Coord
Welland Bridge 15 Canada Southern Railway (Penn Central) rare Baltimore truss swing bridge<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref> Template:Coord

Welland Bridge 16 Ontario Road/Broadway Avenue rebuilt as fixed-span after the relocation, the new span located to the north of the original site of Bridge 16 Template:Coord
cut by western approaches to Townline Tunnel (Highway 58A and Canadian National Railway/Penn Central)
Welland Bridge 17 Canada Air-Line Railway (now Canadian National Railway) vertical-lift bridge, counterweights still present Template:Coord
Welland Bridge 18 Forks Road bridge span removed Template:Coord
Welland Recreational Waterway merges with the Welland By-Pass at Ramey's Bend in Port Colborne

† If assigned by the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority. The original bridges across the fourth canal were numbered in order. Numbering was not changed as bridges were removed.

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project

Template:Coord Template:Welland Canal {{#invoke:navbox|navbox | name = Greatlakes | title = Great Lakes of North America | state = autocollapse | bodyclass = hlist

|group1= Main lakes |list1=

|group2= Secondary lakes |list2=

|group3= Bays and
channels |list3= {{#invoke:Navbox|navbox}}

|group4= Waterways |list4=

|group5=Islands |list5=

|group6= Historic geology |list6=

|group7=Organizations |list7=

|group8= Related topics |list8=

| below= Template:Portal-inline }} Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://zalansite.site/mediawiki/index.php?title=Welland_Canal&oldid=184935"