Editing Welland Canal (section)

===Second Welland Canal===
[[File:Welland Canal - Second Canal - Lock.jpg|thumb|A lock of the second Welland Canal]]

In 1839 the government of [[Upper Canada]] approved the purchase of [[share (finance)|share]]s 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 {{convert|45.7|by|8.1|m|ft|abbr=on}}. By 1846, a {{convert|2.7|m|ft|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} 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.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} 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">{{cite journal | title=New Welland Canal | journal=Scientific American | publisher=Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc. | volume=46 | issue=18 | year=1882 | issn=0036-8733 | jstor=26079026 | pages=279 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/26079026 | access-date=April 20, 2024}}</ref>