The St. Lawrence River waterway system, stretching some 2,300 miles (3,700 km) from the Atlantic Ocean westward to almost the middle of the North American continent, is the world’s longest inland waterway. Because there is so much to discuss about pleasure boating in a system that contains five of the world’s largest freshwater lakes, it has been necessary to divide it into two parts. The following is Part 2.
In Part 1, we started at the head of the St. Lawrence Seaway at the extreme western end of Lake Superior in Duluth, Wisconsin. We then headed downstream while exploring Lake Superior, the St. Mary’s Falls canal at The Soo, Lakes Michigan and Huron, the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers past Lake St. Clair. We completed Part 1 at Buffalo at the eastern end of Lake Erie.
The following is Part 2 of the St. Lawrence Seaway system and starts with discovering how to get from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.
The last of the five Great Lakes, Lake Ontario, is next along the pathway of the St. Lawrence Seaway. But getting from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario by boat of any size is a problem of massive proportions. The 36-mile (58 km) long Niagara River joins the two lakes, but along the course of that river is one of North America’s Seven Wonders of Nature -- Niagara Falls. Between the height of the Falls at 171 feet (52 m) and the notorious rapids in the river, the elevation difference between Lakes Erie and Ontario is a staggering 325 feet (99 m).
Unbeknownst perhaps to many readers is that there have been four distinct iterations of the Welland Canal, built in Ontario to connect the two lakes for shipping by bypassing the Niagara River. Without too much detail, some historical facts may be of interest. The first Welland Canal linking Lakes Erie and Ontario took five years to build, virtually by hand, and was completed in 1829. It consisted for forty wooden locks each 110 feet (33.5 m) long by 24 feet (7.3 m) wide and provided 8 feet (2.4 m) of water depth.
As ships grew in size, the Welland Canal grew to accommodate them. The second canal was started in 1842 and was completed in 1845. The number of locks was reduced from 40 to 27 and each had grown to 150 feet (45.7 m) in length by 27 feet (8.1 m) wide. Water depth increased by one foot to 9 feet (2.7 m). Construction of the locks was of limestone, a readily available commodity throughout the Niagara Escarpment. Most notable is that the Welland Canal had by this time been purchased from a private company by the Government of Canada and has since been under its jurisdiction.
The third canal, completed in 1887, for the first time used water directly from its start on Lake Erie as opposed to using feeder creeks to supply its water along its length. Its 26 locks grew enormously to 270 feet (82.3 m) long by 45 feet (13.7 m) wide and 14 feet (4.3 m) deep.
The fourth and final canal, still in use today, started in 1913 just prior to the First World War and was completed in 1932. It drastically reduced the number of locks to eight while once again increasing the lock size exponentially to 860 feet (261.8 m) long by 80 feet (24.4 m) wide and 25 feet (7.6 m) deep. This depth has changed a couple of times to its present depth of 30 feet (9.1 m).
The current canal follows an almost straight south-north line between Port Colborne on Lake Erie and Port Weller on Lake Ontario. It has been augmented by a City of Welland bypass channel and twin flight locks in Thorold that allows for simultaneous locking of ships in either direction. Pleasure boaters are welcomed to use the canal, but are subject to prioritizing by commercial vessels. The lockmasters are most helpful and considerate.
We are now in Lake Ontario, the final of five Great Lakes in an eastbound (downbound) direction on the St. Lawrence Seaway. Because of this, Lake Ontario receives all of the discharge from the other four upstream Great Lakes and all of their tributary waters. In turn, it discharges it at its eastern end into the St. Lawrence River. Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes in terms of surface area but it is relatively deep averaging 283 feet (86 m) with the deepest point being 802 feet (244 m).
The lake got its name from the Huron language spoken by the native Wendat Nation meaning “Shining Water.” From the lake, and not the other way around, the Province of Ontario got its name. More than 1/4th of the entire population of Canada lives within the watershed of Lake Ontario, including Toronto, Canada’s largest city, situated on the northwest shore of the lake. The Province of Ontario claims about 40% of all pleasure boat ownership in Canada.
The lake supports a diverse ecosystem including an angling paradise of the tastiest freshwater species including pickerel (walleye), trout, salmon, bass, and perch. At the eastern end of the lake is Sandbanks Provincial Park with the largest freshwater dune system in the world. On the United States side of Lake Ontario is Oswego, New York, which through seven locks, along with Buffalo, NY, is one of the entrances to the Erie Canal leading to New York City. Pleasure boating is huge around Lake Ontario, both power and sail, due not only to the population size on both sides of the border but also the sheer volume of harbours and amenities on both shores.
In addition to the Erie Canal, there is one more substantial waterway system available to Lake Ontario boaters. Accessible from Trenton, Ontario is the Trent-Severn Waterway with its 44 locks including two lift-locks, plus one marine railway cutting some 240 miles (386 km) across central Ontario from Lake Ontario to the Georgian Bay side of Lake Huron.
We are coming to the end of our journey as we witness the entire outflow of the Great Lakes into the St. Lawrence River at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. Historic Kingston, Ontario and Cape Vincent, New York are considered to be at the head of the river which is some seventeen miles (27 km) wide at this point, with the quite sizable Wolfe Island lying virtually in the middle of the river. The main shipping channel is close to the American side of the river.
But Wolfe Island is just the start of a freshwater boating paradise known as the Thousand Islands, which actually is a misnomer as there are closer to two thousand islands in this section of the St. Lawrence River between Kingston and Brockville, Ontario, a distance of some 50 miles (85 km). The Thousand Islands is a tourism delight for watersports activities including canoeing, kayaking, sailing, kiting, rowing, diving, fishing, and powerboating. Not to mention all of the related powerboating activities like waterskiing, wakeboarding, wake surfing, tubing, and just plain relaxed cruising.
Between Kingston and Brockville on the Canadian side of the river are Rockport and Gananoque, tourism-based towns that cater to boaters, tourists, and islanders. On the American side are Clayton and Alexandria Bay that cater to the same needs. It is worth noting that Clayton is home to one of the largest and finest antique and classic wooden boat museums anywhere. It is also home to one of North America's largest boating poker runs.
One side trip available to Thousand Islands boaters is the historic Rideau Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site stretching some 126 miles (202 km) through 29 manually operated locks from Kingston, Ontario to the Ottawa River immediately beside Canada’s Parliament buildings in downtown Ottawa. From there, the Ottawa River will take you back to the St. Lawrence River at Montreal.
Headed east from Brockville, the St. Lawrence River varies around one mile (1.6 km) wide and provides scenic, relaxing boating past Prescott, Ontario opposite Ogdensburg, New York and on just past Massena, New York and Cornwall, Ontario. From here east, the international border between Canada and the United states no longer follows roughly the middle of the river as the border heads almost straight east and forms the boundary between Vermont and Quebec. From here east, you will be boating solely in Canada.
The next major port in the river is one of Canada’s oldest and currently its second largest city, Montreal, one of Canada’s busiest commercial shipping ports. From the mouth of the St. Lawrence River at the eastern end of Lake Ontario to Montreal is 186 miles (299 km) with an elevation difference of 226 feet (69 m). This change in elevation is accomplished through a system of seven commercial locks -- five in Canada and two in the United States.
It was this system of locks, completed in 1959, that allowed through passage of shipping, finally, from the Atlantic Ocean through to the western end of Lake Superior. This resulted not only in a giant advance to commerce but a significant achievement for pleasure boaters. Officially, the St. Lawrence River and the Seaway continues easterly from Montreal past Quebec City, which was the first European settlement on the river in 1608. The river begins to be tidal at this point.
Some 50 miles (80 km) east of Montreal at Sorel, Quebec, the mighty Richelieu River, the largest tributary on its south shore, empties into the St. Lawrence River. Some 81 miles (130 km) long, the Richelieu originates in Lake Champlain and along with the 60 mile (97 km) long Champlain Canal with its eleven locks, provides the third access to the Erie Canal system and the Hudson River to New York City and the Intracoastal Waterway.
The St. Lawrence River continues on eastwardly and reaches Les Escoumins, the official start of the Seaway, a small town situated on the north shore of the river just east of the mouth of the Saguenay River. From there, the St. Lawrence River continues east beyond the Gaspe Peninsula where it becomes the Gulf of St. Lawrence and eventually the Atlantic Ocean.
Traversing the entire length of the St. Lawrence Seaway waterway by pleasure boat on both sides of the Canada-United States border is a breathtaking experience and one every boaters should put on their bucket list. #culture #destinations #thousandislands #georgianbay #stlawrenceseaway
Commentaires