The Bertrand H. Snell Lock is situated on the

St Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...

leg of the

St Lawrence Seaway The St. Lawrence Seaway () is a system of rivers, locks, canals and channels in Eastern Canada and Northern United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North America, as far inland ...

and is one of the seven

canal locks A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a chamber in a permanently fixed position i ...

found along the length of the seaway. The lock has a lift for ships traveling upstream. It is situated near

Massena, New York Massena is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. Massena is along the county's northern border, just south of the St. Lawrence River and the Three Nations Crossing of the Canada–United States border. The population was 12 ...

along with one of the other locks. The lock was constructed parallel to the portion of the St Lawrence River known as the ''"

Long Sault Long Sault was a rapid in the St. Lawrence River upstream and west of Cornwall, Ontario. ''Sault'' is the archaic spelling of the French word ''saut'', meaning rapids. The Long Sault created a navigation barrier along the river for much of its ...

"''. The

US Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...

planned and supervised the construction. Actual construction was performed by Peter Kiewit Sons Co., Morrison-Knudsen Co., Perini Corp., Utah Construction Co., and Walsh Construction Co. The lock was originally named the "Grasse River Lock" and was renamed after

Bertrand Snell Bertrand Hollis Snell (December 9, 1870 – February 2, 1958) was an American politician who represented upstate New York in the United States House of Representatives. U.S. Congressman Elected in 1915 to the House of Representatives from ...

after his death. The lock, and the nearby

Eisenhower Lock The Eisenhower Lock is one of the seven canal locks on the St Lawrence River leg of the St Lawrence Seaway. This lock provides a 38 foot lift for ships heading upstream. It is one of two locks located near Massena, New York. The lock was cons ...

are part of the Wiley-Dondero Canal. Construction was complicated by the need to not interrupt the waterflow to nearby hydro-electric installations.

References

{{Coord, 44.97937, -74.84956, type:landmark_region:US-NY, display=title Saint Lawrence Seaway Transportation buildings and structures in St. Lawrence County, New York Locks of New York (state)