The Cornwall Canal was built by the British government of Canada to bypass a troublesome rapids hindering navigation on the St. Lawrence at
Cornwall, Ontario
Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Central Canada, Ontario and Quebec and the U.S. state of New York (state), New York converge. It is Ontario's easternmost city. Although it is the seat of the United ...
. Construction began in 1834 and was completed in 1843. Ontario Heritage Trust Founding of Cornwall
Description
The canal extended past 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 ...
rapids from
Cornwall, Ontario
Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Central Canada, Ontario and Quebec and the U.S. state of New York (state), New York converge. It is Ontario's easternmost city. Although it is the seat of the United ...
, to Dickinson's Landing. From the head of the Soulanges
Canal to the foot of the canal, there is a stretch of the river through Lake St. Francis of . The length of the canal was . It had six locks that were 270 by 45 feet. The total rise or lockage was 48 feet. The depth of water on the sill was 14 feet. It was 100 feet wide at the bottom and 164 at water surface. It closed in 1968, after becoming obsolete and functionally replaced by the St. Lawrence Seaway and its
Wiley-Dondero Canal
The Wiley-Dondero Canal is a section of the St. Lawrence Seaway in New York, United States, with a length of .
The United States Army Corps of Engineers planned and supervised the Wiley-Dondero Canal to bypass the Long Sault.
Actual constr ...
on the US side of the river. Most was subsequently filled in, helping to create Lamoureux Park. A section still remains as a long body of water stretching to the foot of the Moses Saunders hydro dam revetment.
See also
*
Saint 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 ...