WELLAND CANAL FLOATS A BOAT FOR TOURISTS ONTARIO, CANADA -
Our host at the bed-and-breakfast in Niagara-on-the-Lake said Carla and I really must take some time to see ships passing through the locks at the Welland Canal. Niagara Falls is on the Niagara River, which is 326.5 feet higher at the Lake Erie entrance at the south than it is at the Lake Ontario entrance at the north. That makes the river useless for transportation. The problem was solved by building a canal to avoid the falls.
Detroit and Cleveland ship goods over the canal to Montreal, where they are reloaded onto ocean-going vessels to be sent around the world. Construction on the first Welland Canal was begun in 1824, and it opened for ships in 1829. That first canal had 40 wooden locks that were 110 feet by 22 feet. The fourth and present Welland Canal was completed in 1932 and runs 27 miles in Ontario from Port Colborne on Lake Erie to Port Weller on Lake Ontario.
The Niagara Escarpment rises sharply on the Ontario end of the river, and it is here that seven locks have been built to raise and lower ships the necessary 326 feet. The publicity brochure says: "At the Welland Canal, massive ships from around the globe defy the falls and are lifted over the same escarpment on their way into the heart of the North American continent."
With our poor map and tendency to take the wrong turns with some frequency, it took us a while to find the viewing station at Lock No. 3. The announcement on the intercom said a tanker was working its way up the canal and would be passing through the lock in an hour. This gave us time to watch a 15-minute video titled "The Welland Canal’s Past and Present" and learn more about the four Welland Canals that have existed in this area. We also had time to visit the museum connected to Lock No. 3 that includes a history of the area, a sport museum, a small section on blacks in the area and a fair amount of material on the making of the canal. A mock-up clarifies why seven locks are needed to raise the boats the height of the falls so that major trade can continue between the lakes.
The viewing platform has a high steel fence to prevent visitors from falling into the lock. As many visitors were interested in the process of raising the tanker, we found it hard to get a good viewing spot. The fence also made it difficult to take pictures of the boat as it rose in the lock. At first it looked as if the tanker was too large for the lock. The ship was as long as the lock, and as it entered its sides scraped the sides of the lock. Obviously, boats have to be built no larger than what the lock will take, which is 80 feet wide by 766 feet long. Height also is a consideration because one of the bridges, the Garden City Skyway, allows a maximum clearance of 116 feet.
The locks were closed, and as water flooded in, the ship began its rise to the next level. It seemed slow to me. When I asked how much time it took to pass from one lake to the other, I was told it took 11 hours to make the 27-mile trip. Given that it takes that long for a modern ship to pass through seven locks, I suspect it took considerably longer for sailing ships to make the trip through those 40 locks of the first canal. We were told at the museum that down the road a short distance a viewing station at Lock No. 7 had no fence to prevent us from getting a good picture. There we saw a cruise boat being raised. If you have never seen a boat working its slow, expensive way through locks, it’s worth a look, though somewhat less impressive than at Panama or the Suez.
Visitors stand on a viewing platform to watch a ship go through the lock at Welland Canal. 
A cruise ship is raised to the next level at the Welland Canal on its way to port in the United States. You can find more informationa at www.wellandcanal.com/.
