Cornwall Canal

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This aerial photo, from 1920, shows the canal paralleling the Saint Lawrence River. Aerial View of Lock 18 area in 1920.jpg
This aerial photo, from 1920, shows the canal paralleling the Saint Lawrence River.
Cornwall Canal
Cornwall Canal

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. Construction began in 1834 and was completed in 1843. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Description

The canal extended past the Long Sault rapids from Cornwall, Ontario, 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 3234 miles (53 km). The length of the canal was eleven miles (18 km). 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. [4] It closed in 1968, after becoming obsolete and functionally replaced by the St. Lawrence Seaway and its Wiley-Dondero Canal 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

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The Moses-Saunders Power Dam, short for Robert Moses-Robert H. Saunders Power Dam, is a dam on the Saint Lawrence River straddling the border between the United States and Canada. It is located between Massena in New York and Cornwall in Ontario. The dam supplies water to two adjacent hydroelectric power generating stations, the United States' 912 MW St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project and Canada's 1,045 MW R.H. Saunders Generating Station. Constructed between 1954 and 1958 as part of the larger Saint Lawrence Seaway project, the dam created Lake St. Lawrence. Aside from providing significant amounts of renewable power, the dam regulates the St. Lawrence River and affords passage for the navigation of large vessels. Despite the enormous economic advantages to the dam, it required the relocation of 6,500 people and caused harm to the surrounding environment. Efforts have been made over the years to improve shoreline and fish habitats.

The Massena Power Canal, which connects the Saint Lawrence River to the lower Grass River.

Cornwall Street Railway Light and Power Company Limited, operating as Cornwall Electric, is an electricity transmission and distribution utility, licensed by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to operate in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. Originally established in 1887 as Stormont Electric Light and Power Company, and merged with the railway Cornwall Electric Street Railway Company, it is one of the oldest utilities in Canada.

References

  1. Parham, Claire (2009). The St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project: An Oral History of the Greatest Construction Show on Earth. Syracuse University Press. p. 2. ISBN   978-0815651024 . Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  2. Parham, Claire Puccia (2013). From Great Wilderness to Seaway Towns: A Comparative History of Cornwall, Ontario, and Massena, New York, 1784-2001. SUNY Press. p. 46. ISBN   978-0791485675.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-04-03. Retrieved 2011-03-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Ontario Heritage Trust Founding of Cornwall
  4. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  "Cornwall Canal"  . The New Student's Reference Work  . 1914.

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