| Welland Canal | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Interactive map of Welland Canal | |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 27 miles (43 km) |
| Maximumboat length | 740 ft 0 in (225.6 m) |
| Maximumboat beam | 78 ft 0 in (23.8 m) |
| Maximumboat draft | 26.5 ft (8.08 m) |
| Locks | 8 |
| Status | Open |
| Navigation authority | Saint Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation |
| History | |
| Original owner | Welland Canal Company |
| Principal engineer | Hiram Tibbetts |
| Construction began | 1824; 201 years ago (1824) |
| Date completed | November 30, 1829; 195 years ago (1829-11-30) |
| Date extended | 1833; 192 years ago (1833) |
| Date restored | August 6, 1932; 93 years ago (1932-08-06) |
| Geography | |
| Start point | Lake Ontario atPort Weller (St. Catharines) |
| End point | Lake Erie atPort Colborne |
TheWelland Canal is aship canal inOntario, Canada, and part of theSt. Lawrence Seaway andGreat Lakes Waterway. The canal traverses theNiagara Peninsula betweenPort Weller onLake Ontario andPort Colborne onLake Erie, and was built because theNiagara River—the only natural waterway connecting the lakes—was unnavigable due toNiagara Falls. The Welland Canal enables ships to ascend and descend theNiagara Escarpment, and has followed four different routes since it opened.
The Welland Canal[1] passes about 3,000 ships which transport about 40 million tonnes (88 billion pounds) of cargo a year. It was a major factor in the growth of the city ofToronto, Ontario.[2] The original canal and its successors allowed goods fromGreat Lakes ports such asCleveland,Detroit,Milwaukee, andChicago, as well as other heavily industrialized areas of theUnited States andOntario, to be shipped to thePort of Montreal or toQuebec City, where they were usually reloaded onto ocean-going vessels for international shipping.
Since its initial opening on November 30, 1829, the canal has been reconstructed numerous times to accommodate larger vessels and provide for quicker navigation. The First Welland Canal was excavated between 1824 and 1829, and operated until 1845. The Second Welland Canal, built between 1841 and 1845, had locks made of stone rather than wood, and had greater width and depth than the First Canal; it remained in operation for nearly a century before closing permanently in 1935. The Third Welland Canal, built between 1872 and 1877, was deeper and wider still and cut a straighter path through the escarpment, and featured 26 masonry locks lined with wood to protect ships rubbing against the sides or bottom; it operated alongside the second canal, and was also closed in 1935. The Fourth Welland Canal, which remains in operation, began construction in 1913 and, after a delay due toWorld War I, was completed in 1932. It is deeper and wider than the Third Canal, with an opening that permits two large ships to pass in opposite directions, and it reduced the number of locks to eight, as compared with the 40 locks of the First Canal.[3]
The Welland Canal eclipsed[citation needed] other, narrower canals in the region, such as theTrent-Severn Waterway and theErie Canal (which linked theAtlantic and Lake Erie viaNew York City andBuffalo, New York), by providing a shorter, more direct connection from Port Colborne on Lake Erie to Port Weller on Lake Ontario.
The southern terminus of the canal on Lake Erie is 99.5 metres (326 feet) higher than the northern terminus on Lake Ontario. The canal includes eight 24.4-metre-wide (80 ft)ship locks.[4] Seven of the locks (Locks 1–7, the 'Lift' locks) are 233.5 m (766 ft) long, and raise (or lower) passing ships by between 13 and 15 m (43 and 49 ft) each. The southernmost lock, (Lock 8 – the 'Guard' or 'Control' lock) is 349.9 m (1,148 ft) in length.[1]
TheGarden City Skyway passes over the canal, which means the masts of ships passing through the canal can be no higher than 35.5 m (116 ft). All other highway or railroad crossings of the Welland Canal are eithermovable bridges (of thevertical lift orbascule bridge types) or tunnels. Themaximum permissible length of a ship in this canal is 225.5 metres (740 feet). It takes an average of about eleven hours for a ship to traverse the Welland Canal.
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Before the digging of the Welland Canal, shipping traffic betweenLake Ontario andLake Erie used a portage road betweenChippawa, Ontario, andQueenston, Ontario, which are both located on theNiagara River—above and belowNiagara Falls, respectively.[citation needed]
TheWelland Canal Company was incorporated by the Province of Upper Canada, in 1824, after a petition by nine "freeholders of the District of Niagara". One of the petitioners wasWilliam Hamilton Merritt, who was in part looking to provide a regular flow of water for his manywater-powered industries along theTwelve Mile Creek inThorold. The construction began atAllanburg, Ontario, on November 30, at a point now marked as such on the west end of Bridge No. 11 (formerlyHighway 20). This canal opened for a trial run on November 30, 1829. After a short ceremony at Lock One, in Port Dalhousie, the schoonerAnne & Jane (also called "Annie & Jane" in some texts[5]) made the first transit, upbound toBuffalo, New York, with Merritt as a passenger on her deck.
The first canal ran fromPort Dalhousie, Ontario, on Lake Ontario south along Twelve Mile Creek toSt. Catharines. From there it took a winding route up theNiagara Escarpment throughMerritton, Ontario, toThorold, where it continued south via Allanburg toPort Robinson, Ontario, on theWelland River. Ships went east (downstream) on the Welland River to Chippawa, at the south (upper) end of the old portage road, where they made a sharp right turn into the Niagara River, upstream towards Lake Erie. Originally, the section between Allanburg and Port Robinson was planned to be carried in a tunnel. However, the sandy soil in this part ofOntario made a tunnel infeasible, and a deep open-cut canal was dug instead.
A southern extension from Port Robinson opened in 1833, with the founding of Port Colborne. This extension followed the Welland River south toWelland (known then as the settlement of Aqueduct, for the woodenaqueduct that carried the canal over the Welland River at that point), and then split to run south toPort Colborne on Lake Erie. A feeder canal ran southwest from Welland to another point on Lake Erie, just west ofRock Point Provincial Park inPort Maitland. With the opening of the extension, the canal stretched 44 km (27 mi) between the two lakes, with 40 wooden locks. The minimum lock size was 33.5 by 6.7 m (110 by 22 ft), with a minimum canal depth of 2.4 m (7.9 ft).
Deterioration of the wood used in the 40 locks and the increasing size of ships led to demand for the Second Welland Canal, which used cut stone locks, within just a few years.[6]
In 1839 the government ofUpper Canada approved the purchase ofshares in the private canal company in response to the company's continuing financial problems in the face of the continental financialpanic of 1837. The public buyout was completed in 1841, and work began to deepen the canal and to reduce the number of locks to 27, each 45.7 by 8.1 m (150 by 27 ft). By 1846, a 2.7 m (9 ft) deep path was completed through the Welland Canal, and by 1848 that depth was extended the rest of the way to the Atlantic Ocean via the future path of theSt. Lawrence Seaway.
Competition came in 1854 with the opening of theErie and Ontario Railway, running parallel to the original portage road. In 1859, theWelland Railway opened, parallel to the canal and with the same endpoints. But this railway was affiliated with the canal, and was actually used to help transfer cargoes from the lake ships, which were too large for the small canal locks, to the other end of the canal (TheTrillium Railway owns the railway's remnants andPort Colborne Harbour Railway). Smaller ships called "canallers" also took a part of these loads. Due to this problem, it was soon apparent the canal would have to be enlarged again.[citation needed] On April 20, 1882 the canal was re-opened, increasing the depth to twelve feet throughout. The increased depth allowed for ships carrying up to 24,000 bushels of grain to navigate the canal whereas they previously they had only been able to carry about 18,000 bushels. The first trip from Oswego carried 700 tons of coal, compared to 500 tons which was possible before the increased depth.[7]
In 1887, a new shorter alignment was completed between St. Catharines and Port Dalhousie. One of the most interesting features of this third Welland Canal was theMerritton Tunnel, built in 1876 on theGrand Trunk Railway line that ran under the canal between Locks 18 and 19. Another nearby tunnel carried the canal over a sunken section of the St David's Road. The new route had a minimum depth of 4.3 m (14 ft) with 26 stone locks, each 82.3 m (270 ft) long by 13.7 m (45 ft) wide. Even so, the canal was still too small for many boats.
Construction on the current canal began in 1913, but work was put on hold from 1916 to 1919 due to a shortage of workers duringWorld War I (1914–18) and was completed and officially opened on August 6, 1932. Dredging to the planned 25 foot depth was not completed until 1935. The route was again changed north of St. Catharines, now running directly north toPort Weller. In this configuration, there are eight locks, seven at the Niagara Escarpment and the eighth, aguard lock, at Port Colborne to adjust with the varying water depth in Lake Erie. The depth was now 7.6 m (25 ft), with locks 233.5 m (766 ft) long by 24.4 m (80 ft) wide. This canal is officially known now as theWelland Ship Canal. The Welland Canal's first "hands-free"vacuummooring was tested in Lock 7 prior to 2014.[8] The installation of the updated systems for Locks 1 through 7 was originally set to be completed in 2017, but the project was not finished until early 2018 after unforeseen delays.[9][10][11][12][13]
In the 1950s, with the building of the present St. Lawrence Seaway, a standard depth of 8.2 m (27 ft) was adopted. The 13.4-kilometre (8.3 mi) longWelland By-Pass, built between 1967 and 1972, opened for the 1973 shipping season, providing a new and shorter alignment between Port Robinson and Port Colborne and by-passing downtown Welland. The old routing of the canal became known as theWelland Recreational Waterway.
All three crossings of the new alignment—one an aqueduct for the Welland River—were built as tunnels. Around the same time, theThorold Tunnel was built at Thorold and several bridges were removed.
These projects were to be tied into a proposed new canal, titled theFifth Welland Canal, which was planned to by-pass most of the existing canal to the east and to cross the Niagara Escarpment in four twinnedPanamax locks. While land for the project wasexpropriated and early designs initiated, the project never got past early planning or construction stages and has since been shelved.
The present Welland Ship Canal was originally designed to last until 2030, almost 100 years after it first opened, and 200 years since the first full shipping season of the original canal in 1830. Subsequent improvements to the canal infrastructure mean that it may last much longer before it needs to be replaced.[14]
 | Parts of this article (those related to 30 Sept 2015 paragraph) need to beupdated. The reason given is: uses future tense for events now past. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(July 2025) |
On June 20, 1912, the government survey steamerLa Canadienne lost control due to mechanical problems in the engine room and smashed into the upstream gates of Lock No. 22 of the 3rd Welland Canal, forcing them open by six inches. The resulting surge of water flooded downstream, cresting the upstream gates of Lock No. 21 where five boys were fishing. One boy ran to safety and one of the boys was saved by a government surveyor. But the remaining three[15] were knocked into the water, drowning in the surge.
On August 25, 1974, the northbound ore-carrierSteelton struck Bridge 12 in Port Robinson. The bridge was rising and the impact knocked the bridge over, destroying it. No one was killed. The bridge master, Albert Beaver, and a watchman on the ship suffered minor injuries. The bridge has not been replaced and the inhabitants of Port Robinson have been served by a ferry for many years.
On August 11, 2001, thelake freighterWindoc collided with Bridge 11 in Allanburg, closing vessel traffic on the Welland Canal for two days. The accident destroyed the ship'swheelhouse and funnel (chimney), ignited a large fire on board, and caused minor damage to the vertical-lift bridge. The accident and portions of its aftermath were captured on amateur video.[16] The vessel was a total loss, but there were no reported injuries, and no pollution to the waterway. The damage to the bridge was focused on the centre of the vertical-lift span. It was repaired over a number of weeks and reopened to vehicular traffic on November 16, 2001. The Marine Investigation Report concluded, "it is likely that the [vertical-lift bridge] operator's performance was impaired while the bridge span was lowered onto the Windoc."[17][18]
At around noon on Wednesday September 30, 2015, the Lena J cargo ship collided with Bridge 19 in Port Colborne, closing the bridge to all vehicle and pedestrian traffic until an assessment could be made on the condition of the bridge.[19][20] The vessel had sustained damage to its bridge, but was still able to continue on its voyage to Burns Harbour, Indiana. Pictures of the damage sustained to the vessel and Bridge 19 were captured.[21] On Friday October 1, 2015, Chris Lee, an acting direct engineer for the City of Port Colborne, said that the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) will likely close the bridge to all vehicle traffic until the end of the year. However, pedestrians will be able to cross the bridge, and emergency services will be able to cross the bridge on a limited basis.[22][23][19][24] On Tuesday October 6, 2015, the City of Port Colborne released a media statement, which stated that Bridge 19, "will remain closed to vehicular traffic until after the close of the shipping season in December. Repairs will begin in early January." Detour routes have been planned and mapped by the City of Port Colborne and the City of Welland in order to ease the flow of traffic over Bridge 19A.[25]
The Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial at Lock 3 was unveiled on November 12, 2017. This commemorates the 137 workers who died while building the canal.[26]
On July 11, 2020 two cargo ships, theAlanis and theFlorence Spirit, struck each other while executing a passing manoeuvre nearPort Robinson. According to theSt. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, no one was injured, no cargo was spilled, and an investigation would be undertaken.[27] The final investigation report was released in August 2022.[28]
The Welland Canal has been the focus of plots on a number of occasions throughout its existence. However, only two have ever been carried out. The earliest and potentially most devastating attack occurred on September 9, 1841,[29] at Lock No. 37 (Allanburg) of the First Welland Canal (43°04′41″N79°12′36″W / 43.07796°N 79.20991°W /43.07796; -79.20991) (approximately 180 m north of today'sAllanburg bridge),[30] when an explosive charge destroyed one of the lock gates. However, a catastrophic flood was prevented when a guard gate located upstream of the lock closed into place preventing the upstream waters from careening down the route of the Canal and causing further damage and possible injury or loss of life. It was suspected thatBenjamin Lett was responsible for the explosion.
On April 21, 1900, about 6:30 in the evening,[31] a dynamite charge was set off against the hinges of Lock No. 24 of the Third Welland Canal (just to the east of Lock No. 7 of today's canal (43°07′23″N79°11′33″W / 43.122976°N 79.192372°W /43.122976; -79.192372)), doing minor damage. This time, the saboteurs were caught in nearby Thorold. John Walsh, John Nolan and the ringleader "Dynamite" Luke Dillon (a member ofClan-na-Gael)[32] were tried at the Welland Courthouse and found guilty, receiving life sentences atKingston Penitentiary. The "star witness" at the trial was a 16-year-old Thorold girl named Euphemia Constable, who caught a good look at the bombers before being knocked unconscious by the blast. While waiting to testify, the girl received death threats, but, they turned out to be ahoax.[citation needed] As for the prisoners, Nolan lost his sanity while incarcerated, John Walsh was eventually released while Luke Dillon remained in custody until July 12, 1914.[33]
TheFirst World War brought with it plots against the canal and the most notable of them came to be known as "The Von Papen Plot". In April 1916, a United Statesfederal grand jury issued an indictment againstFranz von Papen, CaptainHans Tauscher, CaptainKarl Boy-Ed, Constantine Covani andFranz von Rintelen on charges of a plot to blow up the Welland Canal.[34][35][36] However, Papen was at the time safely on German soil, having been expelled from the US (where he had been serving as a German military attaché) several months previously for alleged earlier acts of espionage and attempted sabotage.
Von Papen remained under indictment on these charges until he becameChancellor of Germany in 1932, at which time the charges were dropped.
The canal regularly opens late March through December, with closure in the winter due to hazardous weather. On March 20, 2007, the record for the earliest season opening was broken,[37] and matched the following year.[38]
| Canal | First (1829) | Second (1846) | Third (1887) | Fourth (1932) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Locks | 40 | 27 | 26 | 8 |
| Width (metres) | 6.7 | 8.1 | 13.7 | 24.4 |
| Length (metres) | 33.5 | 45.7 | 82.3 | 261.8 |
| Depth (metres) | 2.4 | 2.7 | 4.3 | 8.2 |
Locks and crossings are numbered from north to south.
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| Municipality | Lock or bridge number† | Crossing | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Catharines | Lock 1 | 43°13′03″N79°12′47″W / 43.217484°N 79.212992°W /43.217484; -79.212992 | |
| St. Catharines | Bridge 1 | Lakeshore Road (Regional Road 87) | Bascule bridge |
| St. Catharines | Bridge 2 | Church Road (Now Linwell Road) | Never installed |
| St. Catharines | Lock 2 | 43°11′35″N79°12′08″W / 43.193131°N 79.202178°W /43.193131; -79.202178 | |
| St. Catharines | Bridge 3A | Carlton Street (Regional Road 83) | Bascule bridge. Replaced original Bridge 3 (destroyed in accident) |
| St. Catharines | Bridge 4A | Garden City Skyway:Queen Elizabeth Way | |
| St. Catharines | Bridge 4 | Queenston Street (Regional Road 81) (formerHighway 8) | Bascule bridge, also known as "Homer Lift Bridge" |
| St. Catharines | Lock 3 | 43°09′19″N79°11′35″W / 43.155230°N 79.193058°W /43.155230; -79.193058 location of Welland Canal Information Centre | |
| St. Catharines | Bridge 5 | Glendale Avenue (Regional Road 89) | Vertical-lift bridge |
| St Catharines | Bridge 6 | Great Western Railway (Ontario) (nowCanadian National Railway) | Bascule bridge |
| St Catharines | Lock 4 | twinnedflight lock | |
| Thorold | Locks 5–6 | 43°08′03″N79°11′31″W / 43.134283°N 79.191899°W /43.134283; -79.191899 twinnedflight locks | |
| Thorold | Lock 7 | 43°07′24″N79°11′38″W / 43.123446°N 79.193895°W /43.123446; -79.193895 southernmost lift over theNiagara Escarpment | |
| Thorold | Bridge 7 | Hoover Street | removed |
| Thorold | Bridge 8 | Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway (now Canadian National Railway) | removed |
| Thorold | Thorold Tunnel, carriesHighway 58 | ||
| Thorold | Bridge 9 | Ormond Street | removed |
| Thorold | Bridge 10 | Welland Railway (now Canadian National Railway) | removed winter 1998 |
| Thorold | Bridge 11 | Canboro Road (Regional Road 20) (formerHighway 20) | Vertical-lift bridge. Lowered prematurely onWindoc in 2001 |
| Thorold | Bridge 12 | Bridge Street (Regional Road 63) | destroyed by theSteelton in 1974, replaced by a pedestrian ferry |
| Welland | Main Street Tunnel: (Highway 7146) | ||
| Welland | Townline Tunnel: Highway 58A andCanadian National Railway/Penn Central | ||
| Port Colborne | Bridge 19 | Main Street (Regional Road 3)Highway 3 | Bascule bridge |
| Port Colborne | Lock 8 | 42°53′57″N79°14′46″W / 42.899122°N 79.246166°W /42.899122; -79.246166 control lock | |
| Port Colborne | Bridge 19A | Mellanby Avenue (Regional Road 3A) | Bascule bridge |
| Port Colborne | Bridge 20 | Buffalo and Lake Huron Railroad (now Canadian National Railway) | removed winter 1997 |
| Port Colborne | Bridge 21 | Clarence Street | Vertical-lift bridge |
The following illustration depicts the profile of the Welland Canal. The horizontal axis is the length of the canal. The vertical axis is the elevation of the canal segments above mean sea level.
† If assigned by the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority. The original bridges across the fourth canal were numbered in order. Numbering was not changed as bridges were removed.
(SLSMC) has recently completed two improvement projects for the Niagara Region of the St. Lawrence Seaway System on the Welland Canal in Ontario, Canada.
next up are the flight Locks 4, 5 and 6, which will be prepped over the winter with installation scheduled for next year.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Captain Hans Tauscher, former officer of the Imperial German Army, who was indicted with Franz von Papen during the World War but acquitted by a Federal jury of charges that he conspired to blow up the strategic Welland Canal, died here yesterday inSt. Clare's Hospital. ...
Captain Franz von Papen, Military Attache of the German Embassy, who was recently, at the request of the United States Government, recalled to Germany, was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury yesterday as one of the heads of the alleged conspiracy that was hatched in this country in the first weeks of the war to destroy the Welland Canal, which forms the navigating link in Canadian territory between Lakes Erie and Ontario. ...
43°09′20.00″N79°11′37.50″W / 43.1555556°N 79.1937500°W /43.1555556; -79.1937500
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