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Willpower
Builds the Welland
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Merritt
Masterminding
the Welland Canal, precursor
of the modern St. Lawrence
Seaway, was not the only
feather in William Hamilton
Merritt's cap. The inexhaustible
Merritt went on to build
the first suspension bridge
over the Niagara Gorge
in 1845, and to found
the Welland Railway Company,
an auxiliary to the canal.
As a politician, he represented
Haldimand County in the
Upper Canada Assembly
from 1832 - 1841, and
Lincoln County from 1841
- 1860. First as a Conservative,
then a Moderate Reformer
and finally, a Liberal,
Merritt was a staunch
supporter of free trade
between the United States
and Canada.
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As an entrepreneurial St. Catharines
businessman, an Upper Canadian soldier
in the War of 1812, and second-generation
British Loyalist, young William Hamilton
Merritt had every reason to be threatened
by the building of America's grand
Erie Canal. As the new waterway took
shape, linking Lake Erie to the Hudson
River, the proud and patriotic Merritt
became increasingly alarmed by America's
growing ability to divert Great Lakes
traffic from Montreal to the port
of New York.
In 1818, at just 25 years of age,
Merritt began his campaign to build
a rival canal to connect Lake Ontario
to Lake Erie. The route would cross
the Niagara Peninsula, using natural
waterways and bypassing Niagara Falls.
By 1825, he had succeeded in obtaining
government support and private investment
capital for the Welland Canal Company
(named for the Welland River which
would form part of the waterway's
route.)
Misery in the
Mud: Like the Erie Canal, which
was officially opened in 1825, the
Welland Canal was built by the brute
strength of mostly Irish labourers.
Without the aid of earth-moving machinery
or modern explosives, the channel
was dug with picks, shovels, and gunpowder
stuffed into hand-drilled holes. Rocks
and mud were carted away in wheelbarrows
and mule-drawn wagons, or simply carried
in slings on the backs of men. Wading
in dirty marsh water and working from
dawn till dusk, the men shivered with
cold and sweated with fever-all for
50 cents a day.
| Watch
the Welland at Work
Look
down on the decks of gigantic
lakers and "salties"
from around the world,
at the Welland Canal Lock
3 Viewing Complex, part
of the St. Catharines
Historical Museum in St.
Catharines, Ontario. The
complex includes a display
of historical canal memorabilia,
including photographs
and models of early canals,
3-masted schooners, shipyards,
and waterside "towpaths"
that became city streets.
A computerized working
scale model of Lock 3,
along with ship schedules
for the day, links the
historical waterway to
its contemporary operation. |
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Merritt's vision was realized in
1829, when 2 small schooners, the
Annie and Jane of York and
the R.H. Boughton of Youngstown,
New York sailed the length of the
brand new Welland Canal. Traffic on
the waterway increased steadily, and
in the early 1840's, the busy canal
was taken over by the provincial government.
Today, "Merritt's Ditch,"
as it was sometimes known to naysayers,
is a key component of the modern St.
Lawrence Seaway system. It has been
deepened and re-routed several times,
and now extends 42 kilometres, almost
directly north and south, from Port
Weller on Lake Ontario to Port Colborne
on Lake Erie. The original 40 wooden
locks have been reduced to 8, with
3 "flight locks" permitting
2-way traffic. Wheat, iron-ore and
coal pass through the waterway in
an average transit time of 12 hours.
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