The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1881-07-22
The Original Welland Canal.

From inception to completion the
Erie Canal was watched by the up
per- Canadians. They became intense
ly interested in the discussion whether
the route should be northward from
the Rome level, through Oneida Lake
to Lake Ontario access to Lake Erie
to be had by an American canal
around Niagara Falls), or whether -
as it finally proved - the waterway
should cross the entire length OF the
State. The most interested OF the
Canadians was William Hamilton
Merritt, youth but little past his
majority, whose ancestors were New.
Workers of note in the French and
Indian wars. With other British
sympathizers, they removed to the
Niagara Peninsula, and located upon
Twelve.mile Creek the present
city of st. Catharines - in 1895. In
the course of his trading along the
banks of the Niagara it had occurred
to young Merritt that canal was
practicable, and in 1878 he surveyed
from Allanburgh to Chippewa with
a water-level. In response to his
statement, the Canadian Legislature
voted f2OO0 for surveys, and a route
was laid out from Chippewa to Bur.
lingtOn Bay (HamiltOn), cia Grand
River. The impracticability of this
route, and the certainty of the Erie
Canal, made the construction of
Canadian canal a necessity. The
avoidance of Niagara Falls by the
Americans was the Canadians Op.
p0rtunity. In 1921, their Legislature
appointed board of commissioners
to report upon the most feasible route.
A year later 1922. the commission
recommended canal large enough to
accommodate any vessel then naviga-
ting the lakes-advice that led to the
incorporation of the " Welland Canal
Company" during the following year.
Merritt and his associates subscribed
10000, and the first sod was turned
on the 30th of November.
The original project was to connect
the two great lakes, Erie and Ontario,
by a mere bOat-canal for vessels of
100 tons. The route was up the val.
ley of the Twelve.mile Creek to the
foot of the Niagara escarpment
thence by railway to the Beaver
Dam Creek, from which point access
to the Chippawa was had by a second
boat-canal tunnelled through the
"divide on the site of the present
Deep Cut. The Importance of a larger
canal becoming more evident, the
capital stock was increased fivefOld,
and the stockholders were guaranteed
paid-up annual dividend of twelve
and q half per cent, in case the crown
should ever assume the canal. The
board of directors reported every
prospect for encouragement. Bishop
Strahan left off his opposition to Lord
Selkirk's Red River settlements, and
remarked with enthusiasm that "the
Welland Canal will in time have sur.
vived the eur of century had he
not broken the hide.bOund prejudice
of his day, and built the first canal
i'm Great Britain, although the idea
was not a new one on the Continent.
Lord DalhOusie's administration of
Indian affairs gained him renown not
more for his magnificent highways
than for his Baree DOab and other
canals throughout the Punjab. The
State of New York will ever hold De
Witt Clinton prince among her Gov.
errors for his resOlute zeal in the
matter of the Erie Canal while to
the Hon. w. II. Merritt belongs the
credit of making pathway to the
ocean in spite OF the Falls of Niagara.
Notwithstanding the fact that the
Canadians were now able to float the
tonnage of the upper Lakes upon Lake
Ontario, they were still PAS 1900
feet above their objective pOint-the
seaport of Montreal. The Lachine
Canal was first built around the IA.
pids of that name just above the city.
This new channal of trade was opened
in 1915, the depth being four and a
half feet, and the breadth twenty
eight feet on the bottom. The Wei
land, as enlarged in 1888, led to the
contemplation of a uniform system
of canals large enough for the steamers
of the upper lakes. While the sub.
ject was under discussion, four short
canals were built to overcome the
Cascades and Cedar and COteau rapids
i'm the channel of the st. Lawrence,
between Lakes st. Louis and st.
Francis. In lS45, the BeauharnOis
Canal replaced the four, the Cornwall
Canal having recently been cOnstruc-
ted upon the enlarged scale, to sur
mount the rapids of the Tongue Sault.
The Farran's Point, Rapid Plat, and
GalOps-knOwn collectively as the
Williamsburg Canals - were opened
in 1S47, thus completing the chain of
navigation from Lake Erie to Mon
treal. - FREDERICK G. MATHER, in
Magazine for August.