page_title: Rideau Canal
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Rideau Canal / History / Construction
caption_attribution_description: Original caption: On the left labourers excavate the channel below the lock, moving material by wheelbarrow up a "barrow run." A small coffer dam protects the bottom of the lock from the waters of the Cataraqui River. In the background is the original saw mill and mill dam, replaced that year by a canal dam which would flood the Cataraqui River, putting a navigation depth of water into the upper canal cut leading to the lock.
context_page_description: The Rideau Canal, also known unofficially as the Rideau Waterway, connects Canada's capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston, Ontario. It is 202 kilometres in length. The name Rideau, French for "curtain", is derived from the curtain-like appearance of the Rideau River's twin waterfalls where they join the Ottawa River. The canal system uses sections of two rivers, the Rideau and the Cataraqui, as well as several lakes. The Rideau Canal is operated by Parks Canada.
  The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States. It remains in use today primarily for pleasure boating, with most of its original structures intact. The locks on the system open for navigation in mid-May and close in mid-October. It is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America, and in 2007 it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
context_section_description: The construction of the canal was supervised by Lieutenant-Colonel John By of the Royal Engineers. Private contractors such as future sugar refining entrepreneur John Redpath, Thomas McKay, Robert Drummond, Thomas Phillips, Andrew White and others were responsible for much of the construction, and the majority of the actual work was done by thousands of Irish and French-Canadian labourers. Colonel John By decided to create a slackwater canal system instead of constructing new channels. This was a better approach as it required fewer workers, was more cost effective, and would have been easier to build.
  The canal work started in the fall of 1826, and it was completed by the spring of 1832. The first full steamboat transit of the canal was done by Robert Drummond's steamboat, Rideau (aka "Pumper"), leaving Kingston on May 22, 1832 with Colonel By and family on board, and arriving in Bytown on May 29, 1832. The final cost of the canal's construction was £822,804 by the time all the costs, including land acquisitions costs, were accounted for (January 1834). Given the unexpected cost overruns, John By was recalled to London and was retired with no accolades or recognition for his tremendous accomplishment.
caption: The lock at Lower Brewers nearing completion in 1831 by Thomas Burrowes
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