page_title: Chippawa, Ontario
section_title: Navigation and the Portage road
hierarchical_section_title: Chippawa, Ontario / Transportation / Navigation and the Portage road
caption_attribution_description: A copy depicting King's Bridge in Chippawa, Ontario
context_page_description: Chippawa is a community located within the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario.
  The village was founded in 1850, and became part of the City of Niagara Falls, Ontario by amalgamation in 1970. It is located on the Canadian shore of the Niagara River about 2 km upstream from Niagara Falls. It is bisected by the Welland River. In historic documents, the name of the village and the river is sometimes spelled as Chippewa or Chippeway.
context_section_description: Chippawa is the limit of navigation on the Upper Niagara River.  Before the construction of the Welland Canal, all cargo and passengers had to be unloaded and carried overland to navigable waters below the falls in order to reach Lake Ontario.  
  Before the War of American Independence, all cargo was carried on the American side of the river. Following this, British interests required a route within their territory. A survey conducted in 1790 reserved a strip one chain wide between Chippawa and Queenston, Ontario as a public road, which would become the Portage Road. 
  Most of this road remains today, following its original winding route in contrast to the rectangular grid of other Niagara Falls streets.
  King's Bridge, constructed about 1790, was the very first bridge over the Welland River. It was located at the mouth of the river, closer to the Niagara than today's bridge. Sketches by Lady Simcoe (wife of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe) and deputy postmaster George Heriot each show a bridge consisting of pilings driven into the river with a wooden deck.  
  The bridge was of great military importance as the only one crossing of the river. A survey available in the Brock University Special Collections indicates that this was a drawbridge. This survey also shows a new bridge constructed at the location of the current one.
  During the first several years that the Welland Canal operated, it did not reach Lake Erie directly.  All canal traffic was lowered in a lock at Port Robinson, Ontario to the Welland River, and subsequently sailed to Chippawa, reaching Lake Erie via the Niagara River.  Ships entering and leaving the Niagara faced a difficult and dangerous turn into a swift current.  The Welland River curved downstream into the Niagara and ships rounding this point were in danger of being swept over the falls.
  The problem was resolved by construction of the Chippawa Cut in 1829.  This short canal allowed ships to turn upstream into the Niagara River directly and avoid the most severe currents.  This cut is depicted in the survey mentioned above.
  By the mid-1830s, the Welland Canal had been extended to enter Lake Erie at Port Colborne, Ontario, but commercial navigation on the river continued for roughly another century.  In 1843, over 100 steamers carried passengers and some freight on a route that followed the Niagara River from Buffalo, New York, then into the Welland River at Chippawa, joining the Welland Canal at Port Robinson, and subsequently via the Feeder Canal to Dunnville, Ontario and up the Grand River to Brantford, Ontario.
  While commercial shipping no longer exists in Chippawa, pleasure boating continues and marina facilities can be found at Lyon's Creek just west of the village.  Somewhat farther to the west is a relic of the days of commercial shipping – the Montrose Swing Bridge still carries a railway track over the river even though it has not opened for a ship in about 75 years.
caption: A copy of George Heriot's sketch of Kings Bridge in 1801
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