NEW WELLAND CANAL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 29 December 1925, Page 4

NEW WELLAND CANAL.

GREAT ENGINEERING FEAT.

PANAMA SURPASSED

The last contract has been let lot! the completion of the new V ellandi Canal in Canada, Connecting Lake Erie with Lake Ontario, forming the first link in. the scheme of navigation ivhicli will enable ocean liners, instead of halting at Montreal, to steam westward to the far inland ports of Duluth and Port Arthur and all intervening points. Without much flourish or advertisement work on the new Welland Canal has been proceeding for 13 years. It will be completed, according to present estimates, in five years more. Delay has been due to the war. All the world sings the praises of the Panama Canal, but from the engineering point of view the new Welland Canal is a mightier feat. While it is only 25 miies long as compared with Panama’s 50, Panama’s summit is only 85ft. above its entrances, while the Welland must overcome a lift of 326 rt., which, owing to the Falls of Niagara and accompanying rapids, separates the higher level of Lake Erie from Lake Ontario. As a consequence, lifting ;ip_ uaratus is on a colossal scale. To give some idea of the magnitude of the work, it may be noted that if all the- earth and rock to be excavated were loaded on dump cars, the train would stretch for 15.000 miles, the length of the Great Wall of China. The amount of concrete to be used would be sufficient to build a solid concrete wall 20ft-. high, 6ft. wide, and 100 miles long. FOURTH RECONSTRUCTION.

A hundred years ago the first Welland Canal was built, connecting the present terminus, Port Colborne on Lake Erie, with Port Dalhousie on Lake Ontario. Three times the work has been reconstructed, and the existing canal accommodates a substantial share of lake navigation. But the new entex-prise is infinitely more bitious.The northern or Lake Ontario terminus has been moved from Port Dalhousie, three or lour miles to the east, to Port Weller (named after the engineer). - The canal will follow an almost straight line and will be five miles shorter than the old. There will be only seven locks on the new, as compared with 27 on the old. Not only will the largest steamers on the Great Lakes come through the locks, but they will come through in onethird the time. Instead of twenty-four hours for passage through the present structure, it is estimated that only eight hours will be required for the new. Another way to estimate the immensity of this undertaking, calculated to cost £IO,OOO, even at 1912 prices, is to say that while the present canal will accommodate only boats at the most 360 ft. in length, the new one can let through vessels measuring 800 ft., 200 ft. more than the largest boat now plying on the lakes. LOCKS 800 ft. LONG. Some of the new locks are, among the largest in the world. The locks of the present canal are only 250 ft. long, 45ft. wide and 14ft. in depth. The new are not only 800 ft. long; but 80ft. wide, with 30ft. of water over the gate sills at extremely low states of the lake. Capacity loads for vessels during the present low water levels in the old canal are 71,000 bushels. Not only will the Great Morden, with her •300,000 bushels and 22ft. draught, pass through the new locks, but have Bft. to spare. It will take just exactly eight minutes to clear this great freighter through each lift. These huge lock compartments, built throughout of concrete and founded on bedrock, will have walls towering 82ft. above the gate sills. Two of the locks will have walls over 100 ft. high. The gates, a notable feature, are to he among the largest in the world, weighing 1100 tons each. Three of them are twin locks, in flight similar to the G-atun locks of the Panama Canal, that is, each pair rising one above the other. V SOME SPECIAL FEATURES. . The engineering world has its attention attracted to some of the special features of the work. The pair of twin guard gates located immediately to the south of lock No. 7 are outstanding. This is a special protection against tlie heavy body of water formed by Lake Erie. Another new device is a; pond at the head of each lift lock, acting as a regulating basin from which the. water to fill the locks will be drawn instead of from the canal. These huge reservoirs, now well under construction, varying in areal from 107 to 150 acres, are to prevent the formation of objectionable currents and surges in the locks and canal. Since the ship canal is to be carried over the Welland River, another engineering feat is required here to raise the level of the river to that of the summit level of the canal. This is to be done by a dam across the river. For construction purposes the work of the canal was divided into nine sec_ tions, No. 1 being at the Lake Ontario end of the canal, and No. 9 at the Lake Erie or Port Colborne end. The first three sections include the Lake Ontario entrance and all*, the seven lift locks, each one of which will raise, or lower a vessel 46! feet. These sections, begun in 1912, will all be ready for navigation in three years. Section No. 5, between Thorold and Port Colborne, really an enlargement of the present canal, is the only section completed and in use. Section 4, south of Thorold, is almost finished. The contract for section 6 lias jvst been awarded. GREAT HARBOUR WORKS. The huge harbour breakwaters at both Port Weller and Port Colborne are a fascinating sight as they take shape. At Port Weller the - entrance piers are placed about a :i ile from shore, where the water is 30ft. deep. A. wide channel is being dredged from these piers to the first lock and reinforced by concrete walls, along which vessels may lie. From the short-fine of the lake to the outer entrance piers a huge embankment is being constructed, 500 ft. in width, on each side of the channel, composed- of material excavated from the canal. At Port. Colborne the new breakwater will lx? half a mile long and 500 ft. in width, and will /protect the harbour and canal from heavy winds. Full use of the new canal will have to wait for a similar development on the St. Lawrence. Only then will the Great Lakes be able to realise their dream of real ocean navigation.