GREAT WELLAND CANAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19994, 10 November 1927, Page 7

GREAT WELLAND CANAL

BIG ENGINEERING FEAT LAKE ERIE TO ONTARIO TORONTO, Oct. 20. The new Welland Canal, between Lakes Erie and Ontario, which it is expected will be completed by 1930, is taking form as the greatest engineering feat on the continent, possibly not excepting Panama. A twin or - triple flight of locks at the height of land surmounting the main Niagara escarpment represents a lift of 139 ft.—nearly as high as the Horseshoe Falls—compared with 85ft. for the Gatun flights of locks at Panama. Lock No. 1, at Port Weller, at the Lake Ontario end, is another piece of construction which should be seen now before it is filled with water, to be appreciated. When it is filled to a length of 850 ft., a width of 80ft. and a depth of 76jfL, it will contain 5,263,200 cubic feet of water. Each leaf of its mitre gates, 82ft. high, contains 5-15 tons of steel A large harbour on Lake Ontario capable of accommodating a large fleet of ships has taken form. Another engineering feat is the disposal of the Welland River, which crosses the canaL The river has a maximum flow of 10,000 cubic feet a second, equal to the Chicago diversion or the American Falls. It will be carried 80ft. under the canal by five pipes. Seventy-five per cent, of the work of construction on the canal is completed. What remains is chiefly at the Port Co-lborne or Lake Erie end. Already 3,500,000 cubic feet of concrete have been poured in lock construction. instead of 22 locks on the old canal there will be only eight on the new. Vessels will pass from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario in six hours, just about one-fourth the present time of transit. Toward the Lake Erie end is a straight stretch of almost 12 miles before the height of land is reached. The other day a large lake cargo vessel steamed through this, almost as if it were on the open lake. It made 12 miles an hour with scarcely a wash on the walls of the canal. The canal is not going to be merely an unsightly gash in the earth. It will be the beauty spot of the continent, as well as a great engineering feat. The banks are being sodded above the water line. Above that there will be flowers and shrubs and trees, transplanted from the Canal Commission’s nursery. They will serve the utilitarian purpose of breaking the wind for the ships, but they will make a drive along the canal , like a trip through a park. There will be a highway on either side of the canal. As far as engineering is concerned the canalisation of the St. Lawrence offers no difficulties comparable with those surmounted on the Welland.