“Oh, are we going through the ‘Soo’ canal?” asked Fenn eagerly, for he had been reading up about the Great Lakes, just before coming on the trip.
“That’s the only way of getting around the falls,” replied the captain. “I see you don’t put much faith in my jumping story.”
“We have to go through a lock, don’t we?” Bart wanted to know.
“Yes,” said Captain Wiggs, spreading a map out on the table, “we go through the canal, and lock, being raised up several feet, to the level of Lake Superior. If all goes well we’ll be through the lock by noon to-morrow.”
“Why do they call it the ‘Soo’ canal?” asked Ned.
“Because it is named after the falls,” was the commander’s reply. “The falls are called Sault Saint Marie, and that word which is spelled ‘S-a-u-l-t’ is pronounced as if it were spelled ‘S-o-o.’ It is a French word, and means a leap, or water-fall. So you see when you say ‘Sault (Soo) Saint Marie’ you are really saying ‘St. Mary’s Waterfall.’ The canal, and the city located along it, both take the name of the falls.”
The boys were up early the next morning to catch the first glimpse of the canal, lock and falls. It was some time before they reached them, however, and, when they did arrive at the canal, they found several vessels ahead of them, and had to wait their turn for entering the lock.
They had a fine view of the surrounding country and the falls of St. Mary’s, spanned by a big railroad bridge. When they approached the lock, they saw that the canal was there divided by two walls of masonry making two locks and enclosing a space that was laid out like a little park, with grass plots and trees. Along the edges of the retaining walls, which were very wide, many persons were walking.
At last it was the turn of the Modoc to enter the lock. She steamed slowly ahead, and an empty grain barge was also sent in at the same time, the lock being large enough for two vessels.
When the craft were in, the immense gates were closed behind them. The Modoc and the grain barge were now shut up in something like a box of masonry, with water for a bottom, and the sky for a top. The boys watched the men open the water-gates that let in a flood of liquid that swept in from Lake Superior, through the long canal.