A large number of the industrial plants here belong to Americans. The main buildings of these works look like mediæval castles rather than modern factories. They are equal in beauty to any of the ruins of the Rhine or the Danube. Indeed, they remind me of the mighty forts of Delhi, the capital of India. They are made of a rich red and white sandstone, with crenellated walls, and, notwithstanding their beauty, are said to have been built at a remarkably low cost. The blocks of sandstone were taken out of the canal dug for the power plant.
The “Soo” Canal not only has the heaviest freight traffic of any artificial waterway in the world, but is also on the route of the passenger steamers that carry thousands of tourists through the Great Lakes.
The longest bascule bridge in the world is operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway at Sault Ste. Marie. Each section is 169 feet long, and is raised by electric power to permit vessels to pass through the canal.
The moose in the thick forests of Canada feed off the trees and smaller shrubs. The moose have such short necks and long front legs that they cannot browse on grass without getting down on their knees.
Ontario has so many lakes that canoes can be paddled for hundreds of miles with practically no portages. Since the days of the French explorers, these lakes have formed part of the water route from the East to Hudson Bay.
It is interesting to go through these factories and see the work of Lake Superior in harness. In the pulp mills, where more than a hundred huge truck loads of news-print are turned out every day, I saw the logs ground to dust, mixed with water, and made into miles of paper to feed printing presses. The output is so great that every three months enough paper is made to cover a sidewalk reaching all the way round the world.