Waterways and Water Transport in Different Countries / With a description of the Panama, Suez, Manchester, Nicaraguan, and other canals.

by J. Stephen Jeans

The Ohio Canal.—This canal has a length of 309 miles, extending from Cleveland on Lake Erie to Portsmouth on the Ohio river. From the former city it ascends the valleys of the Cuyahoga and Little Cuyahoga rivers, and reaches the north end of the summit-level at Akron, 38 miles from Cleveland. This portion is fed mainly from the Cuyahoga and Little Cuyahoga rivers, and has an ascent of 395½ feet, overcome by means of 44 locks. Of these, twenty-one are within 3 miles and sixteen within 1½ mile of the north end of the summit-level at Akron. Power is utilised by a number of mills, principally at the last mentioned place.

The canal now enters the basin of the Tuscarawas river, and from the south end of what is known as the Portage summit-level has an uninterrupted descent to Welsport, following the Tuscarawas valley and then that of the main Muskingum river. In this distance of 112 miles there is a fall of 238·6 feet, effected by 29 locks. The low-level at Welsport is also at the foot of a continuous descent from the Licking summit, which lies to the westward, the surplus waters entering it from either direction being discharged through a side cut into the Muskingum river at Dresden. On the division extending from the Portage summit to Welsport and Dresden, there are nearly a dozen flouring-mills, using various powers, ranging usually between 15 and 50 horse-power, but in two or three cases reaching 100 and 150.

From the low-level at Welsport the canal rises to the westward to the Licking summit, making an ascent of 160 feet in the 42 miles by means of nineteen locks. The water supply is derived from the Licking river at the Narrows, from one or two forks of the main river, and from the Licking reservoir. There are no returns indicating any present use of power on this section of the canal. At Newark there is a fall of 18 feet from the feeder and from the main canal to the water-surface in the north fork of the Licking river, but it is not utilised. In years past the feeder had been employed at Newark for a small woollen mill, a flouring-mill, and a sawmill, which did rather an extensive business; but they have, one after another, abandoned the use of the water power. The feeder at that point draws from the north fork, and should take its entire low-flow, but the feeder-dam is reported as leaky, and the canal has been allowed to silt up, thereby diminishing its capacity, so that the available flow of the stream is not utilised.

The Sault St. Marie Canal.—One of the most remarkable canals in the world is that known as the Sault St. Marie, or St. Mary’s Falls Canal, in the State of Michigan, which connects the waters of Lake Superior and Lake Huron, and thereby affords a means of communication between some of the most important territories and centres of population in the United States. The position of the canal is illustrated in the chapter on “[Canadian Waterways].”

The head of Lake Superior is 1400 miles from New York. Of this distance some 880 miles are deep water navigation by the Lakes, the outlet of which is St. Mary’s River. The St. Mary’s Strait is 75 miles long, and in this distance there is a fall of 20 feet 4 inches, of which 18 feet 2 inches occur at the Sault, while the remainder of the descent, 2 feet 2 inches, is distributed over the first 35 miles below that point. Hence the river is tortuous, and navigation is rendered unsafe by the rapids, although from a point 50 miles below the foot of Lake Superior navigation is good for the remainder of the distance of 25 miles to Lake Huron.

In 1855 the St. Mary Falls Canal was built for the purpose of overcoming the fall between the Lakes Superior and Huron. The length of the canal is only about one mile, so that, as compared with the Suez and other ship canals, its extent is unimportant. But so far as its traffic is concerned, this is the most important canal in the world. Commencing with an annual tonnage of only about 100,000 tons at the time of its construction, the canal now disposes of an annual tonnage of over six millions, thus exceeding the tonnage passed over the Suez Canal by nearly a million of tons.

In 1855, two locks were built on the St. Mary’s Falls Canal, each 70 feet wide and 350 feet long between the gates. These locks could not accommodate vessels drawing more than 11½ feet. But in 1880, when the canal had been transferred by the State of Michigan to the United States, as a work of national importance, the Government undertook the construction of a new lock, which was opened in 1881, and which has been described by competent engineers as the finest piece of hydraulic engineering on the American continent. The lock is at the lower end, and is 515 feet long between the gates and 80 feet wide in the chamber, with 17 feet of water on the sills. The lift is 18 feet, more or less, according to the fall in the rapids between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The gates are not set opposite to each other on the same axis, but on parallel axes 20 feet apart, so that the width between the gates is reduced to 60 feet, while in the chamber it is 80 feet, the difference being met by reverse curves on either side.

Advantage is taken of the natural water power created by the lock to establish by the side of it an accumulator for operating the gates and valves by hydraulic pressure—in the same manner as at the London and Liverpool docks—which works admirably.

The chamber is filled and emptied by culverts of large dimensions, under the mitre sills, without producing any disturbance of the vessel, because the tunnel or culvert runs the whole length of the chamber, with openings at the top, which are so arranged as to distribute the force of the inflowing current along the centre, entirely under the vessel’s keel. In 1886, when the Canadian and Pacific Railway steamer Arthabaska passed through the lock, it took one minute and a half to close the upper gates, seven minutes and a half to empty the lock, and one minute and a half to open the lower gates. Altogether, from the time of entering the lock to the time of going out of it again, the passage was made in thirteen minutes, and there was no hurry about it.

It is only by the great initial pressure afforded by the accumulator, about 600 lbs. to the square inch, that the valves and gates could be commanded with so much ease and rapidity. This system has been seven years in operation, and its efficiency proves the great care and skill with which all the details of construction have been worked out. The lock was six years in building, and cost, including the enlargement of the canal, about three millions of dollars.