CANADIAN SHIP CANAL AT SAULT STE. MARIE, 1895.
The St. Lawrence Canal System, with a uniform depth of nine feet of water, was completed in 1848. The canals are eight in number, viz.: the Lachine Canal, 8½ miles; the Beauharnois, 11¼ miles; the Cornwall, 11½ miles; Farren’s Point, ¾ of a mile; Rapid du Plat, 4 miles; Galops, 7⅝ miles; the Welland, 26¾ miles, and the Sault Ste. Marie, ¾ of a mile—in all 71⅛ miles, with 53 locks, and 551¼ feet lockage. In 1871 the Government decided to enlarge the locks of the whole system to 270 feet by 45 feet, and to deepen the canals to fourteen feet. These dimensions were decided upon after consultation with the Boards of Trade of Oswego, Toledo, Detroit, Milwaukee and Chicago; but so great has been the increase of commerce on the lakes since then, so much larger are the vessels now employed in the trade, and so keen has the competition become in the transportation business, it is already apparent that the limiting of the locks to 270 feet has been a mistake, and that before the work in hand is finished there will be a call for locks of at least double that capacity.
Under the new arrangement the Lachine Canal has two distinct systems of locks, giving two entrances at each end. The Cornwall Canal has in the same manner two sets of locks at its lower entrance, and has in other respects been greatly improved. The Beauharnois Canal was not enlarged, but, instead, an entirely new canal on the north shore of the river is being constructed, fourteen miles in length, of the same dimensions as the other enlarged canals, at a cost of $5,000,000. The total cost of the St. Lawrence canals and river improvements west of Montreal has been $29,000,000; of the Welland Canal, $24,000,000; the Sault Ste. Marie, $3,258,025; of the Ottawa and Rideau canals, about $10,000,000; and of the whole canal system of the Dominion about $75,000,000. The total revenue derived from tolls and hydraulic and other rents for the year 1895 was $339,890.49; 2,412 vessels passed through the Welland during the season of 1894, carrying 1,008,221 tons of freight. The quantity of freight moved on the St. Lawrence and Ottawa canals was 1,448,788 tons, and on all the canals over 3,000,000 tons, whereof the products of the forest, 1,077,683 tons; agricultural products, 993,348 tons—the remainder being general merchandise and manufactures.[47]
The deepening of Lake St. Peter and other shallow reaches of the St. Lawrence between Montreal and Quebec has created what may be called a submerged canal, fifty miles long, three hundred feet wide, with a minimum depth of 27½ feet, permitting ocean steamers of the largest class now in the trade to discharge their cargoes in the port of Montreal, which is undergoing enlargement at the present time at a cost of many millions of dollars.
During the season of 1897 the number of sea-going vessels that arrived at Montreal was 796, with a total tonnage of 1,379,002; 752 of these were steamers, aggregating 1,368,395 tons. The inland vessels numbered 6,384, with a tonnage of 1,134,346. The sea-going steamers were eighty-three in excess of the previous year, with a marked increase of tonnage.[48] During that summer steamships of 10,000 and even 12,000 tons burthen were to be found loading and discharging cargo alongside the wharves of Montreal.
The total value of merchandise exported from this port during the year 1897 was $55,156,956. The chief articles of export were as follows:
| Quantity. | Value. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Produce of the mines | ... | $ 188,127 | |
| "" fisheries | ... | 120,242 | |
| "" forest | ... | 5,731,583 | |
| Horses | (Number) | 12,179 | 1,205,941 |
| Horned Cattle | " | 119,188 | 7,151,280 |
| Sheep | " | 66,319 | 340,060 |
| Butter | (Pounds) | 10,594,824 | 1,878,515 |
| Cheese | " | 162,322,426 | 14,325,176 |
| Eggs | (Dozen) | 4,806,011 | 575,782 |
| Meat of all kinds | (Pounds) | 16,377,806 | 1,345,894 |
| Wheat | (Bushels) | 9,900,308 | 8,415,261 |
| Indian Corn | " | 9,172 676 | 3,121,753 |
| Other grains (barley, oats, peas, etc.) | " | 10,298,444 | 3,904,128 |
| Flour | (Barrels) | 891,501 | 3,120,253 |
| Apples | " | 175,194 | 350,000 |
| Manufactured and miscellaneous articles | ... | 3,954,919 | |