“Well, I should say not—that is, going up stream, and I shouldn’t advise anyone to try and shoot the rapids coming down. It’s bad enough when you’re on a steamer.”
“But I understood that you could paddle all the way to the Thousand Islands from Montreal,” said Chot, a disappointed note in his voice.
“And so you can, but you’ll have to use the canals.”
“The canals?”
“Yes; didn’t you know of them?”
The boys were forced to confess their ignorance.
“The Canadian government,” continued Sam, “has constructed canals around all the rapids, and there are plenty of them between here and Lake Ontario, I assure you. Otherwise the steamers could not get back up the river. But you can use the river part of the way, all right. For instance, you first pass through the Lachine Canal. Then you cross the mouth of the Ottawa River, and enter the Soulanges Canal, which enters the St. Lawrence again near Coteau Landing. Then you can use the river to Cornwall where you enter the Cornwall Canal. This takes you around the Long Sault Rapids. You go from this into the Rapids du Plat Canal, which takes you around Rapids du Plat. Then the Galops Canal takes you around the Galops Rapids. That lands you in Prescott. From there on to the Thousand Islands is smooth sailing, except that you’ll have to paddle against a pretty strong current.”
The boys found a map in one of the railway offices, and Sam pointed out the canals which were plainly marked.
“I’ll just take one of these maps to refer to,” said Chot. “Funny I had never noticed those canals.”
The boys invited Sam to go to the Thousand Islands with them, as Fleet’s canoe would hold two persons, but he said his vacation was nearly over, and that he would be due in New York by the time the Comrades reached their destination.