Canals + Waterways | 1950 | Sound | Colour
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The St Lawrence river , Canada. Building of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. A lovely clip of a complete house being moved on the back of a lorry and the Queens visit and opening ceremony.
Aerial view showing Cities built close to water, this is convenient for goods to be imported and exported all over the world.
00m46ss:- Ships although slower than trains are used because their capacity is much greater.
00m56ss:-A load of Iron Ore being loaded into Freighter Ship.
01m01ss:- Heavy bulky goods can be transported at much lower cost.
01m09ss:- Sketch Map showing the Great Lakes in the centre of North America , they form the Worlds’ largest Inland Waterway Amphibious System.
01m.25ss:- Sketch Map showing some of the important places that have grown into Industrial Centres around the Lakes.
01m36ss:- Detroit/Windsor a Heavily industrialised area transporting Iron Ore from the North and Steel from the South to make Iron Ore for machinery.
01m54ss:- Back to map showing the area of the Great Lakes and how they are shared by Canada and the USA. The St.Lawrence river connects them with the Atlantic Ocean.
2m.18ss:- Sketch map showing Lake Superior (the largest and the highest above sea level).Water from this lake flows down St.Mary’s river into L.Michigan and L.Huron and on to L.Erie, then over the Niagara Falls to L.Ontario more than 300ft. Below, then 250ft into St.Lawrence river on its way to the sea.
2m43ss:- A series of sketches showing Native Americans in canoe and their progress overland to avoid the Rapids.
2m57ss:- Later settlers had bigger boats too heavy to carry so this led to the first canals being made with locks until even larger boats came along and the Locks were enlarged, a very expensive exercise. The Rapids in St.Mary’s river had several larger Locks built side by side.
4m02ss:-Aerial view of Locks taking more Ships than anywhere else in the World.
4m12ss:- The Welland Canal – A ship seen entering the Lock with various cargos going South and by-passing Lake Erie and the Niagara Falls.
4m41ss:- View of water that is harnessed to provide Electric Power.
4m47ss:- Welland Canal covering 900ft of changing heights to By-pass the Falls.
4m59ss:- Sketch Map showing position of dangerous Rapids.
5m07ss:- The Rapids in full flow.
On the old canals Ships would cause bottlenecks whilst waiting their turn to go to their winter berths in Montreal.
5m55ss:- Sketch map with larger ships unable to get through the canals a large modern Waterway was now needed linking Canada and the USA.
6m05ss:- Sketch map of Officials agreeing to create a large new system that would benefit both nations - The St.Lawrence Seaway. Of course in order to build this system old canals and land would have to be flooded and replaced by a new manmade lake The St.Lawrence Seaway with a series of large new Locks. Two would be in USA and the rest in Canada.
The power of the river would be harnessed at two large Generators 1 in Canada the other to be shared by both countries.
6m41ss:- Summer 1954 and Canada’s first Prime Minister turns the first sod.
Whole towns were destroyed or moved . Copper Dams were built in sections of the St.Lawrence Seaway to hold back the water, rubble was stacked in the river bed itself.
7m44ss:- Then as the water was diverted around the construction site the dried up section of the river bed was dug away. The river was dredged and whole islands moved out of the way and wide new channels dug. On completion of this, concrete was poured into the excavations.
8m45ss:- Overview of Lock under construction, one of the many being built along the river.
8m58ss:- Finally all the Locks were ready each wider than a Super Highway and longer than a City Block.
9m07ss:- Now the distant Copper Dam built to hold back the water during construction was no longer needed and was destroyed and the old road and the many places that were there would soon be under many feet of water.
9m47ss:- The Grand Opening by Queen Elizabeth and President Eisenhower.
10m39ss:- After an open car journey they are on board one of the many great ships that would be using this new Seaway.
10m55s:- Sketch map showing the Lakes now able to import and export goods worldwide using this Great Water Highway reaching from the Atlantic Ocean over 2300miles into the heart of the American Continent.
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