operating and keeping in repair the Saint Mary's Falls canal the Secretary of War was authorized to draw on the Treasury his requisition, which should be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.'. A more general provision is found in the act of July 5, 1884.2 The operation of the locks is as noiseless as was the building of Solomon's temple. Water is let into the Weitzel lock by two culverts which extend under the floor of the lock from above the upper lock gate to above the lower lock gate. By means of valves the water is let into the culverts, and passes into the lock. The two emptying valves are just above the lower lock gate. The power for operating is obtained from two 30-inch 50-horse power turbines to which water is brought through a supply pipe on the south side of the lock from the canal above the lock. The turbines are geared to a main shaft in the machine house. A belt from the main shaft transmits the power to two force pumps, which pump water into an accumulator, which is of cylindrical shape and holds about 1,859 gallons and has a plunger carrying a heavy cross head from which weights are suspended in a weight When the accumulator is full, the belts which run the pumps are thrown automatically on loose pulleys. There are four gate engines. Water is taken under pressure from the accumulator to the engines, and by means of wire ropes the gate leaves are silently opened and closed.3 case. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884, under the direction of Superintendent Wheeler, the grounds lying on the south side of the Weitzel lock and above the slope wall were graded, fenced and sown with lawn. seed. Over one hundred yards of walks were graded and leveled, and over five hundred shade trees were planted. Formerly the canal was lighted with old kerosene lamps. These were replaced with electric lights, lighted for the first time on the 28th of June, 1884. By joint resolution approved June 26, 1884, Congress authorized the Secretary of War to lease, rent free, to the State Board of Fish Commissioners of the State of Michigan the parcel or strip of land lying between the slope wall of the old locks and the river St. Mary, and requested the Secretary of War to cause the removal of all persons then occupying any part of the premises, on or before July first, A. D. 1884.4 The persons whom it was desirable to remove were some Indians and half-breeds, and on the 8th day of November, A. D. 1884, the last house of the Indians was removed from the canal grounds. The fish commission is not shown to have become a tenant of the United States, and ten years later it accepted a revocable license. 121 Stat. at Large, p. 478. 223 Stat. at Large, p. 147, Sec. 4. Book of "Drawings of Saint Mary's Falls Canal and Locks," 1885. Abridgment of description of Assistant Engineer E. S. Wheeler. 423 Stat. at Large, p. 275. On August 9, 1886, a large fire occurred in the Village of Sault Ste. Marie, and the fences surrounding the canal grounds were broken down in many places. The spoil banks resulting from the excavation of the canal in 1855 continued for many years to mar the appearance of the canal, but were finally removed in 1887. In 1890 and 1891 branch telegraph offices were established in the public office room of the canal building. On August 31, 1894, a revocable license was granted the Michigan State Board of Fish Commissioners by the Secretary of War to locate a fish hatchery in the rapids of the St. Mary's river, for which purpose Island No. . and seven hundred feet of the river bed immediately below it were given to said commission. On the outbreak of the war with Spain a special guard of twenty-four deputy sheriffs was established at the locks and continued in service until June 27, 1898, after which this duty was performed by a detail from the adjoining military garrison at Fort Brady, Michigan, of the 18th Pennsylvania Volunteers. In 1899 the Agricultural Department built a two-story brick house on the canal grounds for the use of the Weather Bureau Service. On the evening of October 7, 1901, the steamer Robert Fulton, carrying a cargo of iron ore, entered the Poe lock, bound down, with a whaleback in tow; when the bow of the steamer was two hundred and fifty feet from the lower gates the engineer, misunderstanding the signals, started the engines and worked at full speed ahead until the steamer struck the north gate and did considerable damage. The great liability to misunderstand signals is illustrated in a case of collision occurring in 1896. The steamer John V. Moran, on May 7th, between five and seven o'clock in the afternoon, was aground near Sailors Encampment Island, her running lights were up and brightly burning, and she was lying across the western half of the channel of the St. Mary's river, which in that vicinity is dangerous. The steamer Maurice B. Grover came down the river and at the "dark hole" became aware that the Moran was in the channel and gave the usual bend whistle. It was alleged that the Moran made no answer, but at the critical moment gave a signal of four blasts upon her whistle, which if long were a call for a tug, if short they were an invitation to the Grover to come on-to hurry up-and the court held that in the excitement of the moment the blasts might well have been curtailed, and the master of the Grover claimed he so understood it.1 On June 5, 1902, the canal was blockaded, except for tugs and ferry boats, by the schooner Madeira, which struck the south end of the railway swing bridge and moved it lengthwise a distance of six feet on the central pier, but the American Bridge Company, on June 10th following, at four o'clock P. M., had succeeded in swinging the bridge clear of the canal. A strike of the Tug Men's Association commenced on April 27th, 1902, and continued without interfering with the canal service until September 4th of the same year. From the opening of navigation in 1904 until June 13th of the same year there was a strike in force of the Masters and Pilots Association, which tended to decrease the tonnage passing through the canal for that year. In addition to their regular duties, the carrying, distributing and delivering of marine mail is done by canal office employees, and the statistical report of the canal officials shows that during the season of 1904 there were delivered 120,405 pieces of mail, of which number 107,104 were letters, 5,114 were postal cards, and 7,586 were newspapers, and 601 parcels. 'The Maurice B. Grover, 79 Federal Reporter, 378. The statistical report of lake commerce passing through the canals during the season of 1904, prepared under the direction of Lieut. Col. Chas. E. L. B. Davis, Corps of Engineers, United States Army, gives the following table of expenses for operating and care of St. Mary's Falls Canal since it came under the control of the United States in 1881: The General Superintendents of the canal since the transfer to the United States in 1881, have been as follows: The Superintendents of the canal since the transfer to the United States have been as follows: Names. John Spalding (Weitzel Lock).. Martin Lynch.... Donald McKenzie.. Date of Appointment. . July 11, 1881 July 11, 1881 January 23, 1886 . July 24, 1893 CHAPTER XII. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. Y THE treaty between the United States and Great Britain, proclaimed September 11, 1854, the citizens and inhabitants of the United States were granted the right to navigate the River St. Lawrence and the canals in Canada as fully and freely as the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, subject only to the same tolls and other assessments as then were or might be exacted of Her Majesty's subjects. The British Government, however, retained the right of suspending the privilege on giving due notice thereof to the United States, and the Government of the United States on its part engaged to urge upon the State governments to secure to the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty the use of the several State canals on terms of equality with the inhabitants of the United States. By its terms, the treaty was to remain in force ten years from the date on which it came into operation, and until the expiration of twelve months after either of the high contracting parties should give notice to the other of its wish to terminate the same. This treaty was terminated March 17, 1866. The Legislature of the State of Michigan passed no act in pursuance of the treaty, but Canadian vessels were allowed to pass through the canal without objection. After the expiration of the treaty, the use of the canal by Canadian vessels was continued without interruption or objection. However, a license to citizens and subjects of a foreign queen or potentate to enter the dominion of a friendly power has its limitations under international law, and does not extend to armed forces. To transport troops and munitions of war through or over the territory of such friendly power without its consent is an offense against the sovereignty of that government.1 On May 3, 1870, Governor Henry P. Baldwin received information that the Canadian Government was intending to send troops by way of the canal from Collingwood to Red River to quell the Riel rebellion. probable that through inadvertence no permission had been asked for the passage of these foreign troops, and Governor Baldwin requested instruc 'Wharton's International Law. Digest, Vol. 1, Sec. 13. |