HISTORY

OF THE

SAINT MARY'S FALLS CANAL

CHAPTER I.

FIRST EFFORTS TOWARDS A CANAL.

PECULATION is open to everyone concerning the originator of the project of a canal and locks to overcome the obstacle to navigation caused by the Falls of St. Mary. The idea in a wordly moment. may have occurred to Fathers Dollier and Galinée, who are said to have been the first white men to reach the upper lakes by the Lake Erie and Detroit River route, and who bore the message of the Cross to the Indians. A period of one hundred years in this regard sufficed for General Poe. Several years ago a gentleman in conversation with him claimed the credit of originating the idea. "Sir," said General Poe, beaming down upon him with a broad smile on his face, "you are a very young looking man for your age. There was a canal and lock on the Canadian side of the river in Washington's time." The matter was fresh in the mind of the General, as he had in 1889 received an unofficial report of the discovery of the remains of the old lock, giving a description of the lock by Captain Bruyeres, of the English Army, dated September 10th, 1802:

'Unearthed in 1889 by Judge Joseph H. Steere, of Sault Ste. Marie, Joseph Cozzens, Provincial Land Surveyor of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and E. S. Wheeler, General Superintendent of St. Mary's Falls Canal.

"The landing is in a bay immediately at the bottom of the fall on the nearest channel to the land of the north shore. A good wharf for boats is built at the landing, on which a store house, 60 feet long, 30 feet wide, is erected. The wharf is planked, and pathways made and planked all around it. Close to the store a lock is constructed for boats and canoes, being 38 feet long, 8 feet 9 inches wide. The lower gate lets down by a windlass; the upper has two folding gates with a sluice. The water rises 9 feet in the lock. A leading trough of timber, framed and planked, 300 feet in length, 8 feet 9 inches wide, 8 feet high, supported and leveled on beams of cedar through the swamp is constructed to conduct the water from the canal to the lock. A road raised and planked 12 feet wide for cattle, extends the whole length of the trough. The canal begins at the head of it, which is a channel cleared of rocks and the projecting points excavated to admit the passage of canoes and boats. This canal is about 2,580 feet in length, with a raised bridge or pathway of round logs at the side of it 12 feet wide for oxen to track the boats. About 170 feet from the upper part of the canal a storehouse is built, 36 feet long, 23 feet wide. An excellent sawmill for two saws is constructed and placed in a line with the lock, parallel to it." This lock was built in 1797 by the North West Company, which was at first a rival of the Hudson Bay Fur Company, and afterwards amalgamated with it. It stands to the credit of Francis H. Clergue that the remains of this old lock have been preserved, to the great gratification of tourists.

Samuel Hawkins, Special Agent of the Government, with reference to the disputed boundary line between the United States and Great Britain, running through the Great Lakes and rivers, reported in 1817 that immediately above the falls, upon the American side of the Strait, was a cove, the arc of which was bounded down to the heights near the harbor by a strip of marshy land, and that a canal for vessels drawing ten feet of water could be cut here at an inconsiderable expense.

Concerning the early history of the canal, many writers assume that Michigan was admitted into the Union in 1836. This is not strictly correct. While it is true that the people of Michigan had adopted a constitution in 1835, and had elected State and County officers thereunder, and were in all respects organized as a state, and probably ought to have been admitted, yet the state was not admitted into the Union until the Act of Congress of January 26th, 1837.2

January 2nd, 1837, Governor Stevens T. Mason, in a message to the Legislature, mentioned the need of communication for shipping around the

'Canadian Magazine, Vol. 1, p. 590, March, 1893-October, 1893. Article of Barrister J. J. Kehoe, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

2Scott v. Jones, 5 Howard (U. S.), 345.

5th Statutes at Large, p. 144.

falls of the St. Mary's River. Suggesting that the work should be considered essentially national, he asked that Congress be memoralized for an appropriation for the construction of the canal, and if the government refused the appropriation, he stated they should not lose sight of the importance of making it a State improvement.

On March 21, 1837, the Legislature of the State passed an act authorizing a loan of a sum not exceeding five million dollars, to be expended for the purposes of internal improvements within the state, pursuant to appropriations made by law. This loan was to be paid into the treasury of the state, and was denominated "Internal Improvement Fund." The faith of the state was pledged for the payment of the loan. A sinking fund was provided for. One day afterwards the Legislature directed that there be passed to the credit of the internal improvement fund as a loan to said fund, all moneys which were then or should come into the treasury before January 1st, 1838, by virtue of the Act of Congress to regulate the deposits of public money, approved June 23, A. D. 1836. The Legislature, on March 21st, 1837, provided for a Board of Commissioners on Internal Improvements, to consist of seven members, the Governor of the State being ex officio one of that number and President of the Board. The board was to have the general care and superintendence of all canals, railroads and other improvements, and on the same day an act authorizing the construction of a ship canal around the Falls of St. Mary's was passed, which authorized the Governor to appoint a competent engineer to proceed to the Falls of St. Mary's, in the County of Chippewa, and make such surveys and examinations as were necessary for the construction of a ship canal around the falls. The engineer was required to make a report to the Governor, accompanied by maps, profiles and estimated expenses of the contemplated canal Twenty-five thousand dollars was appropriated out of the moneys of the state for internal improvements, to be applied towards the construction of the canal. By virtue of the act above referred to, the Governor appointed John Almy, as the engineer to make the surveys, which were completed and a report made by the engineer on December 16, 1837.1

Mr. Almy stated in his report that to avoid great hydraulic pressure on the side walls and gates, he proposed to divide the locks into three lifts of six feet each, and that the canal would be large enough to accommodate the larger class of sailing vessels then used. His estimates were as follows:

'Senate Doc. 1837, p. 257. History of St. Mary's Falls Ship Canal (1877), by William Chandler.