The St. Lawrence Seaway

Construction Navigation and Cargo Carried Sections of the Seaway Selected Bibliography

The St. Lawrence Seaway is one of the world's most comprehensive inland navigation system. Initial construction work began in 1954 and involved cooperation from the Canadian and American governments. It was officially opened in 1959. On average 50 million tons of freight are transited each year by the Seaway.

Construction costs were shared between Canada and the United States.

Construction involved several dams, locks, channels and dikes to a 27 feet deep standard.

The Seaway was officially opened on June 26th 1959 and cost 470 million US dollars.

Construction of the seaway did not began until 1954. It was an impressive task to be undertaken and included moving 192.5 million cubic meters of earth, adding 5.7 million cubic meters of concrete, building 72 km of dikes and digging 110 km of channels. It replaced a 14-foot (4.3 meters) deep waterway with 30 locks with a 27-foot (8.3 meters) deep channel with 15 locks. Each lock has 766 feet (233.5 meters) of usable length, 80 feet (24.4 meters) of usable width and 30 feet (9.1 meters) of depth.

One of the first construction problem to be faced was the relocation of the neighboring population of the international rapids, which was to be flooded to provide sufficient depth as well as power pools. The American side did not present much relocation problems since it was sparsely settled, but the more densely populated Canadian side presented more problems and included several riverside towns such as Iroquois, Morrisburg, Ingleside and Long Sault. Overall, the flooding of this section involved the relocation of 6,500 persons to new towns built at the expense of the project.

Different sections of the Seaway were subject to different construction works depending of the power generation potential. The International Rapids section was particularly subject to power projects such as the Saunders-Moses Dam and a set of spillway dams (Long Sault Dam) and control dams (Iroquois Dam). Provincial (or State) governments were mainly responsible to finance and undertake power projects (Hydro Ontario and New York State Power Authority) while federal governments were concerned with navigation projects.

Navigation work mainly included building locks and dredging channels to the 27 feet (8.3 meters) standard. In the International Rapids section, the United States built and dredged a 27-foot (8.3 meters) deep and 16 km long channel with two 800 feet (244 meters) long, 80 feet (24.5 meters) wide and 30 feet (9.2 meters) deep locks, the Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Bertrand H. Snell Locks. The Thousand Islands sections between Lake Ontario and the International Rapids was also dredged to 27 feet by both Canadian and American Governments. A significant share of the work was undertaken by the Canadian Government with the construction of a lock (Iroquois Lock)to bypass the Iroquois Dam, the enlargement of the Beauharnois Canal (25.7 km long) and two locks (Upper and Lower Beauharnois) and a new 32 km canal to bypass the Lachine Rapids near Montreal and which included two locks (St. Lambert and Cote Ste. Catherine). Lake St. Francois and Lake St. Louis were also dredged as well as the Welland Canal which was deepened to 27 feet. (Click here for a tour of these facilities).

The St. Lawrence Seaway was officially opened April 25th, 1959, and linked the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The official opening ceremonies were held three months later on June 26th in presence of Queen Elizabeth II (representing Canada) and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Overall, the project cost 470 million US dollars of which $336.2 million were paid by Canada and $133.8 million by the United States. Income from the operating the Seaway is thus shared accordingly.

On average, 50 million tons of cargo are handled by the Seaway each year.

90% of the cargo transited involve bulks such as grain, iron ore, coal and steel.

The Seaway is generally open for navigation from early April to mid December and can accommodate ships up to 730 feet (233.5 meters) long and 76 feet (23.2 meters) wide. A typical ship designed to use the Seaway, a laker, can carry about 25,000 tons and is 222 meters long and 23 meters wide. It takes 8 to 10 days for a ship to go from Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean. On the Welland Canal, the slowest section of the seaway, the average transit time is about 11 hours. For the Montreal-Lake Ontario section, the average transit time is 24 hours upbound and 22 hours downbound. The difference is mainly attributed to the current in the St. Lawrence River. Pleasure boats can also use the Seaway to go from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, but priority is obviously given to commercial ships at locks.

Source: The St. Lawrence Seaway Authority, Annual Report 1995-1996.

At the end of the first navigation season on December 3rd 1959, 6,595 ships passed through the Seaway handling a total of 18.7 million metric tons. The tonnage passed to 20 million in 1961, 30 million in 1964, 40 million in 1966 and 50 million in 1973. In 1977 a record was reached with 57.4 million metric tons being handled by the Seaway. On average, 50 million tons of cargo are handled each year (over a period of 8 months). Over one billion tons of cargo passed over the Seaway over its first 25 years of operation (1959-84) and by 1997 this number has reached more than two billion tons handled by more than 250,000 vessels (of course most ships have made more than one voyage). The seaway can accommodate roughly 41% of the world's fleet of commercial vessels of over 300 tons.

The St. Lawrence Seaway generates around 40,000 jobs and 2 billion dollars of annual personal income, but its most significant contribution is related to the cargo it handles, supporting a vast array of industries (see the Port System section). The system carries bulk cargo such as grain, iron ore, coal and petroleum products and general cargo such as containers, steel and machinery. The first category accounts for 90% of the annual tonnage while the second account for the remaining 10%.

• Grain. It is the most important cargo in terms of volume and account for 40% of all the cargo handled. Most of the grain comes from the American and Canadian prairies (mostly Manitoba and Saskatchewan) and is exported to the international market through the Seaway. Wheat accounts for 50% of the total grain, while corn and soybeans take 30%. Barley, oats, rye and other grains account for the 20% that remains. Several ports along the Seaway have grain handling infrastructures.
• Iron Ore. With a third of all the cargo handled, iron ore the the second most important commodity. It is generally shipped from mines in Labrador, Quebec, Ontario and Minnesota (Mesabi Range) to ports along the St. Lawrence or the Great Lakes and then to steel mills. Pittsburgh was (and is still) one of the most significant steel production center of the Great Lakes.
• Coal. Coal is either used for steel making or to heat thermal plants for electricity production. The Appalachians are a major coal extraction region of the United States and coal is then shipped from the mines to the ports of Lake Erie and then to other plants of the region or to the international market.
• Steel. With 10% of the total annual tonnage, steel is mainly used by heavy industries such as construction and the automotive industry.

The St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes are thus mainly used to ship heavy raw materials and limited general cargo traffic occurs past Montreal (a major container port). One of the main reason behind such a characteristic is that general cargo is now shipped through containers and that the railway system is faster to ship containers to eastern and western seaboard ports than transporting containers through the Seaway. For instance, it takes a little more than 24 hours to transit a container by rail from Chicago to Montreal, while this operation would take around one week through the Great Lakes and the Seaway.

The St. Lawrence Seaway is composed of four major sections.

The St. Lawrence Seaway can be divided in four major sections, which correspond to specific infrastructures.

• Lachine Section. This 50 km section is the doorway of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which begins around 1 km east of Jacques Cartier Bridge. Its main purpose is to bypass the Lachine Rapids, the first major natural obstacle along the St. Lawrence. Instead of using the north shore, as the Lachine Canal did, the Seaway passes through the south shore, a much longer route. The main rationale was to avoid to pass through the congested Montreal harbor and the St. Mary's current. Also, the south shore presented less impacts over the waterfront as well as a better integration with existing transport infrastructure. Two locks provide a 45 feet (13 meters) climb, the St. Lambert Lock and the Cote Ste. Catherine Lock.
• Beauharnois Section. This 74 km section extends from the end of Lake St. Louis to Cornwall in Ontario. It serves two major purposes, which are navigation and power generation. Two 42 feet (12 meters) lift dams were built, the Upper and Lower Beauharnois locks, permitting the Seaway to cross the Cascades, Split Rock, Cedars and Coteau Rapids between Lake St. Louis and Lake St. Francois. The second purpose is a power dam taking advantage of a 80 feet (24 meters) drop, the Beauharnois Power Plant. This power plant is supported by a set of dams that regulate the flow along this section. For a more detailed overview of the Beauharnois power system, go to the Energy section.
• International Section. Such as the Beauharnois section, the International section have been the object of navigation and power works, but this section is jointly administered by Canada and the United States. It is 71 km long and consists of a set of dams (Long Sault and Iroquois), powerhouses, locks (Iroquois, Dwight. D. Eisenhower and Bertrand H. Snell), channels and dikes, creating vast power pools. This section climbs 93 feet (28 meters). It can be subdivided between the International Rapids section and the Thousand Islands section.
• Great Lakes Channels. This section is composed of a series of channels and locks linking the Great Lakes together. The Welland Canal is the most significant, climbing 326 feet (99 meters) between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie using eight locks. The channels linking Lake Erie and Lake Huron (St. Claire River, Lake St. Claire and Detroit River), Lake Huron and Lake Michigan (Straits of Mackinac) and Lake Huron and Lake Superior (St. Mary's River and Soo Locks, a 6 meters climb) are also part of this system.

• St. Lawrence Seaway Authority and Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (1997) The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System, Handbook & Directory.
• Lasserre, J-C (1980) Le Saint-Laurent: Grande Porte de l'Amerique, Ville LaSalle, QC: Hurtubise HMH.
• Unknown (1959) The St. Lawrence Seaway & Power Projects, Montreal: Reid and Boulton Publishing.
• Willoughby, W. R. (1961) The St. Lawrence Waterway: A Study in Politics and Diplomacy, Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.

Related Web Sites

St. Lawrence Seaway Corporation Great Lakes Fleet Photo Gallery