Canal Building.— At this stage questions of transportation began to be of vital importance to Canada. After the War of 1812 attention had been directed to the necessity for improv ing the Saint Lawrence route between Montreal and the lakes. A canal to surmount the Lachine Rapids had long been talked of and even abor tively attempted. Finally, in 1821, the work was undertaken by the government of Lower Canada, and completed in 1825. This was the year of the opening of the Erie Canal, which, coming at the of a decade of unusual expansion and prosperity for the lake regions, proved a phenomenal success, com mercially and financially. This gave an im mense impetus to canal building in Canada and the United States. Canals, instead of build ing public debts, were to abolish them and sup port States and provinces without taxation.
See CANALS.
In 1824 the Welland Canal was undertaken by a joint stock company with a capital of only $150,000, mostly subscribed in the United States. After many vicissitudes and appeals for both Imperial and provincial assistance, it was opened for traffic in 1832. The locks were of wood, 100 x 22 feet with 7 feet of water. However, neither the Lachine nor the Welland Canal could be of much more than local im portance until the remaining Saint Lawrence rapids were surmounted. This task the Im perial government was prevailed upon to under take. But, in doing so, it disregarded all com mercial considerations and followed a short sighted but very round-about military idea. The Rideau Canal was the result, extending from Kingston to Ottawa, which was afterward connected with Montreal by improvements of the Ottawa River navigation. The locks as constructed were 134 x 33 feet with 5 feet of water. It was opened in 1832 and cost the Imperial government about $4,000,000, or be tween six and seven times the original estimate. Though of necessity carrying considerable traf fic, it soon proved that it was not to be a commercial success, since it could not compete with the Erie Canal and did not even super sede the batepux on the Saint Lawrence. The Upper Canadian legislature determined to com plete the Saint Lawrence system and the Corn wall Canal was begun in 1834. But the financial crisis and political troubles of 1837 suspended operations.
The union of the provinces in 1841 brought with it an Imperial guaranteed loan for $7,500,000, with which to complete the public works already planned and partly undertaken. The Welland Canal was taken over by the gov ernment and reconstructed. The new locks
were 150 x 45 feet, with 9 feet of water, after ward increased to feet. These were smaller than the locks of the Cornwall Canal, which were 200 x 45 with 9 feet of water. The latter was opened in 1843. The Beauharnois and Williamsburg canals completed the Saint Lawrence system. They were built on the same scale as the Cornwall Canal, and the last lock was opened in 1847. The completing of these canals necessitated the enlargement of the Lachine on the same scale, which was completed in 1848. Thus, in 1849, after the expenditure of upward of $20,000,000, the new Canadian canal system was prepared to accommodate ves sels drawing nine feet of water, and Canada ex pected to realize her eagerly awaited control of the growing traffic of the great basin of the lakes.
But many changes in commerce and trans portation had taken place between the opening of the Erie Canal and the opening of the Saint Lawrence system. The British protec tive and colonial system had been aban doned, and grain from the ports of the United States entered Britain as freely as from those of Canada. Moreover, railways were transform ing the carrying trade, making time and contin uous service essential features in commerce. While the Canadians were preparing their canals to capture the American carrying trade of the West, the American government was in duced, in 1846, to establish the drawback or bonding system. This enabled the American railroads and other transportation companies to make a successful bid for a large share of the western Canadian carrying trade to Atlantic ports. Finally, though after 1849 western prod uce could be landed at Canadian seaports much more cheaply than at American ports, yet this advantage was lost through higher ocean freights and higher insurance from Canadian ports. The total suspension of shipping for half the year also discounted the natural advantages of the Canadian route, especially in competition with the railroads.
Nothing daunted, the Canadians with their new energy and self-reliance grappled with the changed conditions. On the one hand the gov ernment undertook the improvement of the navi gation of the Saint Lawrence below Montreal, especially by deepening the channel of the river. The depth of IPA feet at the time was in creased to 18% by 1860, and has since been in creased to 27% feet as far as Montreal. The navigation of the gulf was also improved.