The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Page 144 downbound vessels and eliminated the need to pass over the Lime Kiln Crossing. This improvement had long been desired as the Lime Kiln was one of the most congested areas in the lake system, and extremely dangerous to navigate owing to the restricted channel, rocky bottom and swift current. The artificial cut was conceived by William Livingston, then the President of the Lake Carriers Association, who spent a great deal of time interesting the government in the work and prevailing upon Congress to appropriate the necessary funds to build it. The work on the channel was begun in the spring of 1908, and was concluded early in October of 1912. Altogether, the channel was about eleven miles long, though for a considerable part of its run, little or no dredging was necessary. But the important part of the work was deepening the channel abreast of Stony Island, where the natural depth of the river was only five or six feet, and the cut had to be blasted through solid limestone! It was estimated that it would cost about half as much to dredge this portion of the work in the dry and therefore the river was coffer-dammed at that point. Work then proceeded without interruption for a period of four years. Much has been recently made of the huge machinery needed to build the St. Lawrence Seaway, and granted, it was true. But for the time when the Livingston Channel was built, the methods which are not at all comparable, were nevertheless, a wonder of their day. The bulk freighter William Livingston, b) S.B. Way, c) Crispin Oglebay, then owned by E.A. Tomlinson was selected to open the cut under the pilotage of President Livingston. • Arrangements were made to have all of the downbound traffic that reached the St. Clair Lightship by eight o'clock Saturday morning, anchor until one o'clock in the afternoon at which time the Livingston departed her dock at Brush Street for the parade down the river. The flotilla of bulk freighters which had been anchored began to appear around the head of Belle Isle shortly after one o'clock, and the Livingston then threw off her mooring lines and began her journey. She was followed immediately by the excursion steamer The Livinston Cut looking north in November, 1911.