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A FEW HISTORICAL FACTS AND THE CANALS--Continued nels are as follows: 200 feet wide with 2 embankments--canals 300 feet wide with 1 embankment--canals 450 feet wide in open reaches, pee oo and lakes. The depth of the canals and channels will be eet. THROUGH CAUGHNAWAGA TO BEAUHARNOIS Leaving Caughnawaga, the visitor proceeds on Highway No. 3 through Chateauguay, scene of a battle in the War of 1812, and through the town of Beauharnois. At lower Beauharnois Lock which the visitor reaches on High- way No. 3 just past the Beauharnois Powerhouse, a ship will be lifted 41 feet and then travel a % mile canal to the Upper Beauharnois Lock. This lock will also lift the ship 41 feet and it can then proceed via the Beauharnois Canal some 13 miles to Lake St. Francis. In- spection of the locks is possible here and the visitor then returns to No. 3 highway and proceeds via a 4-lane tunnel and some miles of road to cross the St. Lawrence River and the Soulanges Canal at Coteau, Quebec. This canal is one of the 6 outmoded St. Lawrence Canals which offered 14-foot depth. Completed in 1899 it served Canadian ships and those of many other nations faithfully for over half a century. ON TO CORNWALL The visitor turns through a cloverleaf and proceeds via Highway No. 2 west (toward Toronto) through part of the Provinces of Que- bec and Ontario to Cornwall on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. It is at the upper end of Lake St. Francis, which, like Lake St. Louis, is a widening of the St. Lawrence River. Far to the left may be seen the Adirondack Mountains in New York State. The lake, however, is entirely in Canada and it is at Cornwall that we find the river's south shore becomes part of the United States--the State of New York. The United States built 2 locks in their territory and a joining canal of about 10 miles in length. This will enable ships to proceed from Lake St. Francis into the power pool or Lake St. Lawrence in International waters, the differ- ence in ievel being some 90 feet. This power pool was created by giant dams built by power en- tities in the Province of Ontario and the State of New York, and at Cornwall a view of the international powerhouse may be obtained. Westward of Cornwall, 6 old towns have been removed and the in- habitants and many of their homes relocated in new communities on higher ground. Sites of the old communities lie under water. IROQUOIS LOCK AND DAM At the head of Lake St. Lawrence, the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority of Canada built the most westerly of the new Seaway locks. Here ships by-pass the Iroquois Control Dam which controls the level of Lake Ontario. The Iroquois Lock was the first completed of these Seaway locks and underwent final tests in the fall of 1957. The first ship to pass through this lock did so November 20, 1957. It has been in use since May 26 of 1958. Less than five years from the first blast, which took place No- vember 17, 1954 for excavation of the channel between Jacques Cartier and Victoria Bridges, near Montreal, ships began sailing the St. Lawrence Seaway with the commencement of the navigation sea- son of 1959. Costs of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project will be over one billion dollars, ($1,000,000,000). Costs for the navigation facili- ties will be recovered through tolls on shipping using the Seaway. The costs for power facilities will be paid by the users of electricity produced. BLACK ROCK SHIP LOCK The contract for the lock was let by the government in 1908 and construction was started the same year. The lock has a length of 650 feet and a width of 70 feet. It overcomes a five-foot lift and is one of the greatest engineering feats undertaken by the government on the Great Lakes. It is 24 feet deep and large enough to accommodate the largest of the lake freighters. In preparing for construction of the lock the building of the largest cofferdam ever constructed was necessary. It was consid- erably larger than the one used in raising the Maine from Havana harbor. It was 947 feet long and 260 feet wide. The lock is in the Black Rock harbor between Squaw island and the mainland. Its completion and the finishing of other harbor and river work gave it a 23-foot channel from the Erie basin to Tona- wanda. WELLAND CANAL Background Information The Welland Canal became part of the St. Lawrence Seaway and was transferred from the Canals Branch of the Department ot 469