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Superior. Since the first lock on the United States side opened, bypassing the St. Mary’s Rapids, the waterway has played a major role in the economic development of the United States and Canada. Since the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, ships of all nations are able pass through the Soo Locks, giving the waterway an international flavor and opening the manufacturing facilities of America’s heartland to the markets of the world. On June 18, 1855, the steamer Illinois became the first vessel to pass through Harvey’s small lock. The Baltimore made the first downbound passage to the lower lakes. Two weeks later, the brig Columbia carried the first iron ore, 132 tons, through the locks, clearing the way for a new era in transportation. Although the cargoes carried in the early years were modest, today’s huge lake boats - some as long as 1,000 feet - carry cargoes of iron ore, coal, grain, stone, road salt, petroleum and manufactured goods in volumes that would surely have given even the forward-thinking Harvey pause. State Lock is built Before Europeans settled in the area, the Ojibway Indians who lived nearby portaged their canoes around the bawating (rapids) to reach Lake Superior. In 1797, the Northwest Fur Co. built a 38-foot-long lock on the Canadian side of the St. Marys River used primarily by canoes and fur traders. This early lock was destroyed during the War of 1812. Although settlement of the Northwest Territory brought increased trade, it was necessary to unload the boats, haul their cargoes around the rapids and then reload them into other vessels. Entire ships were sometimes hauled ashore and pulled on greased rails by mules and oxen along what is now Sault Ste. Marie's aptly named Portage Avenue. In 1845 and 1846, the pioneering steamers Independence and Julia Palmer were moved to Lake Superior by this backbreaking and time- consuming method. By the early 1850s, it was increasingly evident a navigation lock at Sault Ste. Marie was essential to allow cargo to flow from the Lake Superior region, rich in iron ore and copper deposits, to manufacturing centers located at the lower end of the Great Lakes. In 1852, a bill passed both houses of Congress and was approved by President Millard Fillmore that made 750,000 acres of public land available as compensation to any company that could construct the proposed waterway. Enter Charles T. Harvey, a young, itinerant salesman at Sault Ste. Marie recovering from a bout of typhoid fever. Harvey was employed by the Fairbanks Scale Co., 6 KYS ‘05