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Soo Locks facts The Empire State Building is 1,250 feet tall. The largest vessel using the Soo Locks is 1,014 feet long. This vessel, the U.S.- flagged Paul R. A vessel traveling from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Superior through the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Soo Locks rises nearly 600 feet. The first lift, a total of 224 feet, is provided by the seven St. Lawrence Seaway locks that begins at Montreal. The Tregurtha, carried Welland anal H ting Lake 3,219,646 net tons ee Pa = picaiad sucta Ontario and by- the locks during passing Niagara piel cee shipping Falls, raises vessels ge an additional There are about 326 deat ee Soo 150 major cargo Locks compl lete carriers engaged the process with a almost exclusively 21-foot lift. in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence 31,595,520 Seaway trade. gallons of bet That number is are required to augmented bya fill the Poe Lock. variety of salt- To drink this water vessels, or amount, one “salties,” that would, neve det enter the Great consume 9, Lakes during the 12-ounce glasses els An up! enters the Poe Lock shipping season. chamber. (Roger LeLievre) 1608 Gu a if The Great Lakes takes about 12 shipping season runs from late March to late December. In the spring and fall,a small fleet of icebreakers operated by the U,S.and Canadian coast guards, and com- mercial tugs help keep channels open. Inatypical year, the Soo Locks handles: * Nearly 59 million tons of iron ore pellets * Nearly 20 million tons of coal Almost 5 million tons of stone * More than 13 million tons of grain Other Foach through in- de salt, peti t by-products. KYS ‘05 minutes to fill the lock and 10 minutes to empty it. One short blast of a vessel's whistle while in the lock means “cast off lines.” Ared and white flag flying froma vessel's mast indicates a pilot is on board. Saltwater vessels pick up pilots at various points throughout their Great Lakes voyage. During 1953, 128 million tons of freight was moved through the Soo Locks. This amazing tonnage record still stands. All traffic is passed through the Soo Locks toll-free.