The Welland Canal 107 



then onwards to Lake Erie by practically 

 the same course as the old canal. By this 

 scheme the locks have been reduced to 

 eight and the length of the canal to 25 

 miles. These new locks are of a minimum 

 length of 800 feet, 80 in width, and a depth 

 of 30 feet on the sill. 



The greatest of these locks has a length 

 of 1,380 feet and has no rival in the whole 

 world. 



With the opening of the Welland Canal 

 ships drawing 24 feet of water can voyage 

 from the grain ports on Lake Superior to 

 Prescott, Ontario, without discharging their 

 cargo, thus allowing Canada to compete 

 with other grain routes more favourably 

 placed. At one time the larger vessels 

 could not get beyond the Detroit river, but 

 as Prescott stands at the head of the St. 

 Lawrence rapids, Montreal is brought 

 within about 120 miles. 



To realise the huge distances of the in- 

 land waterways of Canada it is worth noting 

 that there is uninterrupted navigation pos- 

 sible from the head of Lake Superior to 



