HYDROLOGY OF NEW VoKK 



795 



The present Canadian canals are, as stated, only 14 feet in 

 depth, although two projects for 21-foot canals are considerably 

 talked of at the present time. 



The first of these is the Georgian bay canal through Lake 

 Siincoe to Lake Ontario near Toronto. This proposed canal is 

 only about one hundred miles in length, from Georgian bay to 

 Lake Ontario, of which fifteen miles are in Lake Simcoe, leaving 

 about eighty-five miles of actual canal construction. The eleva- 

 tion of Lake Simcoe is 714 feet above tide, or 134 feet above 

 Georgian bay. The mean elevation of Lake Ontario may be 

 taken at 247 feet, or it is 4G7 feet below Lake Simcoe. The total 

 lockage on this canal, therefore, is roundly 600 feet. There is 

 a very heavy cut through ridges both at the west and east of 

 Lake Simcoe. The cut to the west is ninety feet in depth and 

 seven miles long. The cut to the east is 200 feet in depth, and 

 about eleven miles long. The quantities in these two cuts are 

 about double those of the Culebra cut on the Panama canal. 

 The difficulties of taking out this cut are known to everybody, 

 although it is conceded that difficulties due to climate would not 

 tend to delay the work in Canada, as they have on the Isthmus 

 of Panama. The flight of locks from Lake Simcoe to Lake 

 Ontario would be perhaps twelve in number, with a lift at each 

 lock of a little less than forty feet, while from Lake Simcoe to 

 Georgian bay there would be four locks, or sixteen in all. So 

 far as known, no estimate of the cost of this canal has been 

 made, but it can not fail to be exceedingly expensive. 



The second Canadian project to which attention is directed is 

 that known as the Montreal, Ottawa and Georgian bay canal, 

 by way of French river. Lake Xipissing, Matawan and Ottawa 

 rivers, connecting Georgian bay with the St Lawrence, near 

 Montreal. It is proposed to canalize these streams. The dis- 

 tance from Georgian bay to the St Lawrence, at Montreal, is 

 425 miles, and there would be twenty-nine locks, as proposed. 

 Lake Xipissing, the summit level, is forty-six feet above Georgian 

 bay and 640 feet above the St Lawrence river, at Montreal. The 

 estimated cost of this canal is 180,000.000. A company has been 

 formed to construct it, and it is stated that they have been 

 merely waiting to see what turn the barge canal project would 



