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28 MARINE REVIEW SKETCH OF SAULT STE. MARIE CANALS. To say that 35,- 000,000 tons of freight passed through the canals at Sault Ste. Ma- rie in a single year does not convey much to the mind of the layman. The simple statement must be illustrated THE POE LOCK. in some way in or- der that its magnitude may be grasped. Probably some idea of the greatness of it may be appreciated when it is known that the total commerce of the great port of Liverpool, with its miles upon miles of magnificent docks, is only 10,000,000 tons per annum. To say that there were shipped along the great lakes in a single year 350,000,000 bu. of grain is a state- ment which the layman might take with a pinch of snuff and merely sneeze over. He must be informed that were he to dig a hole 4o ft. deep and 30 ft. wide, reaching from Cleve- land to Buffalo, a distance of 225 miles, he could not get 350,000,000 bu. of Grain into i, Hie would have som2- thing like 59,000,- o00 bu. left over. He must be told that the burning Suez has not one- quarter the traffic passing through it that passes through Sault Ste. Maric. .Sault Ste. Marie, 45 a cantl, is the commercial wonder of the world. This state- ment cannot be too often repeated because Sault Ste. Marie is located in a remote section of the country and people do. not seem to understand its importance. The Marine Review purposes a little later to go into the history of Sault Ste. Marie, and if it does not prove interest- ing reading it will not be the fault of the subject. Sault Ste. Marie has an industrial, commercial and human history that is of absorbing interest. Notwithstanding its remote location it is older than Detroit, and it is almost as old as Philadel- phia, which is one of the oldest cities in this country. There has always been, as far as can be traced, a human habitation at Sault Ste. Marie. There was probably one at Sault Ste. Marie before Columbus discovered America. The reason is not far to seek. While the Indians are by nature a migratory lot, Sault Ste Marie, in that rigorous climate, offered certain advantages as a permanent residence. The lakes might freeze over but the rapids never. If nothing else could be got to eat there was fish always available for the spear; and so when the first white man went to Sault Ste. Marie he found a little Indian village there and no one could remember when it had not been there. The white settlers married the Indian girls and introduced a sort of quasi-civilization into the place. The commerce of Lake Superior, the mightiest body of * fresh water in the world, was entirely cared for by the schoon- ers Siscowit, Swallow and Algonquin. Little chaps they were, GHNERAL VIEW OF SAULT STE. MARIE CANAL, not over a few tons, but they were big enough for all the commerce that was to be had. Such was the condition when, as is related elsewhere in this issue, iron ore was discovered in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Such was the primitive condition that obtained up to within nearly fifty years ago. To perceive how great has been the change within that brief space of time one has simply to look about him and to ob- serve the great freighters moving like shuttlecocks in and out of every port on the lakes. The canal has wrought it. There was a little lock on the Canadian side of the rapids as early as 1798. It was built by the Hudson Bay Fur Co. and was 38 ft. long, 8 ft. 9 in. wide, with a lift of 6 f. 4% tow pass was made across the shore for the oxen to pull the batteaux and canoes through the upper part of the rapids. This lock, excepting its timber floor and miter sills, was de- stroyed in 1814 by the United States troops from Mackinac island. Of course this little canal never had any real com- mercial significance. The first spadeful of earth for the construction of the first canal on the American side at Sault Ste. Marie was removed in June, 1853, by Mr. Charles T. Harvey, an engineer who is living yet. The original locks, of which there were two, tan- dem, were 350 ft. long, 70 ft. wide and 12 ft. deep. It was a big lock for the time, but so rapid was the growth of com- merce _ that it speedily became in- adequate, but as is usual, additional facilities were not secured until long after they were needed. An addi- tional lock was ad- vocated as early as 1864, but it was not until 1881 that it was actually comni- pleted. This lock, known as Weitzel Lock, was 5rs- ft. long, 80 ft. wide and 18 ft. deep. The Dominion government built a canal on the Cana- dian side in 1895, with a lock goo ft. long, 60 ft. wide, with a depth of 22 ft. on the miter sills. In 1896 the Poe lock, 800 ft. long, 100 ft. wide and 21 ft. deep, was com- pleted. Even this lock is now inadequate to the demands of commerce. No one dreamed of a freighter 560 ft. long even so late as 1896. Big as the Poe lock is, it is impos- sible to lock two modern cartiers through it at the same time. Plans have now been formulated for additional facili- ties, but it is as true now as it was in the eatly days that they are secured only after the need for them becomes clamorous. Senator Alger has introducd a bill in the United States senate to appopriate $20,000 for the proper observance of the semi-centennial anniversary of the completion of the first canal at Sault Ste. Marie, which will occur in June of next year. It deserves to pass. The Northern Michigan Transportation Co. of Chicago, 's building at South Chicago, the new steel steamship Missouri, which will be. delivered June 1. Some minor changes are also being made in the steamer Illinois at South Chicago. The steamer Charlevoix is undergoing a rebuild at Manitowoc and will be ready for business by April 1. This steamer will hereafter be known as the Kansas.