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THE STEAMER KENSINGTON WAS THI FIRST VESSEL TO PASS THROUGH THE BLACK ROCK CANAL ot HE Black Rock ship canal at Buffalo' was. opened to com- : merce on Aug. 17. Several sel to pass through was the steamer test passages by large lake vessels were made before the waterway was cpened to navigation. The first ves- Kensington, bound down (north), on Aug. 7, with a cargo of 5,200 tons of iron ore. Six 'other' large vessels, ore laden, made test passages between Aug.-7 and Aug. 16, the largest being the Wickwire Jr., 525 feet long, with a cargo of 9,029 tons of ore. This work has been under construction since 1908. The Lake Erie entrance to Black -Rock waterway is by channel, 400 feet wide and 22 to 23 feet deep at mean lake level from the outer Buffalo har- bor at north entrance to the northerly end of Erie basin, and by branch canal 1,920 feet long, 500 feet wide and 22 to 23 feet deep at mean lake level; thence northwesterly to the head of Black Rock canal (harbor) opposite 'the foot of Maryland street, Buffalo. _ The Black Rock waterway consists of a canal in which the Erie canal is 'incorporated, 3.2 miles long, 200 feet wide and 23 feet deep at mean lake level, from Lake Erie at the foot of Maryland street, Buffalo, to- Black Rock lock at the foot of Amherst Street Buffalo; thence from Black Rock lock, chamber 650 feet long, 70° feet Wide, 24 feet depth of water on. sills with 5 feet lift of lock; thence chan- nel in Niagara river 3.3 miles long, 400 feet wide, 23 feet deep. to the atural deep water harbor 5 smiles long, 1,600 to 2,000 feet wide and 23 feet' to: 32: feet? ee to Tonawanda, Nos ee Practically: all' of the channel exca- vation from Lake Erié 'to Ferry St. bridge was in bedfock, which was drilled by steam drills on drill boats and blasted with dynamite before ex- cavation by dipper dredges. The re- mainder of the channel -.excavation was nearly all in clay and gravel and sand except across Strawberry Island Reef in Niagara: river, which: was in bedrock for 3,000- linear feet of chan- nel. The lock is SoMa ook concrete "Spratt and miter sills founded on bed- rock with . horizontal girder, single skin steel lock gates swung by sub- merged steel cables operated by elec- tric motor-driven winding drum oper- ating machines. There yet remains the completion of the timber crib, concrete guide pier and extension of the west lower wing wall, which is under construction by contract, the filing in of lock grounds, construc- tion of permanent gate operating houses on the lock to replace the temporary wooden houses now in use, the construction of an office and storage building and general minor improvements on both the channel and lock. The total estimated cost of the Black. Rock waterway is 500,000. = a. It' was necessary in Seiler to make the waterway available for the largest lake vessels to replace the old Erie canal swing bridge at Ferry St. by a modern bridge. The new bridge is a steel Strauss single lift. bascule with 150 feet clear channel '¢ peenree: he tenances and navigation 'clear height nate the bridge when closed is: 15 feet to correspond to the -bridge clearance of the New York State Barge Canal: The great oper- ating machinery, pumping plant and capstans at. the lock, and the bridge operating machinery, are all driven by Niagara Falls electric power. Lacka- wanna steel sheet . piling,-. manu- factured by the Lackawanna Steel Co.,. Buffalo, was. used in the con- struction of the cofferdam for the ship lock. The contractors concerned in building the .canal were the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., the Buf- falo. Dredging Co., McArthur Bros. Co., and.Oiler Engineering Co. The rules and regulations which have been prescribed for, navigation through the canal are, as follows: 1. The term "Canal - wlien - used) in. these rules will mean all of the "Black "Rock Waterway, including Berry Street Bridge, Black .Rock Lock, and all 'of the lands, piers, buildings and. other appur- tenances acquired by letters patent from "the State of New York, or .constructed for the use of the .waterways; the southerly limit thereof being at the end of Bird Island Pier, and the .northerly limit being at the .downstream. end of the Guide Pier, Black. Rock Lock; length of 3.7 miles. | . Z. vhe canal and all of Pe appur- and the use, administration, thereof, shall be in charge of the officer of the corps .of Engineers, United States army, assigned .to that duty by the Secretary of War, or his authorized agents. ee 3.. The movement of all vessels, boats, or other floating things in the