Rideau Canal

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The Rideau Canal, also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The Rideau Canal was completed in 1832 and is still in use today. The canal system uses sections of major rivers, including the Rideau and the Cataraqui, as well as some lakes. It is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America.

History

At the time it was proposed, shortly after the War of 1812, there remained a persistent threat of attack from the United States on Britain's colony of Upper Canada. To impede and deter any future American invasions, the British built various forts (eg. Citadel Hill, La Citadelle, and Fort Henry) and canals (eg.[Grenville Canal], [Chute-à-Blondeau Canal], [Carillon Canal], and the Rideau Canal) to defend their territory.

The canal's initial purpose was military - to provide a secure supply and communications route between Montreal and Kingston, Ontario. Westward from Montreal, travel would proceed along the Ottawa River to Bytown (now Ottawa), then southwest via the canal to Kingston and out into Lake Ontario (and vice versa for eastward travel from Kingston to Montreal). The intent being to bypass the stretch of the St. Lawrence River bordering New York State which would have left British supply ships vulnerable to attack or a blockade of the St. Lawrence.

No further military engagements have taken place between Canada and the United States since the war of 1812, and consequently the Rideau Canal was never used for its intended purpose.

The construction of the canal was supervised by Lieutenant-Colonel John By of the Royal Engineers. Private contractors such as John Redpath, Thomas McKay, Nichol Hugh Baird and others were responsible for much of the construction and the majority of the actual work was done by thousands of Irish and French-Canadian labourers.

While the exact number of deaths will likely never be known, as many as a thousand of these workers may have died from malaria, other diseases and accidents such as explosions during blasting. To make matters worse, unemployment and a major cholera epidemic spread from Quebec City to Upper Canada after its completion causing further deaths. Despite this, most workers survived and many settled on area farms or entered the timber trade. Some of those who died remain unidentified as they had no known relatives in Upper Canada and were buried in unmarked graves.

Memorials to the fallen labourers (more directly toward the Irish majority) have been erected along the canal route, most recently the Celtic Cross memorials in Kingston and lowertown Ottawa (near the Locks) [link].

The canal was completed in 1832. The final cost of its construction was £822,000. This was more than had been expected and By was recalled to London and questioned by a parliamentary committee before being cleared of any wrongdoing.

The Waterway

The 202 kilometres (125 miles) of the Rideau Canal incorporate sections of the Rideau River and the Cataraqui River, as well as several lakes including the Lower, Upper and Big Rideau lakes. About 19 kilometres (12 miles) of the route is man made.

Today, only pleasure craft make use of the Rideau Canal. Boat tours of the canal are offered in the city of Ottawa and recreational boaters can make use of it to travel between Ottawa and Kingston with ease. Most of the locks are still hand-operated. There are a total of 47 locks at 24 stations along the Canal.

In normal operations the canal can handle boats up to 27.4m (90ft) in length, 7.9m (26ft) in width, and 6.7m (22ft) in height. In special circumstances a boat up to 33.5m (110ft) in length by 9.1m (30ft) in width can be handled.

Communities along the waterway include:

• Ottawa, Ontario
• Smiths Falls, Ontario
• Merrickville, Ontario
• Westport, Ontario
• Kingston, Ontario

The Skateway

In winter, the section of the Rideau Canal which passes through the city of Ottawa becomes officially the world's longest skating rink. The cleared area is 7.8 kilometres (4.8 miles) long and has the equivalent surface area of 90 Olympic hockey rinks. It runs from the locks at Carleton University to the locks between the Parliament Buildings and the Chateau Laurier. It serves as a popular tourist attraction and recreational area and is also the focus of the Winterlude festival in Ottawa. Beaver Tails, a type of fried dough pastry topped with ingredients such as cinnamon, lemon, and maple syrup, are a popular treat on the Canal and are sold, along with other foods, in kiosks scattered along the length of the skateway.

See also

• Trent-Severn Waterway Central Ontario Canal System
• Welland Canal Southern Ontario Canal System
• Saint Lawrence Seaway Ontario - Quebec waterway system
• Canal lock

External links

• [Rideau Canal Waterway]
• [Royal Engineers Museum - Colonel By Biography]

• [Rideau Canal Skateway]
• [Dows Lake Pavillion]
• [Skating Conditions (available once canal opens)]
• from Wikitravel

 

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