After departing Brockville and passing Prescott our first St. Lawrence River lock is the Iroquois. The creation of the locks and the deep waterway on the St. Lawrence took years of consideration by the United States and Canadaian governments. One summary states:
The first proposals for a binational comprehensive deep waterway along the St. Lawrence came in the 1890s. In the following decades the idea of a power project became inseparable from the seaway - in fact, the various governments involved believed that the deeper water created by the hydro project were necessary to make the seaway channels feasible. American proposals for development up to and including the First World War met with little interest from the Canadian federal government. But the two national government submitted St. Lawrence plans, and the Wooten-Bowden Report and the International Joint Commission both recommended the project in the early 1920s. Although the Liberal Mackenzkie King was reluctant to proceed, in part of because of opposition to the project in Quebec, in 1932 the two countries inked a treaty. This failed to receive the assent of Congress. Subsequent attempts to forge an agreement in the 1930s came to naught as the Ontario government of Mitchell Hepburn, along with Quebec, got in the way. By 1941, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister King made an executive agreement to build the joint hydro and navigation works, but this too failed to receive the assent of Congress. Proposals for the seaway were met with resistance from railway and port lobbyists in the United States.
In the post-1945 years, proposals to introduce tolls still could not induce the U.S. Congress to approve the project. Growing impatient, and with Ontario desperate for hydro-electricity, Canada began to consider "going it alone." This seized the imagination of Canadians, engendering a groundswell of St. Lawrence nationalism. Fueled by this support, the Canadian Louis St. Laurent government decided over the course of 1951 and 1952 to construct the waterway alone, combined with a hydro project (which would prove to be the joint responsibility of Ontario and New York - as a power dam would change the water levels, it required bilateral cooperation). However, the Truman and Eisenhower administrations considered it a national security threat for Canada to alone control the deep waterway, and used various means - such as delaying and stalling the Federal Power Commission license for the power aspect - until Congress in early 1954 approved an American seaway role via the Wiley act. Canada, out of concern for the ramifications of the bilateral relationship, reluctantly acquiesced.
In the United States, Dr. N.R. Danelian (who was the Director of the 13 volume St. Lawrence Seaway Survey in the U.S. Department of Navigation (1932-1963)), worked with the U.S. Secretary of State on Canadian-United States issues regarding the Seaway and worked for over 15 years on passage of the Seaway Act. He later became President of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Association to further the interests of the Seaway development to benefit the American Heartland. See: www.Wikipedia.org (Saint Lawrence Seaway)
The seaway opened in 1959 and cost $638 million in Canadian dollars, $336.2 million of which was paid by the U.S. government.[1] Queen Elizabeth II and President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally opened the Seaway with a short cruise aboard Royal Yacht Britannia after addressing the crowds in St. Lambert, Quebec.
The seaway's opening is often credited with making the Erie Canal obsolete, thus setting off the severe economic decline of several cities in Upstate New York. See: www.wikipedia.org (Saint Lawrence Seaway)
Three hours transit from the Iroquois Lock to the Eisenhower Lock. We arrived about 1800 and were told to anchor and wait. We anchored in 12 feet of water placing 75 feet of chain to the water's edge, N44-58.337, W074-52.788; ready for the evening out of the wind and current.
Just minutes later . . . the lock called and told us to come on through the locks (you must transit the Eisenhower and Snell locks in the same passage). Anchor was pulled and we were underway . . . two hours later we completed the locks, now we had darkness coming upon us, strong current, strong winds . . . and we needed a place to hide for the night. We found two spots, the first seemed the best so we again put the anchor down in 2-3 feet of charted depth, 11 feet on the fathometer . . . 75 feet to the water's edge, behind Ile Saint Regis; N45-00.681, W074-38.060. We had a good night.
The morning of the 14th the weather service said . . . winds from the west at 10-15 mph and one foot of waves. We pulled the anchor and began to proceed. The weatherman was WRONG again.
We are not going to do this again . . . but here we are. Just over two hours to the sheltered waters of the Beauharuois Lock . . . lets proceed.
Contrary to the "rules" of the St. Lawrence Seaway . . . SONATA uses the radio and reports her location. The seaway is marked with reporting positions for ships to check-in . . . SONATA checked in also. When we approached the Beauharuois Lock the seaway organization made sure the bridges were opened as required . . . the lock, however, wanted to cause problems . . . because they can.
Locks will not talk to you on the radio . . . unless they want to. When you arrive at the lock, if you have been unable to raise them by radio, you must tie up at the recreation-boat-report-in-dock and check-in using the lock telephone system. Charlie went to the phone. The person answering for the lock phone spoke in french. Charlie answered in mandrin chinese. The lock person then said you do not need to be disrespectful, . . . "What do you want?" Charlie's response was do you have a radio; answer "yes." Did you hear me in contact with the seaway on the way to this lock, "yes." Then do you think you have an idea of what I may want . . . ?? "yes...." Charlie was told to return to his vessel and wait . . . the lock would let him know when they were ready, the lock would advise him when to come in the lock . . . on the loud-speaker-system. One hour and twenty minutes later SONATA entered the upper Beauharuois Lock (another two lock set).
SONATA came out of the upper lock, started toward the lower lock. Met the laker OJIBWAY in the middle, between the two locks, then SONATA entered the lower lock and . . . came out the other side. Done with the St. Lawrence Seaway locks.
After leaving the lock we crossed the wide St. Lawrence to the "Northern-shore" and spent the evening at the Ile Perrot Marina.
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