Susanna McLeod
Special to Ontario Construction News
At the heart of North America, Indigenous peoples, voyageurs, and colonists plied their canoes, bateaux, and sloops along the St. Lawrence River. Experienced sailors in smaller boats devised techniques to manage the wild rapids, roiling eddies, and harsh river barriers, the larger vessels were unable to use the marine highway. Opening the waterway in 1959, the colossal St. Lawrence Seaway between Montreal and the Great Lakes required expropriation of land, resettling of villages, and cross-border cooperation to complete the inland waterway.
Linking Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, the first segment of the St. Lawrence Seaway was completed in 1932 with the lengthy construction of a series of canal routes and eight locks at Welland Canal. The second segment of the complex waterway launched in 1954 after much negotiation.
The United States was hesitant to proceed, but “a threat by the Canadian government in 1951 to build a seaway entirely withing Canadian territory resulted in a final agreement in 1954,” wrote Gordon Shaw and Viktor Kaczkowski in The Canadian Encyclopedia. Abundant energy was crucial for the seaway and surrounding villages, and “the project included the construction of the 2,090-megawatt Moses-Saunders Powerhouse near Cornwall, Ontario.”
The powerhouse has structures on both sides of the river with a one-kilometre dam in between—the R.H. Saunders Generating Station on the Canadian side, and the Robert Moses hydroelectric generating station on the American side. (It is officially named St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project.)
The Long Sault Dam and Iroquois Control Dam were constructed for water regulation, and the artificial Lake St. Lawrence was created as a vast reservoir for the generating station. Engineers from both countries worked on the project, determining the best location upstream of the Moses-Saunders dam. The lake would be about 15,000 hectares in size… and required extensive expropriation.
Without consultation or financial compensation, Indigenous land was flooded. Akwesasne and Mohawk communities lost 1,200 acres of reserve property and 15,000 acres of traditional hunting grounds.
Approximately 6,500 people were relocated on the Canadian side, along with “relocation of old highways and railway lines, the loss of 8,093.7 ha of prime farmland, and mature orchards,” said Maggie Wheeler in “The Lost Villages,” The Canadian Encyclopedia. New York State adjustments were somewhat less dramatic, with “the loss of frontage in Massena and Waddington, and farmland along with new shoreline.”
Rebuilding the village of Iroquois inland, Morrisburg moved partially inland, and two new communities were created. Residents of Aultsville, Dickinson’s Landing, Farran’s Point, Wales, Santa Cruz and Woodlands were resettled at New Town Number One, now called Ingleside, and those from “Milles Roches, Maple Grove and Moulinette moved to New Town Number Two,” now named Long Sault, noted Wheeler. Ontario Hydro proposed two options to homeowners in the flood zone. Replacement of the house with a new build in the new community, or a cash purchase at market value plus ten percent. Neither suited the displaced residents.
The offered new home builds were inadequate, and purchase prices were too low. Market values had dropped significantly due to planned flooding, and the offer left residents requiring mortgages. Ontario Hydro devised a plan in which homes could be moved to lots provided as compensation. Many accepted this offer. House transfers began in early 1955 and were completed three years later.
An experienced team from New Jersey was hired for the house-moving project and brought along their enormous equipment by rail. New cinderblock foundations were constructed at the sites, and “homes to be moved required the installation of indoor plumbing; some also required installation of ductwork for new furnaces,” said Wheeler, as many were heated only by woodstoves and had no waterlines. A house move was accomplished in one day, complete with contents remaining in place. “In fact, residents were told only to place table lamps on the floor.” Other buildings were demolished.
Flooding for Lake St. Lawrence began with a kaboom on July 1, 1958. Thirty tons of dynamite demolishing the last cofferdam. Crowds of residents on both sides of the river watched as water slowly flowed. The water “began to spread, beginning the lake that covered old banks, former streets and towns and farms,” described Clara Ingram Judson in “St. Lawrence Seaway (Follett Publishing Company, 1964).
Downstream from Moses-Saunders Powerhouse, a series of locks and deepened navigation channels provide access to lakers, ocean-going vessels, and tug-propelled barges, carrying cargo of every type. The system is operated by St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation.
A magnificent engineering achievement, the St. Lawrence Seaway opened to marine traffic on April 25, 1959. A formal dedication ceremony was held two months later at the Montreal entrance of the seaway, attended by Queen Elizabeth II and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Seaway is a tribute to the close cooperation between Canada and the United States, creating the world’s longest inland waterway.
Susanna McLeod is a Kingston-based writer specializing in Canadian history.
