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March 27, 1955 - Image 15

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Text
Publication:
Michigan Daily, 1955-03-27

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luncipy, March 271 F 955

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Page Nine

Locks GT undre Y s
Celebration _
To Be Held
W EN the ion hips begin mov-
ing this year as the sprin'
thaw bieks np the ice on the
G E t Lakes, it will mark the hun-
dredth year for shipping through a
the locks at Sault Ste Marie-"The
Miraele Mile."
Exactly 100 years ago, June 18,
the teamer Illinois passed through t
the 'newly completed State locks .e
bound for Lake Superior.
In that first year of operation 0f'r ".
14,503 tons of freight were carried
through the canal en route to low-
er lake ports of Detroit, Toledo,
Cleveland and Buffalo.
Two years ago, a century after
construction began on the first
locks, nearly 129 million tons of w
cargp, more than the combined a
totals of the Panama, Manches-
ter, Kiel and Suez canals passed
through the Soo. s'
Today the Soo Locks are a "life-
line" of American heavy industry.
Through the gigantic steel and
concrete gates flows a steady
stream of iron ore, copper and
limestone to join with the coal of
the lower lakes region for the hun-
gry blast furnaces and mills of AERIAL VIEW OF THE SAULT LOCKS-"THE MIRACLE MILE" AT SAULT STE MARIE, MICHIGAN
Gary, Lorain, Cleveland and Pitts-
burgh. ture. Accordingly the St. Mary's dustrial might of Great Britain jet fighters maintain a night and celebration at the Soo commemor-
Inall this hundred year develop- Falls Ship Canal Company was or- and Germany. day vigilance for any possible at- ating the opening of the first State
ment the University has played a ganized and Harvey assigned the During the First World War tack. Locks, Visitors will be admitted to
significant role. Graduates of the task of organizing and supervising more than 75 million tons were the closely guarded lock area so
engineering college have designed the project. passing through the locks each IN THE CITY of Sault Ste. Ma- they can be afforded a close view
locks and supervised their con- With his crew of 400 men Harvey year and in 1942 the tonnage rie may be seen the historic be- of the great ships passing.
struction; and hundreds of ore broke ground at the Soo June 4, reached a peak of 120,119,000 for ginnings of the area, the old fort One has only to look at the
carrfers and other lake ships trace 1853. Working for two years under the war years. and mission and houses built by churning waters of the rapids in
their origins to the drawing boards conditions of bitter cold in winter, As this volume of traffic steadily the French, English and American the St. Mary's River and then at
of the University's marine engi- cholera, primitive equipment and increased older locks became inad- explorers and pioneers who early the 710 feet long George M. Hum-
Ieering department, labor problems the first lock was equate and new ones had to be made the community the center phrey being lowered from Lake Su-
Recognition of the University's finally completed June 18, 1855. added-the Weitzel Lock in 1881, of the Northwest fur trade and la- perior to Lake Huron to be struck
role ,in the Soo development has That first lock was a far cry the Poe in 1896, the Davis in 1914, ter the portage point for the with the revolution construction
come in many numerous programs, from the great size of the present the Sabin in 1919 and the MacAr- wealth of the upper lakes being of the first locks 100 years ago has
films and booklets prepared here combination of gates, booms, and thur replacing the Weitzel in 1943. transported east. worked in the industrial life of the
to celebrate the locks centennial. hydraulic machinery, but it was About the only thing that hasn't This summer will witness a great nation.
one of the wonders of its day, changed since 1155, is the prin
1IODERN history of the Sault The canal was more than a mite ciple of lock operation. Ship com ..,.,.
begins in February 1151 when long with two locks in tandem, ing down from Lake Superior en-.*.
the Michigan legislature passed an each 350 feet long and 70 feet wide ter the locks, the upper gates ' . 5
act providing f or a canal with locks raising and lowering ships a total close and the water level is lowered; s~~'
150 feet long and 70 feet wide, The of 15 feet, Total cost of this pta- by means of. valves in the floor o
state agreed to grant 75,000 acres neer venture in lock building on the locks, the lower gates open ands
of public land to the company the St. Mary's river was $999,- the ships pass smoothly into the
which could complete the project 802.40. St. Mary's River. The whole proc
within two years. ess takes from 30 to '10 minutes, k.)
Seizing the opportunity, Charles TEE VOLUME of shipping Today the locks are the mos
T. Harvey. western agent of the through the locks increased by heavily guarded point in the Unit
Fairbanks Scale Company of St. leaps and bounds as the century ed States. Ground forces and anti .
Johnsbury, Vermont, urged his progres sed and the United States aircraft weapons guard alt ap- " . .
41ompany to udertake the ven- rose to challenge the combined in- proaches and radar screens and 'i

BOERSMA TRAVEL SERVICE
12-14 Nickels Arcade NO 3-8597

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