The Trent Severn Waterway

The Trent-Severn Waterway

The 240 mile (387 km) route of the Trent-Severn Waterway winds north past the pastoral farmlands north of the Bay of Quinte on Lake Ontario, through the granite outcroppings and pine-clad islands of the Kawartha Lakes to the pre-Cambrian rock of its upper reaches along the Severn River to Georgian Bay.

This complex system of 39 conventional locks, two flight locks, two lift locks and a marine railway, raises boats 590 feet (180 m) above the level of Lake Ontario at its summit at Balsam Lake, and lowers them 262 feet (80 m) to Georgian Bay. The chain of interconnected lakes and rivers, controlled by 125 dams, drains a watershed of 7,031 square miles (18,600 km) providing water, hydro-electric power and flood control along with opportunities for summertime recreation which attract tens of thousands of boaters and tourists each year.

Most remarkable of the locks is the Peterborough Lift Lock. Built at the turn of the century, its original concrete work and hydraulic system are still functioning today with very little alteration since its completion in 1904. In 1964 its manual operating controls were mechanized and the control tower moved, but the operating principle remains the same. Its 65 foot (19.8 m) lift, still the highest in the world, was a phenomenon when it was built and visitors continue to marvel at its achievement. It was a bold concept, untried in the North American climate, but derived from the smaller hydraulic lift locks built in England, Belgium and France in the 1870's and 1880's. Who first proposed a lift lock at Peterborough is unknown, but it was the enthusiasm of Trent Canal Superintending engineer R.B. Rogers that convinced the government to go ahead with such a revolutionary project. Rogers was sent to Europe in 1896 to examine the lift locks there and to study their suitability for use in Canada. He returned home to oversee the design and construction of the Peterborough lock. Few of his contemporaries could have dreamed that his creation would stand operating smoothly for more than 80 years.

From the late 1820's, as settlers moved up into the back lakes district, demands grew for a waterway linking the upper lakes with Lake Ontario. Not only did the farmers want a water route to get their produce to markets in the south, but the rapidly-growing lumber industry also put increasing pressure on governments to provide a canal system to carry their giant cribs down from the northern forests. Some maintained that this system could offer a viable commercial route, augmenting the Great Lakes passage, but many of its promoters saw the waterway in terms of its local benefits. In fact, it has from its inception primarily served regional needs and today it is mainly a recreational attraction.

It was in response to local pressures however, that a start was made on the system in 1833 with the building of a lock at Bobcaygeon.

That same year Nicol Hugh Baird was engaged by the government to survey the route along the Trent River from Quinte Bay to Rice Lake. Two years later, with Frederick P. Rubidge again as his assistant, he undertook to complete the survey on to Lake Simcoe and his recommendations led the government to proceed further with the project. Starting in 1837, Baird supervised the Building of locks at Trenton (Meyer's Island), Glen Ross (Chisholm's Rapids), Hastings (Crook's Rapids), Peterborough (Whitla's) and Lindsay (Purdy's Mill), but the idea of completing the system from Lake Ontario to Rice Lake was abandoned in the early 1840's and a series of timber slides was created along the Trent River to overcome bottlenecks that remained in that section.

For the next 25 years interest in the project lapsed and the locks fell into disrepair, some to the point of being unusable. The government offered to transfer control of their works to any municipality willing to maintain them, but it was the Trent Slides Committee, formed by a group of lumbermen in 1855, that increasingly took responsibility for the system by building a series of dams and slides to accommodate their growing lumbering operations north of the Kawarthas.

The story of the building of the Trent Canal construction governments showing only lukewarm interest most of the time, and local pressures surfacing with various changes in government to take advantage of whatever influence they could muster. It did proceed with occasional spurts of activity, but by mid-century the increasing importance of railways as a favored means of transportation distracted politicians from canal building and slowed the progress of the Trent-Severn system. Not until 1869 were the locks begun at Young's Point (Clear Lake) and Rosedale (Balsam Lake, the highest point on the waterway) and at the same time the Lindsay lock was rebuilt.

During the 1878 federal election campaign, promises were made that the Trent Canal would proceed, and the new Conservative government had further surveys done, paving the way for the allocation of funds to proceed with the locks at Burleigh Falls, Lovesick Rapids, Buckhorn and Fenelon Falls. Completed in 1887, these locks opened navigation in the central portion of the waterway from Cameron Lake to Lakefield. The obstruction of the nine-mile rapids on the Otonabee River south of Lakefield and the sudden drop at Peterborough remained.

Another election in 1887 saw a falling off in Conservative support and a commission was set up to consider whether or not the Trent Canal work should proceed. After three years of delay a local newspaper reported unofficially that the commission would recommend that the canal construction should continue again in 1894. By the time the Liberals under Wilfrid Laurier took control, the Lakefield-Peterborough stretch was under way, with a canal, five standard locks and the 65 foot (19.8 m) lift lock required to contend with the 140 foot (42.9 m) drop.

With the opening of the Peterborough Lift Lock in 1904, and the completion of the Kirkfield Lift Lock in 1907, the system was open for navigation from Lake Simcoe to Healey Falls and work was begun on the southern end to clear the passage to Lake Ontario. It was opened 10 years later. After some delay caused by the outbreak of war in 1914, the northern end was opened with the completion of the Port Severn lock in 1915, the marine railways at Big Chute and Swift Rapids on the Severn River in 1916, and the last lock on Lake Couchiching in 1920.

In the 1960's the Department of Transport embarked on a major modernization of the Waterway. In addition to the changes at the two lift locks, manual locks were replaced by hydraulically operated locks, flight locks at Fenelon Falls and Burleigh Falls were combined into single chambers with steel gates, the marine railway at Swift Rapids was replaced by a single lock with a lift of 43 feet (13.1 m) and mechanized equipment was added to many dams and swing bridges on the system.

With tourism flourishing all over Canada, the waterway has taken a new lease on life. Cottagers have known the charms of the island-studded Kawartha Lakes and the beautiful Georgian Bay region for more than a century. Today, an area rich in history, wildlife and scenic attractions draws sportsmen, boaters and travelers of all kinds. Although it never fulfilled its hoped-for role as a commercial transportation route, countless vacationers are pulled back each season to enjoy its variety. Rice Lake is the second largest lake on the Trent-Severn System. (Article reprinted courtesy of The Friends of the Trent-Severn).

Fast Facts
240 miles (387 km) in length 39 conventional locks 2 flight locks	2 lift locks 125 dams drains 18,600 km of watershed

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The Trent-Severn Waterway