Before we continue down the Rideau Canal, a little history and background is in order.

 

We Americans can take some credit for the Rideau Canal.  Our agressive actions during the War of 1812 inspired the British to build the canal as a safe and defensible route for transporting military supplies and troops between Lake Ontario and Ottawa.  As we understand it from the history presented here, while the British were busy fending off French aggression in 1812, the Americans figured they could sneak up to Canada and snitch some land when the British weren't looking.  It was only the American troops' disorganization that kept them from effectively blockading the St. Lawrence River.

 

The Rideau Canal was a military project, led by  Lieutenant Colonel John By of the Royal Engineeers, who began leading its construction in 1826. The canal was 121 miles long, cut through rocks and swamp and rough wilderness to make the Rideau River navigable and connect it with other waterways to reach Lake Ontario.  Because the canal was a military effort, By built block houses, little fortresses, at strategic points along the route to defend it from attack.  It took thousands of laborers six years to complete the job, one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19th century.

 

Colonel By overcame obstacles others thought insurmountable.  He managed to maintain construction in the face of malaria outbreaks each summer that killed hundreds of workers, and high fatality rates among the often inexperienced workers responsible for using powder to blast rocks.  Over and over again, he found the work of his surveyors was faulty, and he had to change plans along the way, often coming up with ingenious solutions that reduced the amount of labor required.

 

When the canal was finished, he was called back to Britain, where he probably expected to be thanked and honored for his fine work.  Instead, he was accused of misappropriating funds.  He kept meticulous records, and the charges were eventually dropped, but by then he was a disillusioned and broken man.  If only he could come back now and see all the statues, plaques, and monuments praising him and his work, and the beautiful lake and island named for him. 

 

As a credit to John By and the thousands of Irish immigrants, Scottish stone masons, and French Canadians who worked on the locks,  most of the locks we passed through are just as they built them back in 1832.  The wooden doors are replaced regularly, but the stonework of the lock chambers and the dams is intact, and the block houses stand firm.  The lock tenders operate them just as they were operated 173 years ago.