The Canal That Drops Ships 326 Feet 

Tell me if you want to see a more in depth video on the Welland Canal

Very nice narration without useless "music" overpowering the speaker! I am a fan!

Thanks for this video, Connor. Very well done and informative. I spent many summers in Port Colborne in my youth and used to drive up to the twinned flight locks in Thorold and spend hours watching ships. It's well worth a trip to see the locks in person if you ever get a chance. They are an engineering marvel. Sadly, the viewing platforms located at locks 4, 5 & 6 are closed off now, but there is now a nice visitors center located at Lock 3 just south of St. Catharines.

Notes: 1. As originally conceived in 1816, the canal was merely meant to provide water to drive mills (within the current city of St. Catharines). Ship traffic was a concept added later (and expanded over time) as people viewed the emerging Erie canal with a competitive eye. Even after construction started in 1824, some details of design were tweaked! 2. New in the last 2 decades: instead of manual tying to bollards within locks, most locks new use a "vacuum mooring system", which requires less humans. (Ships still use bollards at lock 8, which has a short ~3 foot vertical lift. Bollards are still present at the other locks, as a backup.)