The Soo Locks

     The last time we were in this area we were in a hurry to drive east.  Today we had the time to take a boat tour of the Soo Locks.  The first lock was built 160 years ago to help move boat traffic between Lake Huron and Lake Superior.  We have been on a boat tour of the St. Lawrence Seaway which is at the beginning of the journey ships take from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Superior.  It was interesting to see the last part of the journey.
    Before these locks were built boats had to be portaged around the 21 foot drop on St. Mary's River.  It could take up to three months to make the portage.  In 1855 Michigan opened a set of two locks on the St. Mary River.  They were each 350 feet long.  Today the largest lock is 1200 feet long.  There are four operating locks  - three on the American side and one on the Canadian side.  The Canadian lock is used only for pleasure boats.  Our tour boat used the Canadian lock going up river and an American lock on the way back.  A couple older American locks are being dismantled and a new, still larger lock will open in a few years.  The locks are now operated by the Federal Government.  They are free to everyone.
     About 7,000 ships go through the Locks, hauling 86 million tons of cargo each year. This makes these locks the heaviest used in the world. I thought it would be the Panama locks or the Suez Canal locks, but it is a set of locks in my own back yard.     It was a perfect day to be out on the water - about 80*, sunny and with a slight breeze.  We found seats on the top deck of the tour boat under a sun shade.  It was our amazing luck that just as we got situated a demonstration of forest fire planes began.  Across the river from the tour is a Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center.  This weekend is the annual BushPlane days.  Pilots from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry flew the CL-415 water bomber and a EC-130 Helicopter with a water tank.  We watched as the plane flew close by us, landed on the river scooping up water, and then dropped the water as though it was putting out a forest fire.  The helicopter lowered its big bucket into the river and filled it, then dropped that water as well.  This demo lasted for about a half hour as the tour boat was loading.  We had absolutely front row seats.  It was just awesome.
     On our way back a
couple large boats got to the locks before our tour boat so we were delayed for about thirty minutes while they went through.  It was fairly warm on the boat as we circled around waiting for our turn and some of the kids on the tour really lost interest in the whole trip.  We found it really interesting.  As we went through the pleasure boat side we saw that each small fishing boat was documented and contacted.  On the American side a "Security" car drove along the locks.      
     Nevertheless, it wouldn't be any challenge to take a fishing boat from one shore and unload passengers on the other shore.  There are miles and miles and miles of unpatrolled coastline.  Do you think we need to build a wall to keep Americans from moving to Canada?