The First Welland Canal at Port Dalhousie 1829-1844

Part One

After the War of !8!2, the political structure of Upper Canada was in a state of transformation from the benevolent, paternalistic legacy of John Graves Simcoe, and his predecessors, to one in which men faced the problems of how the colonies should govern themselves and yet retain an allegiance to a wider empire. Coupled with a growing economy, an expansionist neighbour to the south and cultural differences between Upper and Lower Canada men took it upon themselves to look after their own interests and proceed with the work that needed to be done.

Such was the case in the year 1818 when William Hamilton Merritt owner of a number of mills, and other businesses, on the Twelve Mile Creek, near what is now St. Catharines. With water becoming scarce for his milling operations, Mr. Merritt decided upon carrying out an idea which he had quietly conceived years before, and which would result in one of the most important public works on the continent…connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario by canal. The route would cross the Niagara Peninsula, using natural waterways and bypassing Niagara Falls.

On September 18, 1818 Merritt, and two of his friends, mill owners George Keefer and John Decew, mounted their horses and set off seeking a new supply of water. Merritt had borrowed a water level from Samuel Becket, another mill owner, to do calculations using his limited surveying skills. Their prime objective was to detail the ridge that separated the Chippawa (Welland River) from the headwaters of the Twelve Mile Creek. They believed that by digging a cut through this ridge they would gain all the water needed to run their mills.

Their calculations wee not accurate but it was still believed that the cut through the ridge was the answer. In fact, they were convinced that the idea could be expanded into a canal that would make it possible for ships to pass from one lake to another, opening a new route to the west.

The route would then follow the Twelve Mile Creek, which emptied into Lake Ontario at Port Dalhousie. The creek at that point opened up into large marshlands with a predominant stream running through the middle. The settlement of Port Dalhousie was situated above the steep banks that lined either side of the marshlands.

Settlement of Port Dalhousie during this time consisted of a few homes built on the west side of the valley. The first families to settle around the Twelve Mile Creek lakefront entrance and shoreline were the United Empire Loyalists. The early settlers who arrived were faced with many hardships and met with much misfortune in attempting to clear and cultivate the land, build homes for their families and establish businesses. It was a constant battle filled with tragedy and suffering, often resulting in the loss and abandonment of hope.

Canals were a hot topic at the time, and only the previous year Merritt had stated the advantages for St. Catharines of a canal linking the lakes via Twelve Mile Creek. Moreover, the recent start of work on the Erie Canal across the border, which threatened to divert trade from the St. Lawrence to the Hudson, heightened the need for a canal on the Canadian side.

The aim of Merritt's survey was to determine how deep a cut was needed to allow Welland River water through to Allanburg, where it could join a tributary of the Beaverdams Creek. Merritt himself had some knowledge of surveying, as did at least two of his companions, John Decew and George Keefer. Their field notes have survived and provide interesting insights into the methods used.

Although it not easy to be precise in determining when, and by whom, the idea to connect the waters of Lake Erie with those of Lake Ontario, the possibility had been discussed by French officials as early as 1699. In 1793 Robert Hamilton, a Queenston merchant, placed plans for improvement in navigation between the lakes beforeGovernor Simcoe. Nothing came of these proposals. Merritt’s proposal, however, was on a far grander scale. Even after his initial survey was taken it wasn’t until several years later that any practical measures were put into operation to look into the construction of such an important waterway.

The prospect of connecting Lake Erie, some 300 feet higher in sea level than Lake Ontario meant overcoming the Niagara Escarpment, a geological formation between two plateaus. The first plateau lies to the north and forms a narrow fertile coastal strip parallel to the shore of Lake Ontario. Along the top of the escarpment runs a ridge about sixty feet high and two miles across. This is the ridge which Merritt and his friends surveyed. South of the ridge is the Welland River which enters the Niagara River above the falls at Niagara. Between the Welland River and Lake Erie is the second plateau, a stretch of flat, swampy land which is basically the level of the lake.

Flowing down the escarpment are a number of small creeks, one of which is the Twelve Mile Creek. Merritt chose this creek to focus on because its source was near Allanburg. From there across the ridge to the Welland River was only two and a half miles.

The escarpment and these few miles of high ground were the only obstacles to establishing a connection between Lakes Ontario and Erie. The idea of sourcing more water for his mills had escalated from a mere irrigation ditch to a canal.

With this information the first petition was sent to the Legislature on October 14, 1818. The Legislature viewed it with some favor, but implied that it should be handled by a private company. However, due to Merritt’s financial situation he was forced to set aside his plans for a canal.

As the economy improved in Upper Canada the Provincial Parliament of Upper Canada passed an Act in 1821, entitled: “An Act to make provision for the improvement of the Internal Navigation of the Province.”

Merritt’s suggested route was not automatically adopted by the Government. Under the Act commissioners were appointed, called “commissioners of internal navigation”, who were to “explore, survey and level the most practical routes for opening communication by canals and lakes between Lake Erie and the eastern boundaries of the Province.”

The route preferred by these commissioners for the canal from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario commenced on the Grand River, or any other convenient point on Lake Erie, and leading to Burlington bay, at the head of Lake Ontario, the considerations being that this route began at a point, which at all seasons of the year had plenty of water to feed the canal, that it was sufficiently remote from the frontier, and that it was free from ice from three weeks to a month earlier than a point near Fort Erie. Burlington bay was preferred for the outlet of the canal, because it was a fine basin, large and deep, capable of sheltering the whole Royal Navy of Great Britain, that it also was sufficiently remote from the frontier, had a strong military position, was surrounded by a populous and highly cultivated country, and seemed destined by nature to be the center of a flouring trade.

The outlet from Burlington bay into Lake Ontario, the Burlington Bay Canal, suggested by the commissioners, was undertaken at the public expense, and although it was not intended as a part of the project of the canal, yet, as it would render the port accessible, it was considered a work of great value to the tract of country lying to the west.

The survey of the route between Grand River and Burlington bay was made by Samuel Clowes, assisted by his son, James, and by John Harris, a land surveyor. They began operations about June 1, 1822. The estimate for the canal was as follows: 40 feet wide at bottom; 62 feet wide at the surface of the water; and seven feet deep.

The locks were to be 100 feet long and 22 feet wide in the clear. A canal of these dimensions, it was thought, would accommodate vessels of 80, or even 100, tons, and by enlarging the locks to the proper size the large class of gun brigs light might go through, and even steam vessels in emergencies. In connection with this project the commissioners said:

"The superior advantages attending such a canal, as is here proposed, would destroy the hopes and defeat the calculations of the commissioners of the American canal; as our being enabled to ship commodities on the Grand River three weeks before the lake opens at Fort Erie and Buffalo, with a certainty of their being transferred without removal direct to Montreal, would give a preference to that route, and our trade with much of that from the south shore of Lake Erie would thereby be secured to us."

The Board of Commissioners, after much survey work on this route, recognized that this route, largely due to cost, was impractical.

The committee made its report in 1823, the result of which was the incorporation of a private company, organized in 1824 and named the Welland Canal Company. This company proposed to establish the necessary communication between the two lakes by means of a canal and railroad. They intended running up the Welland river, passing across the township of Thorold, tunneling through the high ridge of land about a mile and a half, then proceeding directly by a canal to the brow of the hill or highland, and then by a railway down to the lowland, and connecting by another canal with the navigable waters of Twelve Mile creek, so as to afford the desired egress to Lake Ontario. The canal was to be of a capacity to accommodate "boats of not less than 40 tons."

Public meetings were held, surveys made, and other steps taken to excite public interest in the enterprise; but notwithstanding all this, upon the day of breaking ground for the beginning of the work, November 30, 1824, not half a dozen gentlemen of capital and influence in the district attended the ceremony. By 1825 the scheme as above outlined was deemed objectionable, and a new one was adopted by which the canal was to be large enough to admit schooners and sloops. It was then determined to have the entrance to the canal at Port Dalhousie, and the upper end at the Welland River, whence the supply of water for the canal was to be drawn. It was also proposed to have at an early day communication between the Welland River and Lake Erie, and to have certain locks no feet long by 22 feet wide, the cross section to be 26 feet at the bottom and 58 feet wide at the surface of the water, except through the deep cut, which was to be only 15 feet wide at the bottom for two miles of the length, the depth of water to be eight feet.