The sea in America....

Who is Mrs. Clarice Smith* ?

From Nova Scotia there appeared lights….

Forty-eight days and nights.
we were struggling with the waves…

St Lawrence river, the way paves,
and embraces us with its calm waters.

With curiosity facing us were two yachters, 

because our bow is crushed…


Nova Scotia’s last lighthouse flashed…….

Our ship deeply penetrated into the river...

After lunch (fried potatoes and beef liver),
I went up to the bridge to start my shift….

Here I will make a short shrift…

The pilot was navigating…
I was not concentrating
on navigation, and so,
the ship went through a gate, while down below
I could see houses and a city…

Due distance seemed tiny, seemed bitty….

I noticed that we were on a hill..
Strange, the sea in America goes uphill and downhill...

Sailing in this super elevated sea,*                                         *Great Lakes
we got through many gates, more than three…


Lake Ontario……Lake Erie……… then in front of us
the shores of Michigan…       The gloomy gus,
the person who is habitually gloomy, ie I,
was shocked as I remembered that seer with the black tie ...

That strange seer, many, many years ago,
who after his mystical content show,
told me "when in Michigan shores you will come near,
then the unborn Cherokee's princess "Running Deer"
will smile at you from the sky….. was it you dear?

*  Note : The best friend I ever had in the New World, is the young, adorable American marathon runner (running deer) Clarice Smith, who even when I can't find the right words... she always understand what I mean.
Her dad's side of the family is Cherokee. His great grandmother was an Indian princess…

________________ 

                                              

St Lawrence Seaway

The St Lawrence Seaway (Great Lakes Waterway) is the system of locks, canals and channels linking the GREAT LAKES and the ST LAWRENCE RIVER with the Atlantic Ocean. The construction of progressively larger canals along the St Lawrence River began as early as 1783. By 1900, a complete network of shallow draft canals allowed uninterrupted navigation from Lake SUPERIOR to MONTRÉAL.

Between 1913 and 1932, the WELLAND CANAL, between Lakes ERIE and ONTARIO, was rebuilt, but the US was reluctant to enter a larger scheme, that is, to rebuild the Montréal-Lake Ontario channels. A threat by the Canadian government in 1951 to build a seaway entirely within Canadian territory resulted in a final agreement in 1954. Construction on the St Lawrence Seaway and Power Project began on 10 August 1954. 

In addition to the building of 7 locks and deepening navigation channels to a depth of 8.2 m, the project also included the construction of the 2090 megawatt Moses-Saunders Powerhouse near CORNWALL, Ont. The Seaway was opened to commercial traffic 25 April 1959 with the official opening 26 June 1959, attended by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II.

The waterway, some 3774 km long from ÎLE D'ANTICOSTI to the head of Lake Superior, permits vessels of up to 225.5 m long, 23.8 m wide and a maximum draft of 8.2 m to sail from Montréal to Duluth, Minn, on Lake Superior.

The St Lawrence Seaway Authority, a federal crown corporation, was established by Act of Parliament in 1954 to construct, operate and maintain the Canadian portion of the waterway between Montréal and Lake Ontario, including the locks in Canadian territory (5 of the 7) and also the Welland Canal. In 1998, an Act of Parliament allowed for the Canadian part of the Seaway to be operated by Seaway users and other stakeholders, as a not-for-profit corporation (St Lawrence Seaway Management Corp) under contract to the Canadian government.

The US government formed the St Lawrence Seaway Development Corp to operate the 2 locks near Massena, NY. The 4 US locks on the ST MARY'S RIVER are operated by the US Corps of Engineers.

The Seaway System

Construction of the Seaway was a monumental engineering and construction feat. The Montréal-Lake Ontario section, which is often thought of as the whole Seaway, naturally divides into 4 sectors. The Lachine section includes the 33 km South Shore Canal, with the St Lambert and Côte Ste Catherine locks bypassing the Lachine Rapids. 

The 2 locks provide a total lift of 13.7 m to the level of Lake St Louis. The Soulanges section, comprising the 25.7 km Beauharnois Canal, includes the 2 Beauharnois locks, which provide a total lift of 25 m to overcome the Beauharnois hydroelectric power dam. The Lake St Francis section stretches 46.7 km from the western end of the Beauharnois Canal to a point just east of Cornwall.

The fourth section, the International Rapids Section, stretches 70.8 km from Cornwall to PRESCOTT. It includes the 16 km long Wiley-Dondero Ship Canal and the 2 US-owned Snell and Eisenhower locks near Massena, NY. These 2 locks provide a lift of some 26 m to the level of Lake St Lawrence. 

At the west end of this lake the Iroquois lock, located at Iroquois, Ont, and adjacent to the Iroquois control dam, provides for control of the level of Lake St Lawrence relative to that of Lake Ontario. West of the Iroquois lock additional dredging was required to complete the Seaway to Lake Ontario. Together, all the locks between Lake Ontario and Montréal lift a westbound vessel about 69 m.

In addition to the primary works required to create the Seaway, ancillary works, such as major bridge and tunnel construction, were carried out in Montréal, Beauharnois, Cornwall and Massena. In addition, the creation of Lake St Lawrence resulted in the flooding of 15 400 ha and necessitated the relocation of highways 9 small communities and parts of the towns of Iroquois and Morrisburg, Ont. In all over 525 dwellings and 6500 people, 64 km of railway track and 56 km of highway were relocated and 2 new communities in Ontario, Ingleside and Long Sault, were created.

Between Lakes Ontario and Erie, the Welland Canal circumvents NIAGARA FALLS. Its 8 locks lift a westbound vessel 99.4 m over a distance of 43.5 km. Between Lakes Erie and HURON, the US deepened the DETROIT RIVER, the ST CLAIR RIVER and Lake ST CLAIR. 

The St Marys River Canal links Lakes Huron and Superior. Each of its 4 parallel locks, on the US side, lifts a westbound vessel the required 6.4 m to bypass the St Marys rapids. A 274 m long Canadian lock was open to commercial navigation from 1895 to 1987, when a structural fault in the lock wall forced its closure. 

This lock was reconstructed as a smaller lock (77 m) within the original lock structure and reopened to navigation in 1998. It is operated by Parks Canada as part of the Sault Ste Marie Canal National Historic Site, and is only open to small sightseeing and pleasure crafts.

the Gates

* Extract from "The Broken Mooring Line", an autobiographical poetic work 
by Odysseas Heavilayias. / page 37E /  e-mail: od.heavilayias@yahoo.com / 
text editting: k.mataraga / text adaptation: Kellene G. Safis

source

 Utopia