The Soo Locks

 

The Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan has served the shipping industry since the 1800s. The importance of the delivery of iron ore to the steel plants is vital to our national economy especially during war time. The locks were one of the most heavily guarded areas in America. Troops on skis, anti-aircraft guns, searchlights and the U.S. Coast Guard provided protection and ensured the safe operation of the locks. Fort Brady served as the post which is now the location of Lake Superior State University. The Edmund Fitzgerald used the locks on many occasions. You remember the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975. Vessels that travel through the locks vary in size from very small to 1,000 foot long by 105-foot-wide freighters. The U.S. Corps of Engineers logged on average 12,000 passages each year. The construction of a new lock began this year (2022).

    America’s Midwest is rich in resources such as agriculture to minerals. In order to get products to the consumers many ships have to pass through the locks making these specific locks the busiest in the world. According to tonnage, iron ore is the largest commodity. However, large amounts of grain, salt, limestone, coal and other cargoes make it through the Great Lakes to other parts of the United States and around the world (Penrod/Hiawatha, 2019).

    “The State lock was built in 1855 with a length of 350 feet, width 60 feet, depth 11 ½ feet and was destroyed in 1888 by excavation for the present Poe lock.The Weitzel lock was built in 1881 with a length of 515 feet, 80 feet wide narrowing up to 60 feet at the gates, with 17 feet depth. This lock was destroyed in 1943 by excavation for the present MacArthur lock. The Poe lock was built in 1896 with a length of 704 feet, 100 feet wide and having 16.6 feet depth and is still operating. The Davis lock was built in 1914 with a length of 1350 feet, width 80 feet, depth 23 feet... The Sabin lock was built in 1919, length 1350 feet, width 80 feet, depth 24 ½ feet... The MacArthur lock was built in 1943, length 800 feet, width 80 feet, depth 31 feet and is still in operation. The four American locks take a force of about 175 men to operate them and in addition employ some 150 others as engineers, electricians, mechanics, clerical and mail clerks, laborers, etc. (Brotherton, ND).

    “Strangely enough, the Soo is the least known of modern engineering achievements. When you view the ships that go through the locks on an average of one every 18 minutes, 24 hours a day, eight months of the year, you are astonished at the speed and ease with which the vessels are raised and lowered, so that a freighter which has been towering above you has, in a few moments, dropped so low that you are looking down on its deck. The Soo Locks are really a set of gigantic water elevators raising or lowering the ship over the hump of 18 to 20 feet between the level of Lake Huron and Lake Superior.

    “Since the first cargo of iron ore passed through the Canal in 1855, more than three billion tons of iron ore have passed through the locks. Little did the American people dream 100 years ago that the locks would prove such a vital role in national and world economy.

    “It was 100 years ago, April 19, 1855 that Charles T. Harvey first opened the sluice gates of the cofferdam and water entered the first state lock, a tandem affair of two chambers each doing part of the total job. But it was not until June 18 that the first sidewheel steamer, the Illinois, with Captain Jack Wilson in command, passed through the locks bound westward to Marquette. Later still, on August 14, 1855 the first cargo of 132 tons of iron ore left Marquette on the Brig Columbia, Judson Wells master, and passed through the locks on August 17.

 

   “The Sault has a long and colorful history. Two years before the Pilgrims in the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock, a French explorer, Etienne Brule, stared in amazement at the rushing waters and in 1668 Father Marquette established a mission there. In modern times the rapids proved a bottleneck to the transportation of copper and iron that had been discovered in the North Country. Charles T. Harvey, who came there in 1852 saw the great possibilities and he, together with John Burt, his engineer, completed the Soo Canal in 1855 – 100 years ago.”      

   Sault Ste. Marie is one of  the oldest cities in the United States and has undergone many changes. Back in the day, Sault Ste. Marie was a bustling city with streetcars and more people lived in the area.  Pere Marquette visited the are in 1668 and was spellbound by the great beauty of the tumbling waters. He gave it its name, “Le Saut de Sainte Marie,” the “Falls of Holy Mary” -we call it “the Soo” (Brotherton, ND).

    The Soo has a long history that included Native Americans such as the Ojibwe making the area, referred to as “Bahweting” or place of the rapids, their home. The rapids and surrounding water ways, filled with a vast amount of whitefish and other fish, served as an area that provided for the needs of the Ojibwe people. A vast amount of wild game also provided sustenance. Fur traders made the area their home. The main office for the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians is located in the Soo today.

    The best way to get a feel and to really see the locks is by standing on the observation deck at the Soo Locks park or to take a boat ride on the Soo Locks Boat Tour. The boat tour takes you through the locks and the boat is raised and lowered in the locks. You may enter the locks with other small vessels and view larger vessels either leaving or coming into the locks. Approximately every 18 minutes a boat or ship is traveling through the locks eight months out of the year. The locks are closed due to inclement weather and for maintenance during the winter months. To experience one of the least known phenomenal engineering marvels in the world, visit the Soo Locks. See the ships as they travel through the locks transporting goods all over the U.S. and the world.

 

Bibliography

Brotherton, (ND). The Soo Locks – One Hundred Years Ago – Summer 1955. Retrieved

from The Soo Locks – One Hundred Years Ago – Summer 1955 – National Museum of the Great Lakes                    (nmgl.org)

Penrod/Hiawatha (2019). Soo Locks: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Italy: KINA Italia/L.E.G.O. S.p.A.