Rideau Canal
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| Rideau Canal* | |
|---|---|
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
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| State Party |  Canada |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, iv |
| Reference | 1221 |
| Region† | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2007 (31st Session) |
| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO. |
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The Rideau Canal, also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The canal was opened in 1832 and is still in use today, with most of its original structures intact.[1] The canal system uses sections of major rivers, including the Rideau and the Cataraqui, as well as some lakes. It is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America, and in 2007, it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[2]
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[edit] History
The construction of the Rideau Canal was proposed shortly after the War of 1812, when there remained a persistent threat of attack by the United States on the British colony of Upper Canada. In this period, the British built a number of other canals (Grenville, Chute-à-Blondeau and Carillon), as well as a number of forts (Citadel Hill, La Citadelle, and Fort Henry) to impede and deter any future American invasions of Canadian territory.
The initial purpose of the Rideau Canal was military, as it was intended to provide a secure supply and communications route between Montreal and the British naval base in Kingston, Ontario. Westward from Montreal, travel would proceed along the Ottawa River to Bytown (now Ottawa), then southwest via the canal to Kingston and out into Lake Ontario (and vice versa for eastward travel from Kingston to Montreal). The objective was to bypass the stretch of the St. Lawrence River bordering New York State, a route which would have left British supply ships vulnerable to attack or a blockade of the St. Lawrence.
The construction of the canal was supervised by Lieutenant-Colonel John By of the Royal Engineers. Private contractors such as future sugar refining entrepreneur John Redpath, Thomas McKay, Robert Drummond, Thomas Phillips, Andrew White[3] and others were responsible for much of the construction, and the majority of the actual work was done by thousands of Irish and French-Canadian labourers.
The canal was completed in 1832. The final cost of its construction was £822,000. Given the unexpected cost overruns, By was recalled to London and questioned by a parliamentary committee before being cleared of any wrongdoing.
Once the canal was constructed, no further military engagements took place between Canada and the United States. Although the Rideau Canal never had to be used as a military supply route, it played a pivotal role in the early development of Canada. Prior to the locks being completed on the St. Lawrence in the late 1840s, the Rideau served as the main travel route for immigrants heading westward into Upper Canada, and for heavy goods (timber, minerals, grain) from Canada's hinterland heading east to Montreal. Tens of thousands of British immigrants travelled the Rideau in this period. Hundreds of barge loads of goods were shipped each year along the Rideau, allowing Montreal to compete commercially, in the 1830s and 40s, with New York (which had the Erie Canal), as a major North American export port.
[edit] Construction Deaths
As many as a thousand of the workers died from malaria[4], other diseases and accidents during blasting. Quinine to prevent malaria was not provided to the bulk of the labourers, and was only provided to skilled workers such as army engineers[5]. Some of the dead remain unidentified as they had no known relatives in Upper Canada and were buried in unmarked mass graves in locations such as Jones Falls, Brewers Mills and Kingston Mills. Memorials to the fallen labourers have been erected along the canal route, most recently the Celtic Cross memorial in Ottawa and in Kingston.[6] The first monument anywhere along the length of the Rideau Canal acknowledging the huge number of deaths among the labour force was erected in May 2000 by the Kingston Irish Folk Club, Tir na Nog (an Irish pub), Kingston Brewing Company and Ontario Public Service Employee Union. It was a Memorial Drinking Water Fountain erected in Confederation Basin (across from Kingston City Hall).
[edit] The waterway
The 202 kilometres (125 miles) of the Rideau Canal incorporate sections of the Rideau and Cataraqui rivers, as well as several lakes, including the Lower, Upper and Big Rideau lakes. About 19 kilometres (12 miles) of the route is man-made. Communities along the waterway include Ottawa, Smiths Falls, Merrickville, Westport, Battersea and Kingston.
Today, only pleasure craft make use of the Rideau Canal. Boat tours of the canal are offered in the city of Ottawa and recreational boaters can make use of it to travel between Ottawa and Kingston with ease. Most of the locks are still hand-operated. There are a total of 47 locks at 24 stations along the Canal.
In normal operations the canal can handle boats up to 27.4m (90ft) in length, 7.9m (26ft) in width, and 6.7m (22ft) in height. In special circumstances a boat up to 33.5m (110ft) in length by 9.1m (30ft) in width can be handled.
[edit] The Skateway
In winter, a section of the Rideau Canal passing through central Ottawa becomes officially the world's largest skating rink.[7] The cleared length is 7.8 kilometres (4.8 miles) and has the equivalent surface area of 90 Olympic hockey rinks. It runs from the Hartwell locks at Carleton University to the locks between the Parliament Buildings and the Château Laurier. It serves as a popular tourist attraction and recreational area and is also the focus of the Winterlude festival in Ottawa. Beaver Tails, a fried dough pastry, are sold along with other snacks and beverages, in kiosks on the skateway. In January 2008, Winnipeg, Manitoba achieved the record of the world's longest skating rink at a a length of 8.54 kilometers[8] on its Assiniboine River and Red River at The Forks.
Although some residents of Ottawa had been using the canal as an impromptu skating surface for years, the official use of the canal as a skateway and tourist attraction is a more recent innovation. In fact, as recently as the 1970s, the city government of Ottawa considered paving over the canal in order to make an automobile expressway[9]. The federal government's ownership of the canal, however, prevented the city from pursuing this proposal.
When Doug Fullerton was appointed chair of the National Capital Commission, he proposed a recreational corridor around the canal, including the winter skateway between Carleton University and Confederation Park. The plan was implemented despite opposition by city council, and 50,000 people skated on the canal on the first weekend.[9]. City councilor and author Clive Doucet credits this transformation of the canal with reinvigorating the communities of the Glebe, Old Ottawa East and Old Ottawa South.[9]
It has been reported that the National Hockey League's Ottawa Senators are exploring the possibility of playing a regular season game outdoors on the Rideau Canal, using temporary bleachers for the spectators.[10]
[edit] See also
- Trent-Severn Waterway Central Ontario Canal System
- Welland Canal Southern Ontario Canal System
- Saint Lawrence Seaway Ontario - Quebec waterway system
- Parks Canada Players Heritage Theatre Series along the Rideau Canal
[edit] References
- ^ Rideau Canal, UNESCO World Heritage, UNESCO.org. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
- ^ Unesco names World Heritage sites, BBC News, 28 June 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
- ^ History of the Rideau Canal, Rideau-info.com. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
- ^ Irish Deaths, WeAreIrish.ca. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
- ^ Labourers not given Quinine, WeAreIrish.ca. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
- ^ Memorials, Rideau-info.com. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
- ^ Winnipeg lays claim to world's longest skating path
- ^ Winnipeg lays claim to world's longest skating path
- ^ a b c Doucet, Clive (2007). Urban Meltdown: Cities, Climate Change and Politics as Usual. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 15-17. ISBN 978-0-86571-584-4. OCLC 86226079.
- ^ Hockey Blog. Globe and Mail. December 31, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
[edit] External links
- Rideau Canal Waterway
- Rideau Coming Events
- Friends of the Rideau
- Royal Engineers Museum - Biography of Colonel By
- Rideau Heritage Route - Tourism
- Rideau Canal Skateway
- Skating Conditions
- Rideau Canal travel guide from Wikitravel
- Bye By - The full story of Lt. Colonel John By's fall from grace
- A Grave Revealing - Death and Burial during the building of the Rideau Canal
- Rideau Canal from The Canadian Encyclopedia
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