Chambly Canal

Introduction

The Chambly canal was designed to connect the navigation of the St. Lawrence with that of the Hudson River by way of the Richelieu river, Lake Champlain and the Champlain canal. In 1818 a company was incorporated by an act of Parliament of Lower Canada to construct this canal. It was empowered to build canals and otherwise to improve the navigation of the Richelieu river, but nothing was done by this company. In 1831 the construction of this canal was begun by the Government of Lower Canada under an act appropriating £60,000. Work continued until this amount and £6,000 additional was expended. In 1840 operations were resumed and in 1843 the canal was opened to navigation. The construction was found to be faulty and most unsatisfactory, and it became necessary, to a large extent, to reconstruct the canal in 1858. The Richelieu river joins the St. Lawrence about 46 miles below Montreal and the Chambly canal is about 46 miles from its mouth. The canal lies on the west side of the river and extends for twelve miles, - from Chambly basin to St. John. The river between these points is practically a continuous rapid, the fall being about 74 feet in the twelve miles, and the canal furnished the only means of passing. The St. Ours lock and dam are situated 32 miles below the canal proper and fourteen miles above the mouth of the river and are a part of this system of navigation. They were built between the years 1844 and 1848 at a cost of about $121,538. Associated with this lock and dam there is also one-eighth of a mile of canal proper. The Richelieu river itself has been largely improved by dredging, but its depth has always been the limiting factor to traffic by this route. The total cost of construction to 1905 was $637,057. ^Whitford