The St. Lawrence Seaway:
Economic Engine of the Northeast
With 8 states, 2 provinces and ¼ of North America's population located on its route, 40 interstate and provincial highways leading from its docks and 30 railroads connecting to its ports, the St. Lawrence Seaway is one of the most important transportation and industrial corridors in the world.

In the United States, about 45,000 jobs and $2 billion in personal income are directly attributed to the Seaway. The Seaway system serves 40% of US manufacturing, and half of the production of US soybeans and corn. In Canada, the Seaway accounts for 2/3 of the nation's industrial output, and creates 1/3 of the country's gross national product.

Heavy-Duty Hauling: Agricultural products, iron and steel, mine products and processed and manufactured goods make up the more than 2 billions tons of cargo that have been transported on the St. Lawrence Seaway since its opening in 1959. The Seaway specializes in bulky, heavy cargo; for lighter, smaller containers of general goods, transit by truck and rail is more efficient.

Cargo carried on the Seaway includes:
• Grain - From the US and Canadian prairies, exported to international markets via the Seaway. Wheat (50%), corn and soybeans (30%), barley, oats, rye and other grains (20%) make up a total of 40% of the Seaway cargo.

• Iron Ore - Shipped from mines in Labrador, Quebec, Ontario and Minnesota to production centres along the Great Lakes. Ore makes up 33% of cargo handled.

• Coal - From the Appalachians to Great Lakes ports, for steel making, or electricity production.

• Containers, Steel and Machinery - "General" cargo makes up about 10% of total annual Seaway tonnage.

Setting the Stage for the St. Lawrence Seaway
When the St. Lawrence Seaway officially opened in 1959, it was 419 years to the day since explorer Jacques Cartier had given a saint's day name to a small bay near the mouth of the river. The name, now extended to the entire river, was also given to the man-made navigable waterway that connected the Atlantic Ocean with the inland heart of North America.

The mid-20th century completion of the Seaway completed an engineering process that began in New France as early as 1680, when a Montreal seminarian, Dollier de Casson, attempted to build a 1.5 metre canal to bypass the Lachine Rapids.

It also concluded a political process dating back to 1892, when a Minnesota Congressman sponsored a resolution to provide for a joint US - Canadian investigation into the possibility of a deep-draft route from the head of Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean.

Sixty Years in the Making: The political momentum and jurisdictional cooperation that was required to execute the Seaway plan developed slowly, meeting strenuous opposition from competing transportation industries. In the end, it would be 62 years before Congressman John Lind's 19th century vision became a reality:

• 1895: The US and Canadian governments established the Deep Waterways Commission to report on all possible routes from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, including the St. Lawrence River and the Mohawk-Hudson route.

• 1909: The Boundary Waters Treaty between Canada and the US established the International Joint Commission to approve projects that might affect the natural level or flow of boundary waters.

• 1921: The International Joint Commission recommended that Canada and the US enter into a treaty to improve the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Lake Ontario, that a new Seaway include the Welland Canal, that construction costs be apportioned on the basis of benefits, and that a joint hydro-power and navigation project be undertaken. 

• 1932: Canada and the US signed the Hoover-Bennett Treaty to build a Seaway to a depth of 8.3 metres.

• 1934: The Hoover-Bennett Treaty was defeated in the US Senate, under pressure from competing railroads, utilities, the coal mining industry and East and Gulf Coast ports.

• 1951: After iron ore had been discovered in Labrador in northeastern Canada, Canada had decided to proceed unilaterally with a Seaway project. A new Seaway bill was introduced to the US Congress, but was again defeated.

• 1954: Following the election of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Wiley-Dondero Act (Seaway Act) was passed, authorizing the US St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation to work with the Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway Authority to construct, operate, maintain and develop the Seaway.

• 1959: The St. Lawrence Seaway was officially opened.

Seaway Statistics
• The St. Lawrence Seaway extends 3,790 kilometres from Anticosti at the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the twin ports of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior Wisconsin at the western end of Lake Superior.

• The depth of the Seaway is 8.2 metres.

• The total rise of the Seaway from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Superior is 270 metres. The longest single climb in the system is 99 metres, through the Welland Canal.

• The 4 main sections of the Seaway are the Lachine Section, near Montreal, the Beauharnois Section, between Lake St. Louis and Cornwall, the International Section, including the International Rapids and the Thousand Islands, and the Great Lakes Channels, including the Welland Canal, St. Mary's River and the Soo Locks.

• The Seaway reaches the U. S. states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario.

• Each season, more than 2,000 commercial vessel transits are made through the Seaway's locks. About 75 US and 90 Canadian laker vessels regularly navigate the Seaway, and about 50,000 barges navigate rivers connected to the Seaway.

• An average of 50 million metric tons of cargo are handled each year by the Seaway. A record 57.4 million metric tons of cargo passed through the system in 1977.

• The Seaway can accommodate abut 41% of the world's fleet of commercial vessels of over 300 tons.

• The slowest section of the Seaway is the Welland Canal, with an average transit time of 11 hours.

• It takes an average of 8 - 10 days for a ship to travel from Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean.

Limits to Growth
With construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1950's, the depth of the former Atlantic - Great Lakes route was almost doubled - from 4.3 metres to 8.3 metres - and the number of locks was reduced by half, from 30 to 15. For the first time, the waterway could accommodate ships over 35,000 tons, up to 233.3 metres long and 23.2 metres wide. (The typical "laker" carries 25,000 tons of cargo, and measures 222 metres long and 23 metres wide.)

Always Open?: As the Seaway approaches its half-century anniversary, pressure is building from shipping sectors to undertake yet another deepening and widening of the channels of the St. Lawrence Seaway, as well as the enlargement of locks, to accommodate super-sized "Panamax" vessels. The extension of the Seaway's shipping season to year-round navigation, using ice-breaking vessels, has also been proposed.

Environmental Impact: St. Lawrence River stewardship groups have expressed grave concern about further expansion of the St. Lawrence Seaway, citing several environmental impacts of blasting, dredging and increased use which they deem to be unacceptable:

• Damage to sensitive habitat and shoreline properties caused by ice "scouring"
• Adverse economic effects on regional recreational and tourism industries
• Increased difficulty in managing water levels
• Disruption of fish and wildlife populations
• Increased toxic chemical levels in fish
• Potential for unmanageable oil and chemical spill.