Saint Lawrence River

Saint Lawrence River
Map of the St. Lawrence/Great Lakes Watershed
Origin	Lake Ontario
Mouth	Gulf of Saint Lawrence/Atlantic Ocean
Basin countries	Canada (Ontario, Quebec) United States (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Wisconsin)
Length	1,197 km (744 mi)
Source elevation	250 m (820 ft)
Avg. discharge	10,400 m³/s (367,328 cu ft/s)
Basin area	1,030,000 km² (397,683 sq mi)

The Saint Lawrence River and Seaway System is a large hydrographic system in east-central North America, crossing the interior of the continent for approximaely 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers). The Saint Lawrence Waterway begins at the North River in the U.S. state of Minnesota, which flows into Lake Superior) with Cabot Strait, finally flowing into the Atlantic Ocean in the extreme east of Canada.

It is the primary drainage of the Great Lakes Basin. The System traverses the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and forms part of the international boundary between Ontario, Canada, and the U.S. state of New York. It is of vital geographic, hydrologic, and economic importance to both countries.

Overview

Though the Saint Lawrence River itself is slightly less that 750 miles (2,000 km) in length, it is part of a much larger system which begins in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and in its entirety, covers approximately 2,500 miles (4,000 km).

The system can be divided into three main sections:

• the beginning of the system in the Great Lakes region, which consists of narrow river-like sections connecting the lakes themselves.
• the central section, which is considered to be the beginning of the Saint Lawrence River at the outflow of Lake Ontario between the town of Kingston on the north bank, Wolfe Island in mid-stream, and Cape Vincent, New York on the south bank. From this point to the Île d’Orléans, just downstream from the city of Quebec, this section is considered to resemble a more normal river pattern.
• From the Île d’Orléans to the Cabot Strait, between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, the system again widens, becoming the St. Lawrence estuary. As it passes Anticosti Island it becomes the oval-shaped marine region known as the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

It runs 3,058 kilometers (1,900 mi) from the furthest headwater to the mouth (1,197 kilometers or 744 mi from the outflow of Lake Ontario). The furthest headwater is the North River in the Mesabi Range at Hibbing, Minnesota. Its drainage area, which includes the Great Lakes and hence the world's largest system of fresh water lakes, has a size of 390,000 square miles (1.03 million sq km). The average discharge at the mouth is 10,400 cubic meters per second (367,000 cu ft/s).

The river includes Lake Saint-Louis south of Montreal, Lac Saint-François at Salaberry-de-Valleyfield and Lac Saint-Pierre east of Montreal. It surrounds such islands as the Thousand Islands near Kingston, the Island of Montreal, Île Jésus (Laval), Île d'Orléans near Québec City, and Anticosti Island north of the Gaspé.

Lake Champlain and the Ottawa, Richelieu, and Saguenay rivers drain into the St. Lawrence.

Saint Lawrence River between Quebec City (seen at left) and Lévis (seen at right). The Île d'Orléans appears further in the center.

History

The first known European explorer to navigate the St. Lawrence was Jacques Cartier, who sighted the Bay of Chaleur in 1534 and also claimed New France for Francis I. The land was inhabited at the time by the St. Lawrence Iroquoians. He returned to the area the following year. Arriving at the Gulf on St. Lawrence' feast day, he accordingly named it the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The river was also navigated by French explorer Samuel de Champlain.

Map of 1543 showing Cartier's discoveries.

Until the early 1600s, the French used the name Rivière du Canada to designate the Saint Lawrence upstream to Montreal and the Ottawa River after Montreal. The Saint Lawrence River served as the main route for exploration of the North American interior.

The St. Lawrence was formerly continuously navigable only as far as Montreal because of the virtually impassible Lachine Rapids. The Lachine Canal was the first to allow ships to pass the rapids; the Saint Lawrence Seaway, an extensive system of canals and locks, now permits ocean-going vessels to pass all the way to Lake Superior. The Seaway was officially opened on 26 June 1959 by Queen Elizabeth II (representing Canada) and President Dwight D. Eisenhower (representing the United States of America).

In the late 1970s, the river was the subject of a successful ecological campaign (called "Save the River"), originally responding to planned development by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The campaign was organized, among others, by Abbie Hoffman, then on the run under the pseudonym of Barry Freed.

Names

Saint Lawrence River along the New York-Ontario border

Occasionally, the French name fleuve Saint-Laurent is wrongly translated as Saint Lawrence Seaway since it uses the word fleuve and not rivière. However, the word fleuve means a large river, which runs to the ocean or sea. There is no word in English that distinguishes this type of a river from others, and thus is appropriately translated by river. The seaway is a system of artificial canals and is called in French la voie maritime du Saint-Laurent.

The source of the North River in the Mesabi Range in Minnesota is considered to be the source of the Saint Lawrence River. Because it crosses so many lakes, the water system frequently changes its name. From source to mouth, the names are:

• North River
• Saint Louis River
• Lake Superior
• Saint Marys River
• Lake Huron
• Saint Clair River
• Lake Saint Clair
• Detroit River
• Lake Erie
• Niagara River
• Lake Ontario
• Saint Lawrence River

Saint Lawrence Seaway

The Eisenhower Locks in Massena, NY.

The St. Lawrence Seaway is the common name for a system of canals that permits ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, as far as Lake Superior. Legally it extends from Montreal to Lake Erie, including the Welland Canal and the Great Lakes Waterway. The seaway is named after the Saint Lawrence River, which it follows from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean.

Consequences of Construction

To create a navigable channel through the Long Sault rapids and to allow hydroelectric stations to be established immediately upriver from Cornwall, Ontario and Massena, New York, an artificial lake had to be created. Called Lake St. Lawrence, it required the flooding on July 1, 1958 of ten villages in Ontario, now collectively known as "The Lost Villages". There was also inundation on the New York side, but no communities were affected.

The creation of the seaway also led to the introduction of foreign species of aquatic animals, including the sea lamprey and the zebra mussel, into the Great Lakes Basin. These organisms were introduced via ballast water from oceanic vessels.

The seaway provides significant entertainment and recreation such as boating, camping, fishing, and scuba diving. Of particular note is that the seaway provides a number of divable wrecks within recreational scuba limits (shallower than 130 ft.). Surprisingly, the water temperature can be as warm as 70°F with little or no thermocline during the mid to late summer months.

The seaway's opening is often credited with making the Erie Canal obsolete, thus setting off the severe economic decline of several cities in upstate New York

Lock and channel dimensions

The size of vessels that can traverse the seaway is limited by the size of locks. Locks on the St Lawrence and on the Welland Canal are 766 feet (233.5 m) long, 80 feet (24 m) wide, and 30 feet (9.1 m) deep. The maximum allowed vessel size is slightly smaller: 740 feet (225.6 m) long, 78 feet (23.8 m) wide, and 26 feet (7.9 m) deep; many vessels designed for use on the Great Lakes following the opening of the seaway were built to the maximum size permissible by the locks, known informally as Seaway-Max. Large vessels of the lake freighter fleet are built on the Lakes and cannot travel down the seaway to the ocean. The only lock on the Great Lakes Waterway is 1,200 feet (357 m) long, 110 feet (33.5 m) wide and 32 feet (9.8 m) deep, but the channels are not kept that deep.

Water depth is another obstacle to vessels, particularly in connecting waterways such as the St Lawrence River. The depth in the channels of the seaway is 41 feet (12.5 m) (panamax depth) downstream of Quebec City, 35 feet (10.7 m) between Quebec City and Deschaillons, 37 feet (11.3 m) to Montreal, and 28 feet (8.2 m ) upstream of Montreal. Channels in the Great Lakes Waterway are slightly shallower: 25 to 27 feet (7.62 to 8.2 m). In the late 1990's the seaway has been deepened and widened increasing near panamax sized ship access upstream from the Atlantic ocean to Montreal.

Channel depths and limited lock sizes mean that only 10% of ocean-going ships can traverse the entire seaway. Proposals to expand the seaway, dating from as early as the 1960s, have been rejected as too costly, and environmentally and economically unsound. Lower water levels in the Great Lakes have also posed problems for some vessels in recent years.

Earlier canals

In 1862, locks on the St Lawrence allowed transit of vessels 186 feet (57 m) long, 44½ feet (13.6 m) wide, and 9 feet (2.7 m) deep. The Welland Canal at this time allowed transit of vessels 142 feet (43 m) long, 26 feet (7.9 m) wide, and 10 feet (3.0 m) deep. These were generally too small to allow passage of larger ocean-going ships.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• CBC Digital Archives. The St Lawrence Seaway: Gateway to the world Retrieved May 27, 2008.
• Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2008. Saint Lawrence River and Seaway Retrieved May 27, 2008.
• Environment Canada. The St. Lawrence River: Gateway to North America Retrieved May 27, 2008.
• Government of Canada. The Lost Villages Historical Society Retrieved May 27, 2008.
• LexUM. Exchange of Notes, amending 1959 Agreement of Application of Tolls Retrieved May 27, 2008.
• Peace Palace Library. Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law Retrieved May 27, 2008.
• Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. The Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation Retrieved May 27, 2008.
• The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System Retrieved May 27, 2008.
• The Ships List. Excerpt from the Illustrated London News, January 11, 1862. Canadian Canals Retrieved May 27, 2008.
• Willoughby, William R. 1961. The St. Lawrence waterway; a study in politics and diplomacy. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. OCLC 932877

External links

All links Retrieved December 21, 2007.

• St. Lawrence Parks Commission (Ontario)
• Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System
• Safe Passage: Aids to Navigation on the St. Lawrence — Historical essay, illustrated with drawings and photographs
• St. Lawrence River Live Webcam
• International Saint Lawrence River Board of Control

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