The New Student's Reference Work/Sault Ste. Marie, Can.

Sault Ste. Marie, Can., the most important center in the District of Algoma, opposite the American city of the same name, is an important manufacturing place, as well as famous for its immense canal-lock, built by the Canadian government and opened for traffic in 1895, between Lakes Superior and Huron. A larger tonnage passes through the canals at Sault Ste. Marie per year than through any other canal-system in the world. Large pulp and paper-mills, iron-smelters, steel-rail mills and other important industries make up a large industrial population at this point. The canal was built to overcome the rapids on St. Mary River. The Algoma Central, running north from Sault Ste. Marie, has been a great aid in the development of the district. A rich mining district is tributary to it. The length of the canal between the extreme ends of the entrance-piers is 5,967 feet. The lock is 900 feet by 60 feet. Depth of water over the sills (at lowest water-level) is 20 feet 3 inches. The total rise or lockage is 18 feet. Breadth at bottom is 141 feet 8 inches; at the surface of the water 150 feet. This canal has been constructed through St. Mary's Island on the northern side of the rapids of the river and with that gives communication on Canadian territory between Lakes Huron and Superior.