Welland Canal: Visitor Entrance

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Welland Canal Visitor Entrance
Tourists can view the Welland Canal, Ontario,
from several locks, including lock 3 where there
is a visitor center and viewing platform. Ship
passage times are updated inside.
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Welland Canal
The Welland Canal was first built in the 1800s
across the Niagara peninsula, Ontario, Canada,
basically paralleling the Niagara River. The
canal spans the land between Lake Erie and Lake
Ontario. However, there is a 100 meter drop
between the lakes (as evidenced by the existence
of Niagara Falls), and 8 locks have been
constructed to raise or lower large ships over
this total 100 m drop. The locks consist of a
large storage area for ships ( 24 m X 262 m),
plus gates. Ships take 11 hours on average to
traverse the 50 km length of canal, and fees can
range up into the thousands of dollars for cargo
vessels weighing many tons.
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Principle of Locks Hydraulics
This placard at Lock 3 explains the physics
behind the locks. Basically, recall Pascals
principle of fluid pressure which states that
water levels will equalize. When a ship is to be
raised (or lowered), a gate is opened from the
next level, and water inside the lock naturally
rises (or lowers) to match the level preexisting
in the area beyond the gate. Thus, fluid
pressure does all the heavy lifting. Ships
weighing many tons can be lifted in this way.
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Lock 7
Here we see lock 7, which consists of 2 parallel
locks, 24 m X 262 m in dimension. The left lock
is currently unoccupied, while the right lock is
getting ready to lower a ship.
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Ship being lowered in lock 3
Ship before being lowered
Ship after being lowered
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Ship being lowered in lock 7
This view shows the ship in lock 7 before being
lowered.
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Ship being lowered in lock 7 (part 2)
This view shows the same ship in lock 7 after
being lowered, about 30 minutes later.
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Locks 4,5,6
In this view, we see the staircase locks 4, 5,
6, with a ship in the left lane being lowered,
while a ship in the right lane is being lifted.