Locks One To Three
Located in St.Catharines, Ontario
The Second Welland Canal followed mostly the same route as the First Welland Canal, changing the wooden locks to those made of limestone. Entering in through Port Dalhousie, up the Twelve Mile Creek and then turned at Dick's Creek. This section takes you on a tour of the remnants of the first three locks.
Lock One -- Port Dalhousie Harbour
Entering in to Port Dalhousie, via Lakeport Road, you follow it around and make a slight right hand turn on to Front St. As soon as you make the right on Front Street, pull over in front of the stores and park. Directly ahead of you is the remains of Lock One of the Second Welland Canal. This has been well preserved as you can see from the pictures.
Here are some pictures of Lock One
Lock Two -- Wellandvale Area
Leave Port Dalhousie and head up Lakeport Road to Ontario Street. Turn right on Ontario Street and follow it up until you come to the intersection of Ontario and Welland Avenue. Turn right on Welland and then you will see an almost immediate right hand turn on to Wellandvale. Take this right and follow it down the hill until you come to a bridge across the Twelve Mill Creek. Once you pass the bridge, you can pull over and park. Directly under the bridge is Lock Two. All that is still standing is one wall.
Here are some picture of Lock Two
Also in the area, you can see other canal remnants. The other wall of the lock, is now a stone wall across a hiking path, which you can see in the first two pictures below. Next is the corner of the lock wall and the gears used to operate the lock wall is still in great condition. Last picture is of a weir. I am not entirely sure if this is canal related or built later.
Lock Three -- Glenridge Avenue / Highway 406 area
To find lock three, go back to up the hill and turn towards Ontario Street and once there turn right and head up towards St.Paul Street. Cross over St.Paul Street and take an immediate right on St.Paul Crescent. At the end of this street, you will see a walkway across highway 406. Walk across this bridge and at the end, before heading down in to the valley, look down and to your left and you will see it next to the trail.
Here are some pictures of Lock Three
Recently Niagara Regional Councillor Bruce Timms, headed up a movement to unearth Lock Three and had a team escavate the remains of this buried treasure. In a email received from Bruce, he stated to me -- "It was your photos of the stones peaking out that inspired me to get the dig done." Always good to know that my hard work and dedication gets noticed and inspired others!
Here are some pictures of Lock Three Unearthed.
