St. Mary's Falls Canal, Soo Locks, St. Mary's River at Falls, Sault Ste. Marie, Chippewa County, MI

Significance: The locks of the St. Mary's Falls Canal reflect a national level of significance in settlement, transportation, industrial, and engineering history. The completion of the State Locks in 1855 effectively opened to settlement the territory surrounding Lake Superior. Prior to that , large-scale settlement of the region was impractical. Ultimately, it was discovered that the land made accessible by the canal was rich in copper and iron ore. These deposits fed the nation's industrial revolution in the latter portion of the nineteenth century. Naturally, the primary method of transporting large amounts of this mineral wealth was through the St. Mary's Falls Canal. Until the 1950s, the fleet serving the Great Lakes made the Sault Canal the busiest waterway in the world. Due to dramatic growth of shipping on the Lakes, the St. Mary's Falls Ship Canal has received constant attention by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over its history. Between 1881 and 1969, the Corps constructed six locks on the American side of the Sault. Each of the facilities embodied the most advanced form of lock technology known at the time of their construction. Additionally, several of the structures were designed as the largest in the world at the time.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N798

Survey number: HAER MI-322

Building/structure dates: 1852 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1887 Demolished

National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 66000394

sault sainte marie mich mary falls falls canal soo locks soo locks sault ste sault ste marie chippewa chippewa county michigan laura abing wayne chandler brian j faltinson great lakes research associates limited heritage research historic american engineering record rebecca kumar chris lese us army corps of engineers john n vogel photo mary falls canal mary river ultra high resolution high resolution bird library of congress national register of historic places

1969 - 1980

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

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