This morning, Pat & I walked up the
canal to view lock 21, the Peterborough Lift Lock pictured above. We
wanted to see what thrills await us tomorrow morning! We have traveled
many, many locks, but never one like this!
This lock
was built between 1896 and 1904. 76,000 cubic yards of earth were
excavated, and 26,000 cubic yards of concrete were poured, without any
reinforcing steel. It was the largest monolithic concrete structure in
the world!
They even built it with a road under! It does not show in the picture, but water drips on the cars!
In the photo above, you can see what is best described as a huge “bath
tub”, raised 65’ to the level of the water above. The other bath tub is
at the level of the low water, and you can see the piece of triangular
steel, that is its side, against the concrete tower in the lower left of
the picture. These tubs are 140’ long, 33’ wide, and 8’ deep. They hold
230,000 gallons of water.
Here is another picture from above. Note the large, round, hydraulic ram
under the center of the raised tub, between the concrete piers. When
they want to operate this lock, they fill an additional foot of water
into the upper tub to make it heavier. Then a cross over valve between
the two rams under the tubs is opened. This forces water from the high
ram into the lower ram, letting the high tub drop, while the lower tub
raises. When they reach their respective levels, they open the ends of
the tubs so boats can enter and exit. The ends of the tubs are hinged at
the floor, and the doors drop down level with the floor of the tub.
A pretty amazing piece of engineering for 1896, don’t you think??
We’ll let you know if we make it thru!
And then the 20BUCK$ gets to transit the
Marine Railway when we reach Port Severn, at the entrance to Lake
Huron. A boat on a railway???? You’ll just have to keep checking back to
find out!!!
Not sure when this will post - we have no internet here.
Captn Ken
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