Fenelon Falls Lock
The project to build the Trent-Severn Waterway began in the 1830s with a survey and some of the least costly improvements. By the 1880s the financial resources and political will was in place to complete some more costly projects. During the 1878 election campaign, John A. Macdonald raised the possibility of further work on the waterway. Then just before the 1882 election was called, Tom Rubidge was hired to survey Burleigh Falls, Buckhorn and Fenelon Falls—the Prime Minister was clever enough to pick up local seats in two elections for the same spending commitment.
Fenelon Falls Lock c 1965
Alexander Manning of Toronto and his American brother-in-law Angus McDonald were the winning bidders on the Fenelon Falls lock contract, at $105,701. Two locks were needed to overcome the 30-foot difference between Cameron and Sturgeon Lakes. The canal was to be a third of a mile long, 60 feet wide and 12 feet deep—deeper where the locks were located. The most laborious part of the job was excavating through rock. Traditionally, black powder had been used as an explosive, but in 1867, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel patented dynamite, which he had devised as a way to stabilize nitroglycerin to make it safe and portable as a commercial explosive, complete with a blasting cap, to allow it to be safely detonated from a distance. McDonald and his workers gave the new explosive a trial, at first using it like it was black powder, which caused some massive explosions as they came to appreciate how much more powerful it was. It was literally raining rocks in the village, but no one was killed or seriously injured by dynamite, though there were otherwise accidents on the site. Before long, the construction crew learned how to handle dynamite safely.
The lock was completed in 1887, but it was not functional until a ridge was removed from the Fenelon River near the entrance to Cameron Lake and a swing railway bridge replaced the fixed span. The federal government and Midland Railway litigated over who was responsible for making this improvement—ultimately the court decided it was the government. A.W. Parkin’s Water Witch became the first boat to pass through the locks on May 12, 1894. The Anglo Saxon had rotted out waiting for the lock to finally be completed, so it was scuttled near the mouth of the river in Cameron Lake.
Aerial view of Fenelon Falls Lock July 31, 2022
Prior to the advent of the automobile, the railway and the canal were the primary means of long-distance transport to or from the village. A bridge master and a lock master were required to swing the railway bridge and operate the canal—both opened manually. The main street of Fenelon Falls crossed directly over the locks, necessitating a second swing bridge. The original lock had stone walls and wooden lock gates, which required constant maintenance.
By 1960, the traffic through the canal was primarily recreational boaters and practically everyone used an automobile to get from Point A to Point B. While it was a tourist attraction to watch boats pass through the locks (while enjoying ice cream from the Fenelon Dairy), having to swing the bridge for boats was a serious inconvenience for motorists, especially in summer as traffic would back up. At the same time, it would be a lot easier to maintain and operate a single, automated concrete lock with steel gates. W.G. Jackett and Sons excavated to allow the construction of a new lock which opened in 1963. Two years later, a fixed concrete span replaced the swing bridge, which was no longer necessary, after the two-tier lock was replaced with a single lift, located upstream from the bridge.
