1899-1958 Soulanges Canal on the St. Lawrence River

Lower Entrance: (Satellite)

Lock #1: (Satellite) Lift: 23.5' (7m)

Lock #2: (Satellite) Lift: 23.5' (7m)

Lock #3: (Satellite) Lift: 23.5' (7m)

A-30 Road Tunnel: (Satellite)

Lock #4: (Satellite) Lift: 12' (3.7m)

Guard Gate: (Satellite) This was closed in case of emergencies.

Powerhouse: (Satellite)

RR Bobtail Bridge: (Satellite)

Lock #5: (Satellite) Lift: 1' (0.3m)

Upstream Entrance: (Satellite)

The locks are 280' (85m) x 46' (14m) x 15' (4.6m) [stlawrencepiks]

Lock #1 is in the foreground and Lock #2 is in the background.

Association for Great Lakes Maritime History posted

An image of a steamer passing through a lock of the Soulanges Canal near Montreal, Quebec, dated Aug. 23, 1958 (Library of Congress – U.S. News & World Report Photograph Collection). A high-resolution copy of the photograph shows the vessel to be the freighter Fernie.

Additional Historical Information – Soulanges Canal

The Soulanges Canal followed the north shore of the St. Lawrence River between Pointe-des-Cascades and Couteaux-Landing, Que. The 14-mile-long canal enabled vessels to bypass the rapids between Lake Saint-Louis and Lake Saint-Francis.

Operation of the canal and its lock was powered by a small hydro-electric power station. The station also provided electricity for illumination, making the Soulanges Canal the first in the world to be lit at night, allowing for round-the-clock operation. 

First opened in 1890, the canal and its locks remained in operation until 1958 when they were replaced by an enlarged Beauharnois Canal which became part of the St. Lawrence Seaway. After it closed, there were plans to re-open the Soulanges for pleasure boats, but they never materialized. Today, it is a popular cycling trail and park.

Information Sources:

https://canaldesoulanges.ca/the-canals-history/?lang=en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soulanges_Canal

stlawrencepiks
The Old Beauharnois Canal was completed in 1845. The Soulanges Canal opened in 1899. The Beauharnois Power Canal opened in 1932. The two locks at the end of the power canal were added by 1959 as part of the St. Lawrence Seaway project. The Soulanges Canal was closed when the Seaway opened because those two locks could do the work of the five locks on the old canal.

stlawrencepiks, National Geographic photo. This page has a lot of photos of freighters on the canal.
Eastern Shell is leaving Lock #1; and, in the background, a salty is leaving Lock #3.

All of the road swing bridges have been replaced with fixed bridges. And new crossings just filled in the canal.

Satellite

The railroad bridge is still a swing bridge. This view also catches the northern historical bridge over the water bypass next to Lock #5. We can see that it is a series of stone arches. Historic Bridges has photos of the southern bridge.

Street View, Aug 2022

The railroad bridge is a bobtail bridge instead of a swing bridge because the water bypass channel is wider than the canal. The bypass channel is the reason why the lock's lift is only 1' (0.3m).

Satellite

Lock #3:

Dennis Jarvis Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike (CC BY-SA)
Quebec-00151 - Lock number 3 of the Soulanges Canal.

Dennis Jarvis Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike (CC BY-SA)
Quebec-00141 - Lock number 3 of the Soulanges Canal.

Lock #4:

Street View, Sep 2022
The road shows the hill that required a lock to be used here.

In the 1800s, canals were built around rapids in the St. Lawrence River for upbound traffic. Since the freighters were built to the dimensions of the locks, they were called "canallers." To go downbound, the canallers, and passenger ships, would shoot the rapids. That must have been interesting.

CanalDeSoulanges_history, this web page has a history of the canal.
"At this area, the river has a series of rapids, formed by four slope breaks totaling a drop of 25,6 [84'] meters over 12,8 kilometers [8 miles]."

CanalDeSoulanges_history
They had to dig through rock strewn clay on top of sandy soil. The rocks in the clay made it hard to remove the dirt, and the clay on top of sand made it hard to keep the dirt out of the canal. Because of those landslides, extra work was needed to prevent the shores from caving in.

The powerhouse:

Photo: CanalDeSoulanges_heritage; Text: CanalDeSoulanges_history
"This hydroelectric energy was provided by a small power plant, built in 1899 by engineer Thomas Monro, located at the meeting point of the Soulanges canal and the rivière à la Graisse in Les Cèdres. This location. chosen because of its six-meter [19.7'] drop between the canal and the river, ensured sufficient hydraulic force to turn the turbines of the power plant. Although designed for an industrial purpose, the architecture of this building stands out by its “castle” style that was in vogue in the 1870s and that we can find in a series of hotels, such as the Château Frontenac in Quebec City."
Electric streetlamps strung along the canal allowed ships to go through the canal at night as well as during the day.

Street View, Jul 2019