Coteau-du-Lac Canal is an 18th-century military canal in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

located at the junction of the Delisle and

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

s in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. The canal was the first work of its kind in North America, and is a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...

, which also includes the remains of a fort and reconstructed

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

. It is located in the town of

Coteau-du-Lac Coteau-du-Lac is a small city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality. The name of the town comes from the French word ''Coteau'' which meant "sl ...

Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality Vaudreuil-Soulanges () is a regional county municipality in Quebec, Canada. It is located on a triangular peninsula in the western Montérégie region of Quebec, formed by the confluence of the Ottawa River to the north, and the St. Lawrence River ...

History

The

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

(1775–1783) revealed a number of serious flaws in the British defence system. The western frontier of the Canadian colony was protected by the military outposts on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

. However, these outposts were all the more vulnerable for being difficult to reach. Troop and merchandise transport via the Saint Lawrence River was seriously slowed by the rapids located upstream from

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. In particular, the rapids at

were the most difficult to get past and skirting the

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...

by going inland prolonged supply times. To accelerate shipment of military supplies westward,

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Frederick Haldimand ordered for a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

to be dug at Coteau-du-Lac. The construction of the canal at Coteau-du-Lac began in 1779 under the control of Captain

William Twiss General William Twiss, (1745 – 14 March 1827), was a British Army Royal Engineer, responsible for the design of many military defences. Probably born in Kent in 1744 or 1745, Twiss worked in the ordnance office at the Tower of London from ...

. The King's Royal Regiment of New York were mobilised to dig the canal.Parks Canada - Coteau-du-Lac National Historic Site of Canada - The First Lock canal in North America
/ref> When construction was completed On February 15, 1781, the lock system was approximately long and wide. Each of the three locks was long and wide, with a depth measuring . Taken together, these locks compensated for a drop of about between the head and the foot of the rapids. It was superseded by the original

Beauharnois Canal The Beauharnois Canal is located in southwestern Quebec, Canada. The canal is part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Located in Beauharnois-Salaberry Regional County Municipality within the cities of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Beauharnois, Saint-L ...

. Today, water no longer flows around the site or through the canal owing to a drop in water levels due to the building of

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

s, the building of newer dams, and other modern development.

Legacy

On 28 June 1985 Canada Post issued 'Fort at Coteau-du-Lac' one of the 20 stamps in the "Forts Across Canada Series" (1983). The stamps are perforated x 13 mm and were printed by Ashton-Potter Limited based on the designs by

Rolf P. Harder Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic languages, Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' (Rudolph (name), Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The O ...

Footnotes

External links

Parks Canada website

Official Website of the town of Coteau-du-Lac

{{NHSC Canals in Quebec National Historic Sites in Quebec Buildings and structures in Montérégie Tourist attractions in Montérégie History of Montérégie Canals opened in 1781 Transport in Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality

History

Legacy

Footnotes

See also

External links