Dinner and Soo Locks

Saturday was an eventful day with the unexpected Army National Guard bridge building exercise, a move to a great find at the Kewadin Casino RV Park, and finally a dinner cruise on the vessel Holiday owned by Soo Locks Tours.

Our boat.

German theme cruise complete with Fraulein!

The dinner cruise was buffet style as the boat cruised down the St Mary River.  The weekend cruises have a theme and ours was German night.  The cuisine was primarily German and was quite good!

After dinner we turned around and headed upstream for our tour through Soo Locks.  On the way we got a close up view of the vessel Federal Yukon, one of the many freighters that ply the waters of the upper Great Lakes.

The Soo Locks were built to allow shipping through a set of rapids on the St Mary's River. One thing I found surprising is that there is no charge for any vessel to use the locks.  

The locks raise or lower the vessels 21 feet depending on the direction of travel.  I always thought they would pump the water in and out but discovered that they let the river do the work by opening and closing valves either up stream of the locks or downstream.  That makes much more sense doesn't it?  Prior to the locks being built, the traders in their canoes and rafts would have to unload their goods and "portage" the rapids, then load every thing back in and continue on their way.  They used Portage Street in Sault Ste. Marie which still exists today.

Inside the lock heading up the river.

Gates are about closed.

About 15 minutes later, we have been raised 21 feet vertically
by the water entering the lock.

And now we are ready to proceed upstream.

You see many buildings in this area built from this reddish sandstone that was removed from the river bed in order to develop the locks.

The tour included a run by an operating steel mill. The raw materials, taconite, limestone, coke, and others,  are brought in by barge and the finished goods shipped out by barge.

A barge being loaded with finished steel.

A blast furnace.

Taconite

Limestone

A rotary kiln

Next up was a voyage under the highway and railroad bridges and then back to the American locks to be lowered down 21' to the river level.  this section of the railroad bridge raises vertically for the large ships to pass under.

If you've never seen or been through a lock system, this is every educational and entertaining tour.  

The railroad bridge raises vertically.

Back at the level we started!

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