First Welland Canal entrance found

[dr_feelgood]

On Thursday at 9 a.m., Jon Jouppien’s team of diggers set out to uncover the Lake Ontario entrance to the first Welland Canal.

They quickly hit the bull’s-eye — twice — exposing timber beams and supports of the east and the west walls of the channel.

Jouppien, a heritage consultant and archeologist, was elated.

By late morning, the excavators sported giant smiles and words like “monumental” and “historic” were being used to describe the discovery.

“My work here proves that the canal is in Lakeside Park,” Jouppien said as a backhoe clawed into the Port Dalhousie earth.

“This is a piece of nationally important history,” said Jouppien, a Niagara Falls resident. “It is critically important to the military and economic history of the early days of the province.

“We didn’t expect it would be in this fabulous state of preservation.”

As he spoke, a member of the team shouted excitedly from the east-side dig: “Hey! We’ve got some lock wall fragments here.”

The excavation site is in a grassy area at the northwest corner of Lakeside Park.

Jouppien — who is conducting the excavation for the provincial Ministry of Culture — said historical documents show the canal at that location is 13.8 metres wide and 2.25 metres deep.

“What’s intriguing is we’ve measured it and we’re getting a span of 53 feet (15.9 metres),” Jouppien said.

“We’re testing the historic documents people have always used, but this is the real story,” he said.

The canal opened in 1829 after five years of construction. It was filled in as successor canals were built.

“This is a chapter in history,” Jouppien added. “We can say that first canal is right here in Port Dalhousie, in Lakeside Park.”

Jouppien will report back to the City of St. Catharines “so they can use the data we’re finding here ... to do cultural resource management of the park,” he said.

That means if there’s future work underground, the city will know the exact canal dimensions so the remnants aren’t damaged, he said.

“I’m also going to be making recommendations that the city looks at the heritage value of this,” Jouppien said. “It would be a great, great resource for the city to exploit.”

Today will be spent preparing maps, Jouppien said. A report will be sent to the Culture Ministry “by the new year,” and the city will get a copy.

In a few days, the excavation site will be filled in again “for safety reasons and also preservation,” Jouppien said.

“Isn’t that beautiful?” said St. Catharines Regional Coun. Bruce Timms when told about Thursday’s discovery.

Timms is leading an effort to get all four Welland canals declared a heritage corridor. In December, the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board will decide if it will recommend the designation. The final decision rests with the federal environment minister.

“It’s great news to find that and have visual evidence that will build our case with the heritage board,” Timms said.

“One of the keys to designation is ... is there enough visible evidence to tell the story of the canal?”

In August, another team partially unearthed a lock from the second Welland Canal near the recreational path along Twelve Mile Creek in St. Catharines.

That effort also provided visual evidence to support a potential federal designation.

City of St. Catharines heritage planner Kevin Blozowski said Thursday’s news was “wonderful.”

“We’re going to be looking forward to Jon’s report with some anticipation,” Blozowski said.

“He’ll provide recommendations about how the city can preserve and tell the story of the (first Welland Canal).”

Blozowski said he won’t comment on what the city might do until he reads Jouppien’s report.

[Dan Andrews]

This is cool but why did they rebury it? I thought the idea was to excavate and restore it. I see the platform at the first lock is fenced off. The City said the wood that shores it up is rotting and needs to be replaced. I like all this history stuff when it comes to Port because Port's history is one of ever evolving changes until recently. Seems most residents there want a working museum like NOTL. Heck I think its time for a major reshaping down there. One that will bring prosperity and functionality again. Of coarse a viable traffic route would be top priority.