Монреаль Лашин Каналы: Тарихы мен маңызы

Canal in southwestern Montreal, Canada

The Lachine Canal is a canal passing through the southwestern part of the Island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, running 14.5 kilometres (9 miles) from the Old Port of Montreal to Lake Saint Louis, through the boroughs of Lachine, Lasalle and Sud Ouest. Before the canal construction there was a lake, Lac St. Pierre or or Petit Lac St. Pierre. The lake and its rivers can be seen on the maps of Montreal of the years 1700, 1744 and on the map titled "The isles of Montreal. As they have been surveyed by the French engineers" (1761). The lake is now filled in and located near the Turcot Interchange on Autoroute 20. The canal gets its name from the French word for China (la Chine). The European explorers sought to find a route from New France to the Western Sea, and from there to China and hence auspiciously the region where the canal was built was named Lachine. Due to the continuous disposal of industrial waste, the canal contains harmful substances, though the water quality is said to be good.

The canal is situated on land originally granted by the King of France to the Sulpician Order. Beginning in 1689, attempts were made by the French Colonial government and several other groups to build a canal that would allow ships to bypass the treacherous Lachine Rapids. After more than 130 years of failure, a consortium that included the young Scottish immigrant John Redpath was successful. John Richardson was Chairman of the Committee of Management of the canal project and its chief engineer was Thomas Brunett. The contractors were Thomas McKay and John Redpath, plus the firms of Thomas Phillips & Andrew White and Abner Bagg & Oliver Wait. The Lachine Canal was built to bypass the rapids at Lachine, upstream of Montreal. Freight and passengers destined for points past Lachine had to portage the 8 or 9 miles from Montreal's port to the village of Lachine where they could resume their trip by boat. Work on the canal commenced on July 17, 1821, under Chief Engineer Thomas Burnett and Construction Engineer John Richardson. The original canal was long and had seven locks, each long, wide and deep. The new canal officially opened in 1825, helping turn Montreal into a major port and eventually attracting industry to its banks when the Society of Sulpician Order decided to sell lots. During the 1840s, under Chief Engineer Charles Atherton, the Lachine Canal was deepened to allow heavier ships to pass through and hydraulic power was introduced to the industries on its banks. Through the enlargement of the canal, its use changed from solely a means of avoiding the Lachine rapids to that of an industrial region within Montreal. There were two major effects on the development of Montreal due to the enlargement of the Lachine Canal. The first was that by creating a route that bypassed the Lachine rapids and therefore opened the upper St Lawrence River to navigation, Montreal became a more convenient area for trade, effectively taking away shipping traffic from Quebec City and moving it to Montreal. Before the Lachine Canal, Montreal's industrial region was in what would be considered the downtown area. The impact of the Lachine Canal on Montreal during the mid to late 1800s can be seen through the emergence of new working class neighbourhoods such as Griffintown, St Henri, Pointe St Charles. Furthermore, the population of Montreal grew by over four times between the mid 1800s to the early 1900s. One of the main reasons behind the growth of the Lachine Canal region was the access to hydraulic power which was provided through the deepening of canal in the 1840s. However, while the Lachine Canal proved an enormous boon for Montreal and the Province of Quebec, time would show that for Canada's Maritime Provinces, it was the first major nail in that region's economic coffin. The first enlargements took place between 1843 and 1848, under the supervision of Alfred Barrett. Five new locks, each long, wide and deep replaced the original seven locks. A second enlargement of the canal took place between 1873 and 1885, at which time the locks were lengthened to and deepened to
The main reason for the second enlargement came from complaints from industrialists who wanted more power generated from the canal. They complained about the speed of the current being too slow. The second enlargement was meant to fix these problems.

The current canal has a guaranteed draught of and the clearance under bridges is .

The canal has been designated as a National Historic Site of Canada, officially named the Lachine Canal National Historic Site of Canada. The Fur Trade at Lachine National Historic Site is located near the western end of the canal.

At its zenith from 1880 to 1940, the industrial and manufacturing area adjacent to the canal was once the largest in Canada in terms of both the number of firms and diversity of its output. At one time, over 20% of the workforce of the Island of Montreal was employed in its factories. Given its historic importance, the "Lachine Canal Manufacturing Complex" was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1996, in addition to the designation already enjoyed by the canal itself. The Lachine Canal fell victim to deindustrialization. Many of the factories that lined the Lachine Canal were torn down and replaced by houses and apartments. By 1990 there was the feeling that the area's industrial history was being forgotten. In response, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board named the Lachine Canal "Lachine Canal Manufacturing Complex". The area was renovated after Parks Canada took over the Administration. Atwater Market was built as a public works project during the depression era. The site was originally the William Rutherford lumberyard. The building has served many purposes, but it has been a market since 1982.