internal diameter) than the tunnel. At this juncture Greathead came forward and offered to take up the contract; and he successfully carried it through in 1869 without finding any necessity to resort to the use of compressed air, which Barlow in 1867 had suggested might be employed in water-bearing strata. After this he began to practise on his own account, and mainly divided his time between railway construction and taking out patents for improvements in his shield, and for other inventions such as the “Ejector” fire-hydrant. Early in the ’eighties he began to work in conjunction with a company whose aim was to introduce into London from America the Hallidie system of cable traction, and in 1884 an act of Parliament was obtained authorizing what is now the City & South London Railway—a tube-railway to be worked by cables. This was begun in 1886, and the tunnels were driven by means of the Greathead shield, compressed air being used at those points where water-bearing gravel was encountered. During the progress of the works electrical traction became so far developed as to be superior to cables; the idea of using the latter was therefore abandoned, and when the railway was opened in 1890 it was as an electrical one. Greathead was engaged in two other important underground lines in London—the Waterloo & City and the Central London. He lived to see the tunnels of the former completed under the Thames, but the latter was scarcely begun at the time of his death, which happened at Streatham, in the south of London, on the 21st of October 1896.
GREAT LAKES OF NORTH AMERICA, THE. The connected
string of five fresh-water inland seas, Lakes Superior, Michigan,
Huron, Erie and Ontario, lying in the interior of North America,
between the Dominion of Canada on the north and the United
States of America on the south, and forming the head-waters of
the St Lawrence river system, are collectively and generally
known as “The Great Lakes.” From the head of lake Superior
these lakes are navigable to Buffalo, at the foot of lake Erie,
a distance of 1023 m., for vessels having a draught of 20 ft.;
from Buffalo to Kingston, 191 m. farther, the draught is limited,
by the depth in the Welland canal, to 14 ft.; lake Superior, the
largest and most westerly of the lakes, empties, through the river
St Mary, 55 m. long, into lake Huron. From Point Iroquois,
which may be considered the foot of the lake, to Sault Ste
Marie, St Mary’s Falls, St Mary’s Rapids or the Soo, as it is
variously called, a distance of 14 m., there is a single channel,
which has been dredged by the United States government, at
points which required deepening, to give a minimum width
of 800 ft. and a depth of 23 ft. at mean stage water. Below the
Sault, the river, on its course to lake Huron, expands into several
lakes, and is divided by islands into numerous contracted
passages. There are two navigated channels; the older one,
following the international boundary-line by way of lake George,
has a width of 150 to 300 ft., and a depth of 17 ft.; it is buoyed
but not lighted, and is not capable of navigation by modern
large freighters; the other, some 12 m. shorter, an artificial
channel dredged by the United States government in their own
territory, has a minimum width of 300 ft. and depth of 20 ft.
It is elaborately lighted throughout its length. A third channel,
west of all the islands, was designed for steamers bound down,
the older channel being reserved for upbound boats.
Between lake Superior and lake Huron there is a fall of 20 ft. of which the Sault, in a distance of 12 m., absorbs from 18 to 1912 ft., the height varying as the lakes change in level. The enormous growth of inter-lake freight traffic has justified the construction of three separate locks, each overcoming the rapids by a single lift—two side by side on the United States and one on the Canadian side of the river. These locks, the largest in the world, are all open to Canadian and United States vessels alike, and are operated free from all taxes or tolls on shipping. The Canadian ship canal, opened to traffic on the 9th of September 1895, was constructed through St Mary Island, on the north side of the rapids, by the Canadian government, at a cost of $3,684,227, to facilitate traffic and to secure to Canadian vessels an entrance to lake Superior without entering United States territory. The canal is 5967 ft. long between the extremities of the entrance piers, has one lock 900 ft. long and 60 ft. wide, with a depth on the sills at the lowest known water-level of 2012 ft. The approaches to the canal are dredged to 18 ft. deep, and are well buoyed and lighted. On the United States side of the river the length of the canal is 123 m., the channel outside the locks having a width varying from 108 to 600 ft. and depth of 25 ft. The locks of 1855 were closed in 1886, to give place to the Poe lock. The Weitzel lock, opened to navigation on the 1st of September 1881, was built south of the old locks, the approach being through the old canal. Its chamber is 515 ft. long between lock gates, and 80 ft. wide, narrowing to 60 ft. at the gates. The length of the masonry walls is 717 ft., height 3912 ft., with 17 ft. over mitre sills at mean stage of water. The Poe lock, built because the Weitzel lock, large and fully equipped as it is, was insufficient for the rapidly growing traffic, was opened on the 3rd of August 1896. Its length between gates is 800 ft.; width 100 ft.; length of masonry walls 1100 ft.; height 4312 to 45 ft., with 22 ft. on the mitre sill at mean stage.
The expenditure by the United States government on the canal, with its several locks, and on improving the channel through the river, aggregated fourteen million dollars up to the end of 1906.[1] Plans were prepared in 1907 for a third United States lock with a separate canal approach.
The canals are closed every winter, the average date of opening up to 1893 being the 1st of May, and of closing the 1st of December. The pressure of business since that time, aided possibly by some slight climatic modification, has extended the season, so that the average date of opening is now ten days earlier and of closing twelve days later. The earliest opening was in 1902 on the 1st of April, and the latest closing in 1904 on the 20th of December.
The table below gives the average yearly commerce for periods of five years, and serves to show the rapid increase in freight growth.
Statement of the commerce through the several Sault Ste Marie canals, averaged for every five years.[2]
| Years. | Pass- ages. | Registered Tonnage. | Passen- gers. | Coal. Net Tons. | Flour. Barrels. | Wheat. Bushels. |
Other. Grains. Bushels | General Merchandise. Net Tons. | Salt. Barrels. | Iron Ore. Net Tons. | Lumber. M. ft. B.M. | Total Freight. Net Tons. |
| 1855–1859* | 387 | 192,207 | 6,206 | 4,672 | 19,555 | None. | 34,612 | 2,249 | 1,248 | 27,206 | 320 | 55,797 |
| 1880–1884 | 4,457 | 2,267,166 | 34,607 | 463,431 | 681,726 | 5,435,601 | 936,346 | 81,966 | 107,225 | 867,999 | 79,144 | 2,184,731 |
| 1885–1889 | 7,908 | 4,901,105 | 29,434 | 1,398,441 | 1,838,325 | 18,438,085 | 1,213,815 | 74,447 | 175,725 | 2,497,403 | 197,605 | 5,441,297 |
| 1890–1894 | 11,965 | 9,912,589 | 24,609 | 2,678,805 | 5,764,766 | 34,875,971 | 1,738,706 | 87,540 | 231,178 | 4,939,909 | 510,482 | 10,627,349 |
| 1895–1899 | 18,352 | 18,451,447 | 40,289 | 3,270,842 | 8,319,699 | 57,227,269 | 23,349,134 | 164,426 | 282,156 | 10,728,075 | 832,968 | 19,354,974 |
| 1900–1904 | 19,374 | 26,199,795 | 54,093 | 5,457,019 | 7,021,839 | 56,269,265 | 26,760,533 | 646,277 | 407,263 | 20,020,487 | 999,944 | 31,245,565 |
| 1906 alone | 22,155 | 41,098,324 | 63,033 | 8,739,630 | 6,495,350 | 84,271,358 | 54,343,155 | 1,134,851 | 468,162 | 35,357,042 | 900,631 | 51,751,080 |
* The first five years of operation.
Around the canals have grown up two thriving towns, one on the Michigan, the other on the Ontario side of the river, with manufactories driven by water-power derived from the Sault. The outlet of lake Michigan, the only lake of the series lying wholly in United States territory, is at the Strait of Mackinac, near the point where the river St Mary reaches lake Huron. With lake Michigan are connected the Chicago Sanitary and Ship canal, the Illinois and Michigan, and the Illinois and Mississippi canals, for which see Illinois. With lake Huron is always
