The main exit of water from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario is the Niagara River. One can drive along this scenic river with no problem and go from one lake to another. If you are a boat, you are faced with a slight problem though going from one lake to the other. That problem...Niagara Falls Though one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the falls create a shipping problem with their 100 m (330 ft) drop.

   The solution around this was to build another way between the lakes. Thus the Welland Canal and Locks were built. The current locks are in reality the fourth set of locks. A canal was dug from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. Spaced out at different intervals are a series of locks (like the Panama Canal) that lifted or lower a ship between different of levels. So the ship goes up (or down) a series of water stairs to get from one lake to another.

  The first canal took a wide loop and had 40+ locks. Each canal since has taken a more direct route and has had fewer, yet larger locks. The current canal only has 7 locks and can take just about any cargo vessel on the oceans today. (Don't expect the Enterprise to try to go up them though)

For more information on the falls and the area, please see my page on the Niagara region. I hope you enjoy.

I hope you enjoy the photos. Any comments, please E-mail me, .

Click on the title or thumbnail to view the larger picture.

Upstream	Empty	Downstream
Clouds	Old Canal + Water Fall	Canal