British Canada had good reason to be nervous even after the War of 1812 was settled. America was building canals northward. The Champlain canal was opened in 1819 and the Oswego in 1829, both providing naval access and the possibility of an attack Canada yet again. Although the young and aggressive America made no further attempts to invade eastern Canada, the Rideau canal was built as a precaution nonetheless. It was opened in 1832 and the center of British Canadian government was moved north from Kingston, first to Montreal and then to Ottawa.
Covering 125 miles from Lake Ontario at Kingston to the Ottawa river, the British utilized the Cataraqi and Rideau river systems to construct the canal in 5 summers. During peak construction 4,000 men, women and children worked on the canal under conditions of extreme hardship. During the building of the canal close to a thousand died of malaria brought to the region by British soldiers who carried the disease back from their foreign assignments. A Celtic cross stands near the summit in memory of all who perished during construction.
Building the Rideau canal was the most expensive project undertaken in the British empire st that time and the most financially scrutinized in London. The original budget for the canal was 169,000 pounds sterling, an amount that it's overseer, Col. John By did not agree with.
When the canal was finished and the total cost of nearly 1 million pounds was tallied, Col. By was discredited for his masterful accomplishment and the name of Bytown at the end of the canal was changed to Ottawa. He died a broken man in England three years after completing the canal.
Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Rideau canal is maintained in its original condition and operated by Parks Canada. It's 45 locks on the main canal are hand operated mostly by healthy young college students in the summer season.
It takes us 2 days to navigate the 38 miles and 13 locks up to the canal summit at Newboro, 166 feet above Kingston. A great meal at the Stirling Lodge and a beautiful night tied above the last up-lock in this Canadian outback seems a world away from the big town of Kingston that
