Crews investigating deficiencies at bottom of Sault Canal

A portion of the canal at the Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site has been "unwatered" as crews conduct an inspection of deficiencies in the system.  

Stop logs were put in place and the unwatering began Monday, said Carly Wetzl, Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site manager, speaking to SooToday.

The current inspection is anticipated to last three weeks, then the canal will be filled up with water again.

The canal will be unwatered again for a longer period in 2024 so that actual repairs can be done.

“We do know that there are issues with the two upper valves so we’re going to investigate that further and see if there is any other maintenance that needs to be done," Wetzl said. "We’ll have to unwater again and do the actual maintenance so it’ll be for a longer duration of time but we’re not sure of how long that will be or how much money that will cost yet. This investigation will allow us to figure that out."

Canal officials said that next year’s boating season — from May 15 to Oct. 15, 2024 — will be affected due to the canal repairs, but are hoping for as little disruption as possible.

“The second unwatering and repairs won’t be sooner, I don’t think, than next fall,” said Barry Guzzo, canal project manager.

“Our intent is to preserve the boating season as much as we can but if we don’t make these repairs our reliability is not going to be very good.” 

“We’re going to have to get some parts built because very little of it is off-the-shelf stuff. We want to make some revisions for long-term reliability. This work will help us preserve our operations,” Guzzo said.

“In October 2023, Parks Canada contracted a diving team to inspect and identify suspected deficiencies with one of the upstream valves in the Sault Ste. Marie Canal. This valve is one of two butterfly valves that allow water to flow into the lock, raising the water level in the chamber. Throughout the 2023 operational season, May to October, this valve was not functioning properly for most of the season. Upon the dive team’s investigation, it was determined that deficiencies were noted with both upstream valves,” wrote Megan Miller, Parks Canada spokesperson in an email.

All components of the lock, including the structure of the valves, machinery, drivelines, gates and wall components will be investigated over the next three weeks.

“Large equipment will be on site to help facilitate the unwatering process of the canal and lock system; therefore safety fencing and signage will be posted to inform visitors of the ongoing work at the site and to identify which areas are temporarily closed to public access. Visitor and staff safety is of the utmost importance for Parks Canada. As such, visitors are reminded to respect construction safety zones and personnel on site, and to never enter active construction areas,” Miller wrote.