[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 43 (Wednesday, April 13, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3550-S3551]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SOO LOCKS ANNIVERSARY

 Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, this year marks the 150th 
anniversary of completion of two of the four Soo Locks in the St. Marys 
River. These locks, completed in 1855, provide the link between Lake 
Superior and the rest of the Great Lakes at Sault Ste. Marie, MI. These 
locks have proved to be vital to the economy of the Great Lakes region 
as well as the nation as a whole. The locks, in fact, handle more cargo 
than the Panama Canal annually. The history of the Soo Locks is really 
the story of the settlement of the Midwest and the rise of the region's 
industrial legacy.
  Lake Superior is separated from Lake Huron by the St. Marys River. 
Prior to the locks, rapids made navigation of this river impossible. 
The Ojibway Indians, and later white settlers, were forced to portage 
their small

[[Page S3551]]

boats around the rapids to reach Lake Superior. Larger ships had to 
have their cargo unloaded and then moved by wagon to the other side of 
the rapids, where it could be loaded onto another ship.
  In the 1840s, extensive copper and iron mining began in Michigan's 
Upper Peninsula, and several boomtowns soon sprang up along Lake 
Superior's shores. Due to the lack of roads, all travel and trade was 
done by boat. The increased traffic soon made it clear that continuing 
the loading and unloading of cargo at Sault Ste. Marie would not be 
possible.
  An act of Congress in 1852 gave 750,000 acres of public land to the 
State of Michigan for use as compensation to the company that would 
build a system of locks between Lake Superior and the other Great 
Lakes. The project was undertaken by the Fairbanks Scale Company due to 
their mining interests in the Upper Peninsula.
  Despite poor building conditions during the cold winters, the two 
350-foot locks were constructed within the 2-year deadline set by the 
State. On May 31, 1855, the locks were turned over to the State of 
Michigan and named the State Lock.
  The opening of the State Lock decreased the cost of shipping iron ore 
from the Upper Peninsula to industrial centers like Detroit, Chicago, 
and Cleveland, by more than half. This, along with railroad 
improvements, allowed Michigan's Upper Peninsula to fuel America's 
industrial revolution. Michigan was able to lead the nation in iron 
production for almost 50 years. Even today, about 22 percent of the 
iron ore produced in the United States comes from Marquette County 
alone.
  In 1881, it became clear that new locks would be necessary to keep up 
with growing traffic. Additionally, the State did not have the funds to 
improve the existing locks, so they were transferred to the 
jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers, where they have been ever 
since.
  The current lock system consists of a total of four locks, two of 
which are shallower and no longer used. The other two, the MacArthur 
and the Poe locks, were completed in 1943 and 1968 respectively. The 
MacArthur lock is used most often and can accommodate ships of up to 
800 feet in length. Larger ships need to use the Poe lock as it can 
handle ships of up to 1,000 feet in length. There are plans to build a 
new lock in place of the two unused locks, but funding has not been 
appropriated. Common cargos that pass through the locks today include 
iron ore, limestone, coal, grain, cement, salt and sand.
  Today the Great Lakes shipping industry and the Soo Locks still allow 
many industries to stay competitive. The Soo Locks shaped the economy 
of the Great Lakes region, and the engineers who helped design and 
construct the locks truly deserve to be remembered and honored.

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