Soo Locks

It was cold and windy last night. We could hear the freighters and tankers rumble by us and sometimes hear their fog horns as they came up or down the St Mary River. We called the Locks Visitor Center and found out some ships were expected about 1:30pm which was perfect.

We drove down the street to the US Hydroelectric Power Plant just north of the locks. The plant generates more than 150 million kilowatt hours of electrical power each year to operate the locks. Any remaining power gets distributed to to homes and businesses in Sault Ste Marie and surrounding communities.We stood along the wall and fished for a couple hours. We could see plenty of Atlantic Salmon just below us, but they wouldn't bite. We tried everything! There were boats hooked to the wall of the power plant with huge hooks with guys fly fishing. As soon as someone hooks a fish they let the hook loose from the wall and let the fish take them for a ride. One guy caught a fish about 15 lbs.

It was time to head for the locks. We went up into the viewing stand right next to the MacArthur Lock and Poe Lock. The Poe Lock is the largest of the 4 locks and was built in 1968 to accommodate 1000 foot vessels. There were 3 ships scheduled (2 going up to Lake Superior and 1 down to Lake Huron). The Visitor Center does a nice job announcing the ships as they come through and gives information on the size, its national origin, tonnage, cargo and destination. The Cedarglen was the first ship and it was huge. Just a little under 1000 lbs and they raised it 21 feet to go into Lake Superior.By the time it was raised the bottom of the ship was even with the top of the lock! Most cargo contained in these ships is either iron ore, coal, grain, or stone. More than 11,000 vessels, carrying up to 90 million tons of cargo pass through these locks every year.

Note the picture with the little tour boat (which you can barely see) in the lock. By the time it is raised you can see the whole boat! We spent 3 hours here and it was really interesting.

Back at camp we had dinner. It is really windy on the river and cold (56 degrees). It's fun to see the ships as they go by and hear the horns at night.
The sound can be very haunting when you think of all the wrecks out there!

It was a nice day.