Soo Locks

On June 26th, Barbara, Ellie and I along with our friends Glen and Kathy traveled to the town of Sault Ste. Marie to see the Soo Locks. Soo Locks is locate on the St. Marys River that flows from Lake Superior to Lake Huron. The locks were originally constructed between 1914 and 1919 and Poe Lock, the larger of the two locks, was reconstructed in 1968 to accommodate todays larger ships. A third lock is currently under construction to allow more ship traffic through the locks. Ships passing through the locks transport nearly 86 million tons of cargo annually, including 95% of the United States iron ore.

On the day we visited the locks, a freighter carrying iron ore passed through. It was fun watching the process of the ship moving into Poe Lock, the gates close, the ship lower by approximately 16 feet, the gates reopen and the ship slowly move out of the lock on its journey to Lake Huron and beyond.