My husband and I recently took a vacation to Upper Michigan. We traveled all over the upper peninsula of Michigan. One of the sites we went to see was the Soo Locks. The history behind it was so interesting because the project was so enormous and they didn't have the machinery we have today.
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The Soo Locks Today |
The need was great in the booming lumber area to allow ships to travel from Lake Superior to the lower Great Lakes, so the State of Michigan decided to contract the building of locks. The project would have a two-year deadline and was financed by a congressional land grant of 750,000 acres.
Charles T Harvey was a twenty-two-year-old salesman, recovering from typhoid fever at the time. But Charles saw an opportunity and used his skill as a salesman to convince his employer, E&T Fairbanks of Vermont and other investors to commit to the building of the locks. They won the contract and Harvey became the general superintendent. He moved to Sault Ste. Marie and oversaw hundreds of workers, tradesman, and even engineers.
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Charles Harvey |
With a workforce in hand, Harvey started removing several feet of bedrock from the St. Marys River. But after the 1854 shipping season had closed the men discovered a 30,000 square foot rock ledge they were unprepared for. Winter was fast upon them, and they lacked the tools to be able to remove this massive rock. Unfortunately, there was no place to purchase the equipment they needed and if they waited for spring and the tools to get there it would be impossible to meet that 2-year deadline in their contract. Not meeting it would mean they would not only lose the contract but would lose all of the money the investors had put up.
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The 'Hammer' |
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Barge and Hammer |
With the hammer Harvey and his men built, they were able to meet their deadline and fulfil their contract. The lock was called "The State Lock". The opening of Lake Superior to the lower Great Lakes allowed products and raw materials to flow freely to the UP. That encouraged the industrial growth of the area.
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The Early Lock |
He couldn’t very well hear God if he wasn’t listening. He needed to lay his life before God and let him direct it instead of trying to manipulate things to his liking.
Kirsten Macleod is in a bind. Her father’s last will and testament stipulates that she must either marry, lead the plantation into a first-year profit, or forfeit it to her uncle. But marriage is proving no easy option. Every suitor seems more enamored with the land than with her. Until her handsome neighbor sweeps into her stable to the rescue… of her beloved horse.
Silas Westbrook’s last year at veterinary school ends abruptly when he is called home to care for his young orphaned sisters. Troubles compound when he finds an insurmountable lien on the only home they’ve ever known, and the unscrupulous banker is calling in the loan. The neighbor’s kind-hearted and beautiful stable girl, Krissy, provides the feminine influence the girls desperately need. If only he had a future to offer her. But to save his sisters from poverty, he should set his sights on Krissy’s wealthy relative Kirsten Macleod, the elusive new heiress. Surely this hard-working and unassuming young lady and the landowner could not be one and the same?
*quote from the Soo Lock Museum.
Thank you for posting today. I love hearing how these great projects were done in the past.
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