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Visit this relic of the early Canadian
industrial age.
You can walk about the
grounds, climb to the top of the lift, or just relax and watch Trent Canal
pleasure craft and giant cruisers making their way from Lake Ontario to
Georgian Bay.
The hydraulic lift lock at
Kirkfield constructed between 1896 and 1907 is a massive structure with a
lift of 49 feet. It is the second largest hydraulic lift in the world
second only to the Peterborough lift lock on the same system with a lift of
65 feet. Both lifts have chambers 140 feet long, 33 feet wide and a
normal water depth of eight feet.
( Photo's
by Galen Frysinger)
The concept of these two
lift locks was derived from lift locks built in England, Belgium, and France
in the 1870s and 1880s. The Trent Canal Superintending Engineer, Richard
B. Rogers felt that due to their geographic locations, both sites would
benefit from a lift, as opposed to the conventional lock. Water
conservation, cost, and lockage time were all contributing factors.
Originally, Rogers envisioned cargo transportation on the Waterway being
done by using strings of five to twelve barges towed by a single vessel.
The Kirkfield Lift lock
operates as originally constructed except for the addition of new
hydraulic and electrical control systems in 1965-66.
The mechanism may be likened
to a giant scale consisting of two chambers. When an extra foot of water
is added to the upper chamber, and the crossover valves are opened, the
heaver chamber over-balances the lower chamber forcing it to rise. Each
chamber holds 228,093
gallons of water,
weighing 1,700 tons. The weight of the vessels in the chambers is
irrelevant, as each vessel, by virtue of its entry, has already displaced
its weight in water before the gates were closed. The chamber stops one
foot short of the upper canal level, allowing one foot (144 tons) of water
to flow in when the hinged gate is lowered (opened). The chamber is now
ready for its next downward journey. Conversely when a chamber reaches
the bottom, the water level in the chamber is one foot above the lower
canal level until the gate is opened allowing the water level in the
chamber to drop which prepares it for its next lift upward.
The Kirkfield Lift lock is the highest elevation on the canal and boaters
are reminded by signs along the canal that they are now traveling
downstream and the relative position of the buoys will be reversed.
Bright blue guard gates on
either side of the canal are designed as a safety feature to protect the
lift lock in case of a sudden surge of water. The gates are shut at night
and can be closed to seal off the river even as water rushes through them
in case of an emergency. |
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