St. Lawrence Seaway: Canada and United States Joint Lifeline

Western Great Lakes Section of the St. Lawrence Seaway

Kenneth R. Olson — 2025-11-25

The St. Lawrence Seaway connects Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean. The lakes and connecting rivers, St. Mary’s, St. Claire, Detroit, Niagara and St. Lawrence, have been a major artery for transportation, migration and trade. The Great Lakes have been sailed for trading and commercial purposes since at least the 17th century. Approximately 6000 ships have sunk, killing more than 30,000 sailors and passengers. The linkage of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River has allowed Chicago’s wastewater to be disposed of into the tributaries of the Illinois River and Mississippi River to avoid contaminating Lake Michigan, the source of Chicago’s drinking water. An unintended consequence of linking the Western Great Lakes basin with the Mississippi River basin was the creation of the wet pathway (Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal) through which the flying Asian carp is trying to use to get into the Great Lakes. An electric fish barrier was constructed on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to prevent the carp from migrating into Lake Michigan, the Great Lakes basin and the St. Lawrence Seaway. The primary objective of this paper is to document the environmental threats to the Western Great Lakes basin, which has only one natural outlet, the Detroit River, which flows naturally into Lake Erie. These environmental challenges which are starting to requiring mitigation including the impact millions of people living in the Western Great Lakes basin, navigation on the St. Lawrence Seaway, thousands of shipwrecks at the bottoms of Lake Huron, Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, disposal of treated and untreated industrial and urban waste into the lakes, pollution of the sources of drinking water, land use change, shoreline erosion, building structures on the shoreline banks, underwater oil and gas pipelines, invasive species including Asian carp, and record high Western Great Lake water levels. The Western Great Lakes shorelines are actively eroding partly because of the high surface water levels. The high-risk erosion areas have been retreating at an average rate of 30 cm per year for the last 15 years.

Eastern Great Lakes Section of the St. Lawrence Seaway

Kenneth R. Olson — 2025-11-25

The Eastern Great Lakes Basin consists of the two primary Great Lakes and many secondary lakes that drain directly through tributaries and into the Great Lakes. The Eastern Great Lakes region covers 51,000 square km of land and is home to 15 million people. This region is rich in natural resources, industry and agriculture, and forms the heartland of both Canada and the United States. The development of this region has a history that is closely tied to waterways and seaways. The development of canals promoted growth and prosperity. The St. Lawrence Seaway connects the Great Lakes to the St Lawrence River and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The New York State Canal and the St. Lawrence Seaway were linked by the Oswego Canal and provided a shorter route for cargo via barges to New York City. The New York State (NYS) Barge Canal and the St. Lawrence Seaway provided pathways for the settlement of the Eastern Great Lakes. Lake Erie drains into Lake Ontario via the Niagara River, but the river was not navigable due to the obstacles of Niagara Falls and the Niagara Escarpment. Until the 1820s, ships could not travel into Lake Erie. The Eastern Great Lake shorelines, riverbanks and canals are actively eroding because of high surface water levels and flooding. The primary objective of this paper is to document the environmental risks to the Eastern Great Lakes, the Niagara River and the Welland Canal and to provide a solution to the current deteriorating Welland Canal that needs to be replaced in the next 10 years. The environmental challenges of this region, which require mitigation, include the replacement of the current deteriorating Welland Canal, navigation of the Niagara River, disposal of treated and untreated waste, water pollution, shoreline, riverbank and canal erosion accelerated by high water levels, and buildings on the Eastern Great Lakes shoreline and Niagara Riverbanks, invasive species, and flooding.

Navigation on St. Lawrence Seaway Via Gulf of Saint Lawrence Estuary and the St. Lawrence River

Kenneth R. Olson — 2025-11-25

The St. Lawrence River watershed and Newfoundland, located in Canada, are currently home to millions of people. The entire Great Lakes watershed drains through Lake Ontario and flows into the St. Lawrence River near Cape Vincent, New York. The St. Lawrence River then flows northeast through Quebec and Ontario and into the largest estuary in the world, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The St. Lawrence River, between Ontario, Canada and New York, United States, is part of the international boundary. The St. Lawrence Seaway permits ocean-going vessels to go from the Great Lakes of North America to the Atlantic Ocean. Navigation of the St. Lawrence was not possible until canals were built around the Lachine Rapids near Montreal. The canals allowed ships to bypass the rapids and travel into Lake Ontario. In 1954, the United States agreed to joint development of the international sections of the St. Lawrence River. The St. Lawrence Seaway was opened in 1959 and permits ocean-going ships to go all the way to the southwest corner of Lake Superior near Duluth, Minnesota. During the 1970s and after more than 150 years of successful resource and economic development of the St. Lawrence Basin, a grassroots challenge to the proposed United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) planned development of the St. Lawrence River was blocked by a successful ecological campaign called “Save the River”. The objectives of the study are: 1) to study the geological and landscape properties which the St. Lawrence River Basin has contributed to the successful resource and economic development of a historically rich region of North America, and 2) to study the environmental risks to the St. Lawrence River Basin and the Saint Lawrence estuary. Planned economic and urban development of the St. Lawrence River basin by the USACE was blocked by the “Save the River” campaign. These environmental challenges include the settlement of millions of people in the St. Lawrence River basin, navigation of the St. Lawrence River, disposal of treated and untreated wastewater, water pollution, shore erosion because of high-water levels in the Great Lakes and connecting rivers, invasive species, and flooding.