On Sunday morning hubby and I went for a lovely fall walk in a local park (check out all the pictures) and came across the old Lock #2 of the Shubenacadie Canal. I had heard about it and knew that it started at the Dartmouth harbour and went all the way to the Bay of Fundy, that was about it. So a quick search revealed quite a bit of info.--> Lock 2
Here is a quick summary combined from various sources in my words:
"The Shubenacadie Canal is the most significant 19th century canal development project in the Maritimes.<-- Closeup of the Lock
The Shubenacadie Canal was envisioned to facilitate transportation between Halifax, and the agricultural, timber and coal producing areas of northern Nova Scotia and the Annapolis Valley.
Originally linking the area from Dartmouth to Maitland, the Shubenacadie Canal was an ancient Mi’kmaw travel route from the Bay of Fundy to the Halifax Harbour.
When construction started in 1826 it was supposed to have 17 locks, but the first company went bankrupt in 1831 only 13 locks had been completed by then. Construction restarted in 1854 but also suffered from financial difficulties. Despite completing the canal in 1861, the canal company showed little profit and experienced many problems relating to frigid winters which damaged the locks linking the freshwater lakes.Ducks above the LockThe canal's ongoing construction delays were partly responsible for the 1851 decision by Nova Scotia's colonial government to build the Nova Scotia Railway. They built rail lines from Halifax to Windsor and Truro by 1858. The railway effectively ruined the canal system when bridges crossing the canal were built too low for the steamers."
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