The Welland Canal - Drained (10+ Photos)

We took a walk down by the Welland Canal one Sunday and discovered it was drained. I was like, “OMG! It’s empty!” (Well not quite), but it was the first time I’ve actually seen it drained. They do this every winter to perform any kind of maintenance work on the canal. (Check out some old 2012 photos we discovered from The Globe and Mail, in a slide gallery further down below.)

The Welland Ship Canal is part of the St. Lawrence Seaway that connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean where ships, (carrying cargo or passengers), go through to by-pass Niagara Falls.

We’re used to seeing it in the summer time like this:

And like this:

Not like this:

More like this, lol:

Not like this:

Keeping the Welland Canal in Shape (Slide Gallery)

(From the Globe and Mail)

Each winter, the Welland Canal is drained and shut down for about three months for upkeep work. This year, crews are replacing the tie-up walls near locks #1 to #4, and rebuilding a section between locks #1 and #2 that collapsed in a rainstorm two years ago.

Pretty cool huh? I also uploaded a video but I must mention that although it was sunny that day, it was also a bit windy which not only made for a pretty cold day (it’s February after all), but some pretty shaky hands as well while filming!

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