Throughout history, people have always been drawn to waterfalls... the power, beauty, and environment that they create are attractive to us all. This account is about one of those waterfalls. The original people, Algonquin speaking tribes of the Upper Great Lakes, called it Bawating, the rushing waters. This spillway from Gitchi-gaumee or the Great Lake was carved out by massive glaciers over 10,000 years ago. Several miles long and some three thousand feet wide, these rushing rapids were home to an abundance of whitefish and trout. This spot became a natural stopping point for French explorers in the early 1600's, followed by French Jesuit missionaries and fur trappers. The falls were given the name Le Sault de Gaston and Le Sault de Tracy, but finally came to be known as Le Sault de Sainte Marie, the Falls of St. Marys. Father Jacques Marquette christened the falls and the area on both sides of the river in 1668, when he established a settlement on the southern shore. This settlement of the white man became one of the oldest in North America, and was chosen by Sieur de St. Lusson to claim North America, west of Montreal, for King Louis XLV of France in 1671.

    The French controlled the fur trade through the mid-1700's on the Great Lakes, but activity by the British with a fort at Hudson's Bay caused the French to build a fort under the direction of Cheveliar de Repentigny in 1751. The fort, built on the southern shore below the rapids, was abandoned a few years later during the French and Indian Wars. After the French surrendered to the British. English men set up control of the fur trade at Sault Ste. Marie by establishing the Northwest Fur Company, eventually bought out by the Hudson's Bay Company. They were first to make use of the water power at the Sault for sawmills. They also built the first lock for canoes around the north shore of the rapids.

    In 1776 the British were defeated In the War of independence, but only gave up their lands on the east coast of the new United States. It wasn't until the War of 1812 that battles for control of the upper Great Lakes finally resulted In U.S. control of the Great Lakes waterways.  As a result, an agreement with England established a boundary down the middle of the Falls of the St. Mary. Even though national boundaries separated the shorelines, Sault Ste. Marie continued to be the name for all of the geographic region around the falls. The Inhabitants, though few In number, traveled and traded freely on both sides of the waterway.

    In the 1830's and 40's the rapids still provided the chief source of Income for the area as people were employed to "portage" or haul ships around the rapids by pulling them over Portage Street on greased logs and eventually railroad tracks.

    In 1836 a treaty between the Ottawa and Chippewa Indian tribes and the U.S. Government was instrumental in clearing the way for Michigan to become a state in 1837.

    In the 1840's copper began to be mined in the western upper peninsula, and in 1844 iron ore was discovered In Negaunee. To ship this resource out to an eager and waiting world, a lock system had to be built at the Sault to assure easier ship passage. In 1855, with state financing, this was accomplished by carving a mile long canal with two 350-foot locks arranged In tandem with hand-operated gates.

    The shipments made through that lock of copper and Iron ore had a direct bearing on the success of the North in the Civil War. But as ship traffic grew, a wider and deeper lock was required, and in 1881 the federal government completed a second lock named after the U.S. Corps of Engineers construction supervisor General Godfrey Weltzel. Title to the locks also then passed to the U.S. Government. The state locks system was rebuilt in the late 1800's by General Orlando Poe, with the Poe Lock opening in 1896. This lock has since been rebuilt to accommodate freighters 1,000 feet in length.

    Since the mid 1800's people envisioned using water diverted from the St. Marys River through a canal to run waterwheel operated flour mills, in the 1860's electric generators called "dynamos" were developed and started to show promise in machine operations centered around water power.

    In 1879 Thomas Edison invented the incandescent light bulb, and by 1880  the system was commercially available. The use of electricity began to inspire the world.

    In 1885 George Westinghouse began working on a system that would reduce electric voltage so that it would be safe to come into a business or residence by developing a device called a transformer. Now generating stations could distribute power over long distances and to various types of customers.

    At the same time, with the state approval to divert water from the St. Marys River, the village of Sault Ste. Marie voted to construct a canal and hydroelectric milling center. The St. Marys Falls Water Power Company was to dig the canal and construct the waterworks system. Among the founders of this company were Henry Seymour and William Chandler, two individuals who were most responsible for developing electricity as a product to be sold to Sault Ste. Marie.

    A land boom started in Sault Ste. Marie when people began to realize what the future might hold. The vision of mills and factories lined up along the water canal using electricity had everyone in Sault Ste. Marie believing that the town would be transformed into a major city in just a matter of years.

    Canal excavation was slow, however. Layers of clay, mud, and bedrock were more than the engineers had envisioned, and their money was soon exhausted. In 1887 Chandler persuaded a group of Wisconsin grain businessmen, calling themselves the LaCrosse Syndicate, to invest in the canal project. They purchased additional property rights and began expanding the canal to a width of 100 feet.

    This new expansion caused another land boom. Lots which previously sold for $25 were now going for $6,000. Three railroad spurs were linking in the Sault, and a railroad bridge across the rapids was being completed. Meanwhile, William Chandier and a group of Michigan residents decided purchasing islands In the rapids would be an easier way to make use of water for power and formed the Edison Sault Light and Power Company.

    The Edison Company began construction in the rapids of the forebay and distribution system in 1887 and began providing direct current electricity to Sault, Michigan, In 1888. That winter, Ice conditions clogged the forebay and mechanical problems caused the plant to shut down. Undaunted, in 1891, Harris T. Dunbar and William Chandler reorganized and formed the Edison Sault Electric Company. A new power plant was built with auxiliary steam power and a larger forebay was constructed, solving the ice flow problems.

    In 1892, the newly incorporated Edison Sault Electric Company began serving Sault Ste. Marie from their new plant in the rapids. The original incorporation of the company showed capital of $57,000, with six shareholders owning 2,280 shares of common stock. The city began to prosper with an electric street car, a stable water and sewer system, gas lines, and electricity to the village homes. Street lights, elevators, freezers, and refrigeration were now available, and people were eager to take advantage of all the new appliances that were being invented.

    Sault Ste. Marie became the fastest growing city In Michigan, with a population of 5,800 in 1890. However, even with the growth, the large canal project started in 1885 once again became dormant due to financial difficulty, leaving a muddy ditch for residents to contend with.

    In 1894 Francis H. Clergue, an attorney and business developer, came to Sault Ste. Marie at the request of Philadelphia investors to look for a suitable spot to build a hydro electric generation facility that would attract industry and develop a new population center. Clergue was encouraged by what he saw at the Canadian Sault. Their power canal project looked like it could be completed easier than the one in Sault, Michigan. He purchased the Canadian canal, completed its construction, and built a hydro electric power house supplying water and light to Sault, Ontario.

    After the Canadian hydro plant completion, Clergue was disappointed that industries did not locate in Sault, Ontario. He then convinced his investors to develop new industries to take advantage of the inexpensive electrical power. The Canadian government granted Clergue's company two million acres of forest land to use for a pulp and paper factory. Red sandstone excavated from the locks and canals was used to build the world's largest pulp and paper mill What later became the Consolidated Lake Superior Corporation went on to produce chemicals to preserve and bleach pulp; bought two nickel mines; invented an alloy for armor plating acquired an iron ore mine, producing a thousand tons of ore a day; constructed a railroad for bringing the ore to a dock; acquired steamship lines and dry dock and went on to form the Algoma Iron, Nickel, and Steel Company of Canada.

    As Clergue was delayed in his steel manufacturing process by the need for new furnaces, he looked at the power canal development on the Michigan side and saw the potential for mill sites and hydroelectric generation.

    In May of 1895 Clergue, in the name of the Lake Superior Power Company, offered to buy the properties and rights to the Michigan canal from the three local banks that held the defaulted LaCrosse Syndicate bonds for a price of $68,370.

    Initially, plans called for six or seven power producers located on lateral canals branching out from the main trunk canal in March of 1897 test drillings revealed a large muck formation along the canal's projected path. Because of this, new plans were developed for just one canal, shorter in length. With the developments in electrical generation and transmission, no longer did industry have to be located directly next to water power sources. This made it possible to develop one large central powerhouse to distribute the electricity. The new canal route involved less excavation and completely avoided the hazardous muck formation.

    Von Schon believed a drawback of this design was that the amount of water flowing from this excavation would lower the level of Lake Superior and affect shipping. It was determined that a remedial work or dyke system would have to be installed at the head of the canal. However, this gate system was still not sufficient to maintain a balanced flow out of Lake Superior. To accomplish this, a set of compensating gates would have to be submerged just above the rapids and below the international railroad bridge. In the summer of 1897, all of the elements of the design for the compensating gates, the headgates at the canal, the canal construction, and the powerhouse plans were finalized and approved.

    Clergue was faced with a dilemma once again. With one large powerhouse generating electricity, several customers would have to commit to using the power produced. In the eastern water power centers such as Niagara Falls, closeness to markets was an advantage. Even though the Sault plant could develop power at costs considerably below Niagara, Clergue was again discovering that the perception of geographic isolation prevented industries from responding. He was, therefore, forced to find a major power customer before he could continue.

Continued in Part 2

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Last modified: September 13, 2007