Rideau Canal

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Navigating History: The Rideau Canal - A Unesco World Heritage Site

The Rideau Canal, a veritable testament to engineering prowess and historical significance, stretches across 202 kilometers, connecting the Ottawa River at Ottawa with the Cataraqui River and Lake Ontario at Kingston, Ontario, Canada. This architectural marvel, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007, stands as a remarkable remnant of the early 19th-century canal-building era.

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UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

The Rideau Canal, a monumental early 19th-century construction covering 202 km of the Rideau and Cataraqui rivers from Ottawa south to Kingston Harbour on Lake Ontario, was built primarily for strategic military purposes at a time when Great Britain and the United States vied for control of the region. The site, one of the first canals to be designed specifically for steam-powered vessels, also features an ensemble of fortifications. It is the best-preserved example of a slackwater canal in North America, demonstrating the use of this European technology on a large scale. It is the only canal dating from the great North American canal-building era of the early 19th century to remain operational along its original line with most of its structures intact.

Encyclopedia Record: Rideau Canal

The Rideau Canal is a 202-kilometre long canal that links the Ottawa River at Ottawa with the Cataraqui River and Lake Ontario at Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Its 46 locks raise boats from the Ottawa River 83 metres upstream along the Rideau River to the Rideau Lakes, and from there drop 50 metres downstream along the Cataraqui River to Kingston.

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