"Repairing the Locks at Davis Mill", by Capt. T. Burrows.
The special problems of the Canadian terrain and weather required that the British engineers adapt the technology they had employed in England. This drawing by Captain Tom Burrows, an officer in the Royal Engineers, shows a common problem in the maintenance of the locks. It was necessary to divert water away from the lock to replace the wooden gates and floor. Although most of the lock was made of stone, certain parts were wood and, therefore, subject to rotting. Most of the work on this canal was done by Irish immigrants who were pouring into the colony in search of relief from the famines and poverty rampant in Ireland. They endured the difficult work, much of it in the winter months, and perhaps found it a better fate than the starvation they had left behind.
