"Locks on the Rideau Canal near Bytown", by W.H.Bartlett.
The ambitious Rideau Canal linked Bytown, a lumbering town on the Ottawa River, with Kingston on Lake Ontario. Along the 133 miles of waterway, 47 stone locks were constructed by Scottish and French-Canadian stonemasons at a total cost to the British Government of one million pounds. It was built to bypass the international section of the St. Lawrence River which was vulnerable to attack from the United States. The lumber industry in the upper Ottawa Valley was important, as well, to the British Navy. The Rideau Canal system was an outstanding technological accomplishment in a country of untapped resources and small population. Colonel John By, an officer in the Royal Engineers, provided the technical genius and enthusiasm responsible for its success, but when he returned to England, he was severely chastised because of the extraordinarily high cost of the canal.
