An Irish Lament
I'm bidding you a long farewell, my Mary,
kind and true
But I'll not forget you darling in the
land I'm going to
They say there's bread and work for
all and the sun shines always there
But I'll not forget old Ireland where
it fifty times as fair
Rideau Canal 2012 - Kingston Mills to Beveridges

The Celtic Cross Memorial.
In memory of the over 1,000 Irish labourers and family members that died building this canal.
The Rideau Canal, a Canadian National Park and a World Heritage Site
Between 1826 and 1832, a series of rivers and lakes was transformed into a canal enabling ship and barge travel between Kingston harbour and the Ottawa River. The War of 1812 had shown that American cannons could command the narrow part of the St. Lawrence River so a canal was needed to provide a secure route for supplies and troops from Montreal to Kingston. To build the canal, locks for the approximately 275 feet required to get up to the Upper Rideau Lake watershed from Ottawa and then about 170 feet down to Kingston were needed. It took 6 years, 45 locks at 23 locks stations, 52 dams, 12 miles of artificial channels and over 1,000, mostly Irish, lives to complete the 126 mile long canal. Less than 50 of those lives were lost to work-related accidents. Seven of the twenty-two Royal Sappers (explosive experts) also died from accidents or malaria.Malaria was the primary killer of the workers and many of their families. The little McGuigan Cemetery near the Clowes lockstation has numerous rock headstones for those poor souls; many have no markers at all. Clowes lockstation was named for Samuel Clowes, an engineer and the original surveyor for the Canal. Clowes died of malaria while building the lock that now carrys his name.
Forty-four year old James Bigham, my wife Phyllis' gggrandfather, was buried in the McGuigan Cemetery in August of 1840, having contracted malaria while visiting a good friend. Although brought under control earlier, malaria wasn't totally eradicated in Canada until the late 1940s.
Note that the Rideau Canal is still in Imperial units - not metric - as it was when it was built 175 years ago, so I have kept that convention. For example, the engineering documents state that the locks should be 33 feet wide, not 10.0584 meters wide.
Sunday June 10, 2012
Kingston Mills to Upper Brewers






Monday June 11, 2012
Upper Brewers to Jones Falls





Tuesday June 12, 2012
Jones Falls to Chaffeys


Davis Lock is known as the Solitude Lock as it is the most remote lock in the system. It has the best example, in terms of architecture, of a defensible lockmaster's home. As the upper kayak platform wasn't ready yet, the lockmaster kindly offered us lock access. Unfortuntely, I wasn't paying sufficient attention when lining around an open lock gate and drove the bow of my kayak into a nice chunk of steel where it promptly jammed. It took a few minutes to get it backed out but, by that time, it had lost a good tooney-sized chunk of gelcoat on the lower hull. Ouch, very embarrasing and nobody to blame but myself. Good old duct-tape to the rescue - never leave home without it. It was then off to Chaffey's Lockstation, less than 2 miles further on.
It was a short rather dizzly day, and if it weren't for the "incident", an easy-going one. Chaffey's Lockstation was the only lockstation that we encountered that did NOT have kayak platforms at both ends. Nothing but a ladder at the lower end. So we moved back a bit, found an accessible shore at the point and used that. We set up our tents in the rain and even put up a tarp. We went for a walk and picked up some bottled water. The Celtic Cross Memorial (the photo at the top of this page) was erected here.
The building of this lockstation was difficult due to the overwhelming prevalence of malaria. In the summer of 1828, most of the labourers were sick with "lake fever". Even the prime contractor, John Sherriff, died of malaria that year. All-in-all, a rather nasty and deadly place to work.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Chaffey's to The Narrows


The Isthmus - now Newboro - Lock is at the lower end of an engineered canal 1.1 miles in length. It cuts through the isthmus that separates Rideau and Newboro Lakes. Like Chaffey's, building Newboro was problematic as malaria took a deadly toll, killing 27 men, 13 women and 15 children in 1830 alone. Most lie in unmarked graves in the Old Presbyterian Cemetery at Newboro.
Once past the rather enchanting canal, it was into Big Rideau Lake, and 4 miles to the Narrows. The Narrows was a welcome sight. It was warm and sunny, had a large grassy area where we could camp and, more importantly, dry our gear and have a swim! Doug's photo on the right shows just how high the regular docks are and why the specifically designed kayak-canoe landing platforms are so important. My tent area must have looked like a garage sale to passing motorists as I had every piece of gear and clothing laying out on the grass drying in the sun. Early evening, one of our buddies, Bruce Watts, drove in with a cold beer, his tent and his kayak. Yeah Bruce! Bruce had come down from Ottawa to paddle Big Rideau Lake with us. The Narrows to Beveridges is 16 miles and we're hoping for a light breeze and an overcast day.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
The Narrows to Beveridges


Doug's photo. Most publications state that winds generally blow from Kingston to Ottawa. So much for conventional wisdom as we always paddled into the wind. Even though we were on the water at 07:30, it wasn't long before we had strong winds and no clouds in the sky. Thank goodness that we carried lots of potable water. All three of us are strong paddlers so, inspite of the wind, we still managed a respectable 3.5 mph for a significant portion of the day. We were sometimes down to less than 1.5 mph but nothing untowards. The only real issue was finding places to land and stretch leg and glute muscules. Almost all of river left was either too rocky to land or posted as "no trespassing" by cottagers.
Rideau Ferry was a great spot to stop. We spent an hour sitting in air conditioned comfort enjoying an ice cream. Definitely decadent but certainly worthwhile before heading back into the wind. Less than 40 minutes later we rounded the point and headed straight for our take-out at Beveridges Lock. Beveridges is not in a direct line from the Narrows to Poonamalie but a very nice and quite place to camp. We arrived at 2:30 for a good rest - except for Bruce of course. Bruce jumped on his bicycle and peddled the approximately 31 km back to the Narrows Lockstation where he'd left his car. Doug and my original intention had been to overnight before heading to and ending the trip at Smith Falls. Since the proposed car shuttle to/from Smith Falls was a bit awkward I just jumped into Bruce's car and drove to Ottawa to get the big truck which easily carries all of our gear and the two sea kayaks.
Tout finis! All finished - at least for another year when we intend on paddling the upper half of the Rideau Canal to Ottawa. All-in-all, an absolutely wonderful trip and a great shake-down cruise for our 10 day Georgian Bay paddle this August.