Show CANADAS SIDE DOOR England Has Built a Fortified Canal Wiiicli Will Enable Her to Place Gunboats on the Great Lakes I In the event of warfare between the 1 rifted states and Canada the name of the quiet little manufactring and trad Ins town of Gananaque upon the do innion sid of the St Lawrence river oposite Clayton N Y would almost certainly become famous at once as the scene of the first battle and probably the next fight would happen at or near the J eUarid canal the great channels thr adm channel-s Canadian soil around Niagara Falls The importance of the second incident rouid br entirely contingent upon the rtsUt of the first The primary action would occur be twc < n Canadian volunteer troops and an Americn force which arriving l1flI11 the frontier with plenty of field artillery to support an infantry column 1 over the well equipped Rome Water town Ogdensburg railroad would leave Clayton upon a fleet of steam boats and scows masked by the intricate intri-cate groups of islands and landing at or nc ar Gananorjue which is unforti fie 1 might easily execute a rapid march of 20 miles over a good road to Jones Falls the nearest point upon the I Hideau canal The mission of the invaders in-vaders would be to destroy the important im-portant series of locks at this point and thus block the passage of gunboats troops and munitions between Ottawa I and Kingston i If the attacking force was driven back and the integrity of the canal was I maintained the enemy would promptly J run its fleet of light draft gunboats J from Halifax or Quebec up the St Lawrence and Ottawa rivers and through this convenient side door to Kingston where under the guns of Fort Ht nry the armament of the boats sent thither by rail would be replaced and Lake Ontario with its one antiquated revenue cutter upon the American sid > would be subject to the pleasure of the commodoro directing the British na al force His pleasure would of ci Ui e involve incidentally the ravaging ravag-ing of the south shore of the lake in cludr the important ports of Oswego an1 Rochester It is indeed quite possible that a1 ie1 vessels of the enemy should i proceed directly up the St Lawrence river through the chain of locks at the several rapids and get safely by the ha tiy constructed forts which would range along the American shore of the j river in the vicinity of Ogdensburg where the whole width of the stream is I within range but when the Rideau canal was built by the British government govern-ment as long ago as 1830 at a cost of 5000000 it was created distinctly and solely as a military work giving Canada Can-ada an effective key to the great lakes I i or Ontario at least as long as the convention con-vention between the two countries lasts by which both are prohibited from keeping armed ships except the necessary revenue vessels upon the lakes in time qf peace I I Whether this obscure but dangerous I little canal the very existence of which I i is not generally known is really regarded I I regard-ed by the dominion or British governments i govern-ments as a menace to the lake cities of j the west depends upon their faith in j I an ability to hold the Welland canal I open over the entire length for a considerable I con-siderable period after the declaration of hostilities At any rate an amount of care and expense is lavished in keeping keep-ing up the numerous locks and in main I taining a good channel which is out of I proportion to the commerce passing through the tollage from which never I has met and evidently never can meet the annual repair bills The Rideau canal has its beginning I upon the Cataraqui river at Kingston a prosprous business town just at the foot of Lake Ontario and extends 1261f i miles to the capital city of Canada The canal is in reality mainly a chain of picturesque lakes some of which were formed by the construction of the dams at shallow points and the passenger who makes the trip upon the steamboat comes back filled with enthusiasm for the varied and enchanting landscapes which beautify the entire route A large share of the labor performed by the men who attend to the 23 groups of locks upon the Rideau canal is expended expend-ed in passing through the private yachts of the numerous Americans mainly summer residents at the Thousand Thou-sand Islands or wanderers from the yacht clubs of Detroit or Chicago who are aware that these lakes abound in bass both big and gamey and in some at least with salmon full of desire to live when lured by the arts of the fisher The boat passing from Kingston to Ottawa is raised through successive locks to an elevation of 165 feet at the Summit level of Newboro and beyond that point is dropped 292 feet to the turbulent Ottawa river the last group I of locks being eight in number This I frequent process of being locked up or down as the case may be unctu ates the voyage with a variety of incident in-cident as there is abundant time to stroll about and get acquainted The wonderful neatness of everything relating re-lating to the locks and the government property adjacent is impressive Massive Mass-ive though dimiutive block houses are invariable standing where they command com-mand a view of both approaches of the locks At Jones Falls which is probably prob-ably the most picturesque place upon the route a considerable park is maintained I main-tained its walks leading through charming bits of scenery A quaint little hotel at Jones Falls is I filled in summer with people from the slates who fish in the lakes above I The surroundings of these waters closely resemble those of the most I beautiful channels of the Thousand Islands the verdure which veils moss clad rocks dipping to the surface of the stream which in its narrow and sinuous reaches is disturbed only byte by-te occasional trespass of some barge yacht or fishermans batteau No one who has traversed the enchanted en-chanted Rideau region as the guest of a princely steam yacht owner will find fault with that provident spirit of protection pro-tection in the breast of our longheaded I cousin John Bull which led him to create more than 70 years ago this lovely aqueous highway and to maintain main-tain it so excellently to the present time FRANK H TAYLOR = |