Saturday 25 November 2023--I start to the south again today, to pick up the two lock stations that lie between Newboro and Jones Falls. The first is Davis, easily the most remote lock on the canal, five miles or so from route 15. There is no through road; I suppose it's possible that there was one once, but I see no evidence of it, and besides, there isn't much of anywhere to go on the other side. So it's a dead end, and a very quiet spot. A defensible lockmaster's residence was built on a rocky knoll overlooking the site in 1842, similar to others along the canal, late substitutes for the blockhouses that were never built. This one was made uninhabitable by a fire in 1983. It was rehabilitated in 1999 by private ownership, and is now available as a holiday rental. [At this writing, it can be found on Airbnb.] Undoubtedly the knoll would have been kept clear of foliage back in the day, but trees and bushes, bare in November, must obscure the house in season now. Such a privacy screen seems redundant, in this secluded spot. The gun slits in the walls might be unnecessary at this point, as well.

It's less than two miles of water navigation from Davis to Chaffeys, about three times that by road. Here, Colonel By was faced with the substantial complex built by Samuel Chaffey, who settled here in 1820: saw, grist, and carding mills, and a distillery. By's original plan was to let these stand, cutting a canal channel with two locks around the site to the east, with a dam above Chaffey's mills. It might be that By had some qualms about displacing properties unnecessarily; more likely, the cost of compensation was on his mind. Whatever the case, Chaffey died of malaria in 1827, and By waited patiently while his estate was disputed by his widow and his brother. In 1829, he purchased the site, and placed a single lock in the main channel--the second lock had been made unnecessary by the business at Newboro--with a waste weir above a snie to the west. The dam was no longer needed. Chaffey's nephew built a grist mill at the bottom of the snie in 1872. It stands today as a private residence.

The swing bar on one of the lock's gates bears a maker's mark indicating that the gate was replaced in 2017. Gates were originally made of native oak, and usually lasted about twenty years. Oak planks of sufficient size are no longer readily available, so Douglas fir from British Columbia, good for fifteen years, is used now. Gates are built in a Parks Canada workshop in Smiths Falls.

There's a good example here of a winter dam formed by stop logs, dropped into slots in the masonry above and below the lock gates. These keep the gates free of ice and pressure for the offseason, and allow any necessary work to be done.

The locks I have visited so far--from north to south, Narrows, Newboro, Chaffeys, Davis, and Jones Falls--link a series of lakes--Big Rideau, Upper Rideau, Newboro, Clear, Indian, Opinicon, Sand, Whitefish. These, the Rideau Lakes, are the heart of the canal, providing the store of water that makes it work. The canal works enlarged some of them and created others out of swamp, raising them all to navigable depth. It occurs to me that the lakes can be themselves regarded as giant locks, water let in and out to allow the passage of so many boats. I'm not a boater myself, but the vision of long summer days spent drifting through this half-tamed quarter of Ontario seems idyllic.

I'm off north now, headed towards Smiths Falls. But first, I have a look at the locks at Upper and Lower Beveridges. These are not on the Rideau Canal proper, but on the spur Tay Canal, leading to Perth. The good folk of Perth hoped that they would be linked to the main canal, but that was not in Colonel By's remit. A privately-financed series of five wooden locks was built on the Tay River in the early 1830s. This first Tay Canal was not a success, partly because the locks were smaller than those in the main canal. Maintenance lagged, and the route was shut down in 1865. The two locks that are here now, along with the canal cut they sit in, were built in 1885-87, through the influence of local MP John G Haggart. They are identical in design to the Rideau locks.

In Smiths Falls, I have a quick look at the locks at the bottom of Beckwith Street. The three original locks, numbers 28-30, lie empty and overgrown next to their replacement, 29a, built in 1973-4 with a lift of 26 feet. This was done to alleviate traffic problems posed by the old swing bridge, which was also replaced. Thus the number of locks on the canal depends on what you are willing to count: the 49 numbered locks plus 29a make 50; minus the three no longer functional, 47; on a full transit of the Rideau Canal without the two locks on the Tay Canal, you will pass through 45.

There's more to see in Smiths Falls, including another lock upstream, two more downstream, and the Rideau Falls Visitor Information Centre, closed now for the winter. There's a railroad museum in town, too. Just now it's cold and windy, and I feel like I've seen enough for today. I'll have to return sometime, hopefully in season. I retreat to the nearby Lockmaster's Taphouse for a pint and a late lunch. The nice folks at the Cove Inn in Wesport warned me that their bar and restaurant would be very busy this evening, as the annual Santa Claus parade was to be held today. They obviously don't want to tell me not to expect dinner there, but I can take a hint (sometimes). So I fill up here.

Back in Westport, I have a couple of pints and another little nibble at the Westport Brewing Company, which is busy, but not jammed. Then I have a nightcap back at the Cove, where the festivities seem to be winding down. It occurs to me that I ought to have stayed around today to witness the parade, a bit of small-town Canadiana...the locks aren't going anywhere. Maybe I'll come back next year.