SAINT LAWRENCE RIVER AND SEAWAY

The St. Lawrence hydrographic system, with the five main sectors of the St. Lawrence Seaway project hydrographic system of east-central North America. It connects the North River (source of the St. Louis River, in the U.S. state of Minnesota, which flows into Lake Superior) with Cabot Strait, leading into the Atlantic Ocean in the extreme east of Canada, crossing the interior of the North American continent for some 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometres). It is of vital geographic and economic importance to the United States and Canada. The St. Lawrence system can be divided into three broad sectors. Upstream lies the Great Lakes region, with narrow riverlike sections linking the broad expanses of the lakes themselves. In the centre, from the eastern outflow of Lake Ontario, near the Canadian town of Kingston, to the le d'Orlans, just downstream from the city of Quebec, the system passes through a more normal watercourse. From the le d'Orlans to the Cabot Strait, between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, the system broadens out again, first as the St. Lawrence estuary, and then, passing Anticosti Island, as the oval-shaped marine region known as the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The discussion here is confined primarily to the latter two sectors. For a treatment of the Great Lakes, see Great Lakes. The St. Lawrence is a mighty and unique hydrographic system. Bedded in an ancient geologic depression, it drains the heart of a continent. It is at once an international, an intra-Quebec, and a multiprovincial system. An axis of regional population, it is also a waterway linking Canada and the United States to western Europe and a large part of the rest of the world. The frontages of the several regions of the St. Lawrence River are not equally developed and do not maintain the same types of relationship with their hinterlands and with the outside world. Throughout its length, nevertheless, the St. Lawrence retains a great natural beauty, with landscapes beloved by all who live on its banks or make the long passage along its course. The St. Lawrence Seaway, a massive navigational project undertaken jointly by Canada and the United States and completed in 1959, opened North America's industrial and agricultural heartlands to deep-draft ocean vessels. It forged the final link in a waterway some 2,340 miles long from Duluth, Minn. (at the westernmost point of Lake Superior), to the Atlantic by clearing a throughway in a 186-mile stretch of the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Lake Ontario. Although the official seaway consists of only this stretch and the Welland Canal (connecting Lakes Ontario and Erie), the entire Great LakesSt. Lawrence system, with 9,500 miles of navigable waterways, has come to be known as the St. Lawrence Seaway. Additional reading The geography, hydrology, and physical features of the St. Lawrence River and Seaway are detailed in Canadian Hydrographic Service, Sailing Directions, Gulf and River St. Lawrence, 6th ed. (1985). Ronald L. Heilmann, Harold M. Mayer, and Eric Schenker, Great Lakes Transportation in the Eighties (1986), reports shipping and economic conditions in the area. Relevant information is found in Seaway Review (quarterly). A short study, The Great Lakes St. Lawrence System: The World's Richest Economic Region, Served by the World's Most Efficient Trade Route (1984), offers a pertinent overview. Historical surveys are provided in Gennifer Sussman, The St. Lawrence Seaway (1978); and Jean-Claude Lasserre, Le Saint-Laurent (1980). Pierre Camu