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Soo Locks

The Soo Locks (sometimes spelled Sault Locks but pronounced "soo") are a set of parallel locks, operated and maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, that enable ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. They are located on the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, between the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario. They bypass the rapids of the river, where the water falls 21 feet (6.4 m) due to a thick layer of bedrock that holds back the waters of Lake Superior where it joins the St. Mary's River. The locks pass an average of 10,000 ships per year, despite being closed during the winter from January through March, when ice shuts down shipping on the Great Lakes. The winter closure period is used to inspect and maintain the locks.

The locks share a name (usually shortened and anglicized as Soo) with the two cities named Sault Ste. Marie, in Ontario and in Michigan, located on either side of the St. Marys River. The Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge between the United States and Canada permits vehicular traffic to pass over the locks. A railroad bridge crosses the St. Marys River just upstream of the highway bridge.

History

Image capturing the State Lock

The first iteration of the U.S. Soo Locks was completed in May 1855; it was operated by the state of Michigan until transferred to the U.S. Army in 1881.

Early Locks

• The State Lock (1855 -1888), consisting of two locks with each chamber measuring 350 feet long, 70 feet wide and 12 feet deep with a lift of 9 feet was built by the State of Michigan in under two years. First opened in 1855 and was operated until 1888.

• The Weitzel Lock (1881-1943), built in 1881, the Weitzel lock was 515 feet long, 80 feet wide, 17 feet deep, had a lift of 20 feet. Unlike the State Lock, which filled and emptied through sluices in the gates, the Weitzel Lock filled and emptied through openings in its floor, reducing the turbulence in the lock. Every lock built at the Soo since then has used this innovation^[1]. The Weitzel lock was replaced by the MacArthur Lock in 1943.
• As traffic and boat sizes continued to increase, within six years of opening the Weitzel Lock, the (first) Poe Lock (1896 - 1955), engineered by Orlando Poe, was built replace the outdated State Lock. The (first) Poe Lock would also be the first lock on the St. Marys River to use lock gates made of steel rather than wood and was 800 feet long,100 feet wide and 21 feet deep.^[4]

During World War II, the Soo Locks and the St. Marys River waterway were heavily guarded by U.S. and Canadian forces coordinated by the U.S. Army's Central Defense Command. A one-way German air attack on the locks by forces based in Norway was thought to be possible.

The Soo Locks were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

Layout

United States Locks

Overhead view of the United States Locks. From bottom to top, the locks are the MacArthur lock, The Poe lock(the lock with the ship navigating through), the Davis, and the Sabin lock.

The U.S. locks form part of a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) canal formally named the St. Marys Falls Canal. The entire canal, including the locks, is owned and maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which provides free passage.

• The Davis Lock, completed in 1914, was named after USACE(United States Army Corps of Engineers) engineer Charles E.L.B. Davis. With a length of 1,350 feet, width of 80 feet, and 24 feet depth, the Davis lock was designed to handle two 600-foot freighters at once^[2]. Today, the Davis Lock is considered obsolete due to its insufficient functionality depth and will be replaced for the development of a new lock.
• The Sabin Lock is the physical twin lock of the Davis Lock. Built by the United States during the years 1913 through 1919, the Sabin Lock opened to traffic on September 18th, 1919^[3]. It has a length of 1350 feet between the inner gates, a width of 80 feet, and a depth of 23.5 feet of water over the sills at low water datum. The Sabin Lock is one of the oldest locks in the Soo complex. There has been no vessel passage through the Sabin Locks since 1989 , and In 2010, the Sabin Lock was permanently decommissioned. Since decommission, the Sabin Lock’s primary function was to serve as a water retention structure for the St. Mary’s River. In May 2020, construction on Phase One of the replacement of the Sabin Lock was started.
• The MacArthur Lock was constructed to replace the Weitzel Lock during the midst of World War II. With the secure transportation of Iron ore through the great lakes being deemed a matter of national security, construction began in 1942. The MacArthur lock finished completion within two years in 1943. Still one of today's operational locks, this lock is large enough to handle ocean-going vessels (commonly referred to as "salties") that must also pass through the smaller locks in the Welland Canal. The first vessel through was the SS Carl D. Bradley.

  

  MacArthur lock facing the lower level of the St. Mary's River

• The (Second) Poe Lock (1968) began construction in 1961 as a means to meet the growing demand for larger and larger vessels following the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway.The original plans in 1958 to replace the older Poe Lock called for a lock 1000 feet long and 100 feet wide. However, fairly quickly into the project it was clear that an even larger lock was needed and the lock was redesigned at its current dimensions of 1,200 feet (370 m) long, 110 feet (34 m) wide, and 32 feet (9.8 m) deep. The lock began operating in October 1968 and is the largest of the Sault locks. The Poe Lock can withstand ships carrying 72,000 short tons (65,000 t) of cargo and is the only lock that can handle the large lake freighters used on the upper lakes. The Poe Lock requires over 22 million gallons of water to raise or lower a vessel. The first vessel to pass through was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tug USS Hancock.

New Lock Project

A new lock is currently under construction slated to be completed by 2030 and will be equal in size to the Poe Lock. Groundbreaking for the new lock project was held on June 30, 2009 and is estimated to cost 1.478 billion dollars. Construction is estimated to require 1,400,000 tons of limestone or granite, 112,000 tons of American-made cement, and 25,000 tons of American-made steel. This new lock will provide much needed additional capacity for the large lake freighters and will replace the Davis Lock and Sabin Lock.

The new lock will be constructed in three phases:

1. Upstream Channel Deepening (UCD)- Removal of over 250,000 cubic yards of Jacobsville sandstone and to deepen the Upstream Approach Channel to depth of 30 feet. In January 2020 this phase's $52.6M Contract was awarded to Trade West Construction Co. of Nevada.
2. Upstream Approach Walls (UAW)- Rehabilitate approach walls upstream of New Soo Lock including reconstruction of walls, concrete caps, mooring bollards, electrical, and lighting. This phase's $117.2M Contract was awarded to Kokosing Alberici in September 2020. A concrete batch plant was constructed to provide concrete for the construction of the approach walls.
3. New Lock Chamber (NLC)- Construct new 1,200 feet long by 110 feet wide by 32 feet deep chamber and rehabilitate downstream approach walls. Construction contract award for this phase is expected in February 2022.

This new project is expected to create 1,240 jobs on an annual basis: 600 direct jobs, 210 indirect jobs, and 430 induced jobs.

Operation

Currently, only two locks are in use, the MacArthur and the Poe Lock. The locks raise and lower vessels easily. Due to gravity, the water will seek its own level.

Approaching The Locks

Approximately thirty minutes before a vessel reaches the Locks, a vessel will receive a lock assignment from the Lockmaster via the use of a radio. The Lockmaster will also exchange information such as water levels, river traffic, and further instructions as the vessel approaches the Locks.

Downstream Navigation

For a vessel that enters from Lake Superior, a filling valve is opened so water can flow into the lock from openings on the lock floor. The upper gate on the North side is then opened to allow the vessel to enter the lock. Once a vessel is in the lock, the upper and lower gates are closed. To decrease the water level in the lock, the emptying valve is opened to let the water in the lock flow out to the lower water level of the St Mary's Canal. When the water has dropped to the lower level, the lower gate at the south end is opened and the boat proceeds out of the locks into the St Mary's Canal. The north gate remains closed, holding back the waters of Lake Superior.

Upstream Navigation

For a vessel entering the lock from the lower level of Lakes Huron and Michigan, before the vessel has entered the water level in the lock is lowered to that of the lower level. The lower gate is then opened for the vessel to enter, the gates at both ends are closed after the vessel has entered. The filling valve at the north end is then opened to permit the Lake Superior water to flow into the lock. When the water in the lock has risen to that of Lake Superior, the lock gate at the north end is opened and the boat exits the lock.

Economic Impact

The Soo Locks are a well-established and integral part of the regional as well as the national economy. While the degree of reliance on the Soo Locks for transporting commodities differs across firms and commodities, the taconite pellets(iron ore) and smelting industries place a significant level of reliance on the Poe Lock, with about 85 percent of the commercial commodities carried by ships transiting the Soo Locks are limited by size to the Poe Lock. All of the iron ore mined in the U.S. originates from northeastern Minnesota and the upper peninsula of Michigan and the majority of taconite pellets must transit the Soo Locks to reach steel mills in the lower Great Lakes. The annual value attributed to the iron ore transferred through the Sault Locks is 500.4 Billion USD

Due to its location and cost advantage over other modes of transportation, such as train cars and large trucks, the Sault locks are used to transport an upwards of 90% of the taconite pellets mined in the U.S.. Taconite pellets represents the largest sector of commerce moved on the Great Lakes, making up 60% of total commodities.

In the event of scheduled or unscheduled closure of the Soo Locks, the economic impact of a 30-day unscheduled closure is $160,000,000.