First Welland Canal points on the Lake Erie shore, and also offered a natural harbour for the ships waiting to enter the canal. The new part of the canal was to run in a fairly straight line, except for a stretch where it followed a local ravine and a creek to minimise required excavation of hard rock in the area. The Welland Canal Company obtained a loan of 50,000 pounds from the Province of Upper Canada. Construction started soon after, but it was delayed by rain, difficulty in clearing land, and a cholera outbreak in 1832. Neither the Wainfleet Marsh nor the rock
Welland Canal, Bridge 15 15 was built ca. 1910 as a replacement for a wooden bridge formerly at the same location. During this time, the Third Welland Canal was still in use, however the need for expansion of the canal had been recognized. Accordingly, any new bridges were being constructed to standards which were expected to apply to the Fourth Welland Canal, which would not be completed until 1932. As will be discussed later in this article, these standards were not set high enough and this fact would make the swing bridge a serious hazard to navigation decades down the road. During the early