Welland Canal Port Maitland. With the opening of the extension, the canal stretched between the two lakes, with 40 wooden locks. The minimum lock size was , with a minimum canal depth of . Deterioration of the wood used in the 40 locks and the increasing size of ships led to demand for the Second Welland Canal, which used cut stone locks, within just a few years. In 1839 the government of Upper Canada approved the purchase of shares in the private canal company in response to the company's continuing financial problems in the face of the continental financial panic of 1837.
Manchester Ship Canal gross tons. Manchester Liners acquired control of the company in 1974, to ensure the availability of facilities for the repair of its fleet of ships. Two years after the opening of the ship canal, financier Ernest Terah Hooley bought the country estate belonging to Sir Humphrey Francis de Trafford for £360,000 (£ in ). Hooley intended to develop the site, which was close to Manchester and at the end of the canal, as an exclusive housing estate, screened by woods from industrial units constructed along the frontage onto the canal. With the predicted traffic for the canal slow to materialise,