Welland Canal an average of about eleven hours to traverse the entire length of the Welland Canal. Before the digging of the Welland Canal, shipping traffic between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie used a portage road between Chippawa, Ontario, and Queenston, Ontario, both of which are located on the Niagara River—above and below Niagara Falls, respectively. The Welland Canal Company was incorporated by the Province of Upper Canada, in 1824, after a petition by nine "freeholders of the District of Niagara". One of the petitioners was William Hamilton Merritt, who was in part looking to provide a regular flow of water for
Welland Canal, bridge 13 set to one side of the canal. This was turned manually by pushing on heavy wooden beams extending from the end of the bridge. The bridge over the Second Welland Canal (constructed 1840 to 1845) is recorded in at least one image (shown at left), which has been seen in several books, in the Welland Library and on a post card. This was a swing bridge of a design common to other locations on the second canal. It can be seen from the picture that the pivot was to the west of the canal. These bridges were painted white and