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 13 By-Pass. Construction proceeded through the 1972 shipping season, and by the end of that season, work was close to completion. In the late evening hours of December 15, 1972, the Main Street Bridge raised to allow the passage of the Georgian Bay - officially the last ship through the city of Welland. In fact, the bridge was raised again the next day to allow a St. Lawrence Seaway service vessel to pass, but the Georgian Bay remains the official last passage under the bridge in most historical records. Following the closure of the canal at the end of the 1972