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.
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