Sault Ste. Marie Canal Sault Ste. Marie Canal The Sault Ste. Marie Canal is a National Historic Site in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and is part of the national park system, managed by Parks Canada. It includes a lock to bypass the rapids on the St. Marys River. The first canal on the site opened in 1798, but was destroyed in 1814 during the War of 1812. The latest canal dates to 1895, and formed part of the shipping route from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Superior, along with the two locks on the US side of the river. One of the walls of
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Sault Ste. Marie Canal, which was completed in 1895. Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario was incorporated as a town in 1887 and a city in 1912. The town gained brief international notoriety in 1911 in the trial of Angelina Napolitano, the first person in Canada to use the battered woman defence for murder. During World War II, and particularly after the US was attacked at Pearl Harbor in 1941, government concern turned to protection of the locks and shipping channel at Sault Ste. Marie. A substantial military presence was established to protect the locks from a possible attack by Nazi German