The seaway opened in 1959 and cost C$470 million, $336.2 million of which was paid by the Canadian government. Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada and American President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally opened the seaway with a short cruise aboard the royal yacht after addressing crowds in Saint-Lambert, Quebec. 22,000 workers were employed at one time or another on the project, a 2,300-mile-long superhighway for ocean freighters. Port of Milwaukee director Harry C. Brockel forecast just before the Seaway opened in 1959 that "The St. Lawrence Seaway will be the greatest single development of this century in its effects on Milwaukee's future growth and prosperity." Lester Olsen, president of the Milwaukee Association of Commerce, said, "The magnitude and potential of the St. Lawrence Seaway and the power project stir the imagination of the world."