Peterborough Lift Lock

Opened in 1904, the Peterborough Lift Lock raises boats nearly twenty metres in one movement, the highest hydraulic lift lock in the world, and it uses no external power at all. Two chambers full of water sit on rams; adding about thirty centimetres of extra water to the upper chamber makes it heavier, and as it descends it pushes the lower one up, with the hydraulic fluid transferred between two connected cylinders. It was the largest unreinforced concrete structure in the world when built. It still operates every season on the Trent-Severn Waterway, and a visitor centre explains the mechanism.

History

The lock was designed by Richard Birdsall Rogers, superintendent of the Trent Canal, who went to see lifts in France, Belgium and England in 1896, the year construction was approved. Corry and Laverdure of Peterborough dug the site and built the concrete towers, the first lock built of concrete and at the time the largest structure of unreinforced concrete in the world, and the Dominion Bridge Company of Montréal made the rams, presses and caissons; it opened to a crowd of thousands on 9 July 1904 and was designated a National Historic Site in 1979 (Wikipedia, Peterborough Lift Lock).

Highlights

• The twenty-metre lift - boats raised in a single movement without power.
• The counterbalance - two chambers where extra water in one lifts the other.
• The 1904 concrete - the largest unreinforced concrete structure of its day.
• The visitor centre - the hydraulic mechanism explained in section.

When to go

May to October, the navigation season; the lock does not operate in winter. Boat traffic is heaviest on summer weekends, which is when the lift is most often in motion.

Before you go

Outside the navigation season the lock is static. Lift cycles depend on boat traffic and there can be long gaps. The visitor centre keeps seasonal hours.

Nearby

Petroglyphs park lies northeast; the Trent-Severn runs through the city.

Key facts