Word: seaway
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...Roosevelt dream, the Seaway is not a Roosevelt idea. Joint U.S.-Canadian palavers to deepen the St. Lawrence began in 1895. Presidents Harding, Coolidge and Hoover plumped for the Seaway with zero results. President Roosevelt, defeated when in 1934 he sent the Senate a Seaway Treaty (which needed a two-thirds vote), this time sent it to Congress as an "agreement" (needing only majority vote) and tagged it, like everything else in 1941, a measure for national defense...
Geographically, the Seaway is the biggest of all New Deal enterprises. In the 2,351 miles between the grain elevators and ore docks of Duluth and the broad mouth of the St. Lawrence, the inland waters drop 602 feet, roar over rapids, dodge many an island. The Seaway project would make these waters a marine highway at least 27 feet deep, so that ocean vessels could sail from Lake ports to the whole maritime world. This would require at least 18 big locks, many canals, much dredging. Estimated cost, including facilities already built: $379,252,000-about the cost...
Thus, total planned cost of power-seaway project is $579,000,000. Of this, Canada is to pay $277,000,000 (including credit of $133,000,000 for completed Welland Canal around Niagara Falls); the U.S. $302,000,000 (including credit of $17,000,000). Canada's cautious Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King wangled a good deal: her part of the work need not be completed before 1949; if war costs are too high, she can take even longer. Thus, if the U.S. wants the project now, she must foot all the bills, at least temporarily...
...Vitally important to long-term U.S. defense, according, to the President, is the U.S.-Canadian agreement for immediate development of: 1. Great Lakes-St. Lawrence seaway, power project...
...Sent a message to Congress, urging immediate development of his old pet, the St. Lawrence seaway and power project, in spite of the fact that it would now have to compete for labor and materials with defense industries. Said he: "The enemies of democracy are developing hydro-electric resource and every waterway from Norway to the Dardanelles. Are we to allow this continent to be outmatched? . . . Your action on this project will either make available or withhold 2,200,000 horsepower of low-cost electric power for the joint defense of North America...