A Binational Waterway.

One of the engineering marvels of the twentieth century is the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which provides sea access from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes along the northern border of the United States. The Saint Lawrence River provides the natural outlet for the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, but small channels and rapids prevented navigation by vessels much larger than a canoe, and so the river was closed to commercial use. The demands of commerce required a waterway accessible to large oceangoing vessels. That required redigging a long stretch of the river.

Early Chicanery.

The idea of opening up the Saint Lawrence originated in 1895. In 1907-1910 three powerful American congressmen proposed a plan to build a plant to use water flow to produce electricity — hydroelectric power — and dig part of the seaway in the process. When...