Abstracts
Abstract
This article examines the construction of the Burlington Bay Canal, Upper Canada’s first government-financed internal improvement. Designed in 1824 to create an entrance to a natural harbour at the head of Lake Ontario, the canal was an engineering, financial and political fiasco. Using a staples thesis approach, this study explores the reasons for the canal’s problem.
Résumé
Cet article examine la construction du Canal de Burlington Bay, la première amélioration interne financée par le gouvernement du Haut-Canada. Conçu en 1824 pour créer une entrée a un port naturel situé à la tête du Lac Ontario, ce fut aussi un fiasco technique, financier et politique. En utilisant l’approche de la Staples thesis, cette étude explore les raisons des problèmes du canal.
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Appendices
Biographical note
Rod Millard is Professor Emeritus (History), The University of Western Ontario. He taught Canadian history and the social history of North American technology and wrote The Master Spirit of the Age: Canadian Engineers and the Politics of Professionalism, 1887-1922 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988). He is the editor of an online Biographical Dictionary of Canadian Engineers.