Editing Upper Canada (section)

===Canal system===
[[File:Engraving of Rideau Canal locks.jpg|thumb|The [[Rideau Canal]] in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with [[Parliament Hill]] and the old "Union Station" visible in the background]]
{{main|First Welland Canal|Rideau Canal|Desjardins Canal}}

The early nineteenth century was the age of canals. The [[Erie Canal]], stretching from [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]] to [[Albany, New York]], threatened to divert all of the grain and other trade on the upper Great Lakes through the [[Hudson River]] to New York city after its completion in 1825. Upper Canadians sought to build a similar system that would tie this trade to the [[St Lawrence River]] and [[Montreal]].

====Rideau Canal====

The Rideau Canal's purpose was military and hence was paid for by the British and not the local treasury. It was intended to provide a secure supply and communications route between Montreal and the British naval base in Kingston. The objective was to bypass the [[St. Lawrence River]] bordering New York; a route which would have left British supply ships vulnerable to an attack. Westward from Montreal, travel would proceed along the [[Ottawa River]] to [[Bytown]] (now [[Ottawa]]), then southwest via the canal to Kingston and out into Lake Ontario. Because the Rideau Canal was easier to navigate than the St. Lawrence River due to the series of rapids between Montreal and Kingston, it became a busy commercial artery from Montreal to the Great Lakes. The construction of the canal was supervised by Lieutenant-Colonel [[John By]] of the [[Royal Engineers]]. The work started in 1826, and was completed 6 years later in 1832 at a cost of £822,000.

====Welland Canal====

The Welland Canal was created to directly link Lake Erie with Lake Ontario, bypassing Niagara Falls and the Erie Canal. It was the idea of [[William Hamilton Merritt]] who owned a sawmill, grist mill and store on the [[Twelve Mile Creek (Ontario)|Twelve Mile Creek]]. The Legislature authorized the joint-stock Welland Canal Company on 19 January 1824, with a capitalization of $150,000, and Merritt as the agent. The canal was officially opened exactly five years later on 30 November 1829. However, the original route to Lake Erie followed the Welland and Niagara Rivers and was difficult and slow to navigate. The Welland Canal Company obtained a loan of 50,000 pounds from the province of Upper Canada in March 1831 to cut a canal directly to Gravelly Bay (now [[Port Colborne, Ontario|Port Colborne]]) as the new Lake Erie terminus for the canal.<ref>{{harvp|Craig|1963|pages=153–160}}</ref>

By the time the canal was finished in 1837, it had cost the province £425,000 in loans and stock subscriptions. The company was supposed to have been a private one using private capital; but the province had little private capital available, hence most of the original funds came from New York. To keep the canal in Upper Canadian hands, the province had passed a law barring Americans from the company's directorate. The company was thus controlled by the Family Compact, even though they had few shares. By 1834, it was clear the canal would never make money and that the province would be on the hook for the large loans; the canal and the canal company thus became a political issue, as local farmers argued the huge expense would ultimately only benefit American farmers in the west and the merchants who transported their grain.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Aitken|first=Hugh G.T.|title=Yates and McIntyre: Lottery Managers|journal=The Journal of Economic History|year=1953|volume=13|issue=1|pages=36–57|doi=10.1017/S0022050700070030|s2cid=153540099 }}</ref>

====Desjardins Canal====
The '''Desjardins Canal''', named after its promoter Pierre Desjardins, was built to give [[Dundas, Ontario]], easier access to [[Burlington Bay]] and [[Lake Ontario]]. Access to Lake Ontario from Dundas was made difficult by the topography of the area, which included a natural sand and gravel barrier, across Burlington Bay which allowed only boats with a shallow draft through. In 1823 a canal was dug through the sandbar. In 1826 the passage was completed, allowing schooners to sail to neighbouring [[Hamilton, Ontario|Hamilton]]. Hamilton then became a major port and quickly expanded as a centre of trade and commerce. In 1826 a group of Dundas businessmen incorporated to compete with Hamilton and increase the value of their real estate holdings. The project to build Desjardins Canal continued for ten years, from 1827 to 1837, and required constant infusions of money from the province. In 1837, the year it opened, the company's income was £6,000, of which £5,000 was from a government loan and £166 was received from canal tolls.