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5 unusual facts about Soo Locks


Bud Talbott

Talbott's father was a wealthy engineer who was involved in the construction of the Soo Locks on Lake Superior and had various railroad interests.

CFS Armstrong

The community was the site of a detachment of the US Army's 671st Signal Aircraft Warning Company (Reporting), established to detect an enemy air attack on the locks at Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Skysweeper

By the end of 1957 Skysweeper battalions remained at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, to protect the Soo Locks (one battalion), Savannah River Site (two), and one 90mm and two Skysweeper battalions at Thule Air Base, Greenland (all were removed by 1959).

Tacoma-class frigate

Ice prevented patrol frigates built on the Great Lakes from transiting the Soo Locks on the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan in the winter and spring, requiring them to be floated down the Mississippi River on pontoons to New Orleans or Houston for fitting out, often doubling their construction time.

Wolseley Expedition

The expedition travelled to Georgian Bay, then by steamer across Lake Huron to the U.S. Sault Canal where men and materiel had to be transported on the Canadian side of the river, across Lake Superior to the Department of Public Works station at Thunder Bay which Wolseley named Prince Arthur's Landing on May 25, 1870, in honour of Queen Victoria's third son.



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