Fully Opening the Soo Locks at the Top of Michigan Would be a Total Disaster

The Soo Locks at Sault Ste Marie are a bit of an underrated and underappreciated tourist attraction in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Located on the border between Canada and the United States, the Soo Locks are a vital transportation link in the Great Lakes with thousands of freighters passing through each shipping season.

What some forget, particularly those of us that don't speak French, is that before the locks, the St Marys River was a serious of treacherous rapids though the region.

The Locks bypassed the rapids and change in elevation. They were constructed in the 1850s.

When the St Marys River Ran Wild Through the Soo Locks

The largest disaster that has ever occurred at the locks happened in 1909. A ship travelling upbound (meaning from Lake Huron to Lake Superior) crashed into the lock doors. This caused the locks to fail and water rushed through the channel.

While 1909 is a century before the ubiquitous camera-on-every-device era we live in today, there was a photographer who was able to capture the onslaught of water cascading though the locks.

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While it may look fun for a kayaker shooing the rapids, the water made commercial travel impossible until it was repaired.

The US Army Corps of Engineers based in Detroit has oversight today over the locks and shared the photo from the disaster day.

The incident was also captured by postcard artists.

It's a 21 foot drop through the Soo, so it's a great deal of downhill water when the locks are breached.

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The disaster led to two boats sinking and commercial traffic stalled until repairs were complete.