The 43.5-kilometre (27-mi.) Welland Canal, which crosses the Niagara Peninsula about 13 kilometres (8 mi.) west of Niagara Falls, provides passage for cargo ships between lakes Erie and Ontario. Completed in 1829, the first canal required 40 locks to close the difference between the two lakes. Successive canals were built in the 1840s and 1880s. In 1932 a new canal using “twin locks” was completed, almost 3 decades after the idea was conceived. Learn More...