January 19, 2012
The Sunken Villages Story July 1, 1958 is remembered as Inundation Day in the Cornwall, Ontario area. At 08:00 a controlled explosion tore open a coffer dam and four days later an area that had once been home to over 6,500 people in 7 villages and 3 hamlets – some dating back to the 1700s – disappeared under the waves of Lake St. Lawrence, part of the newly created St Lawrence Seaway. A feat of unprecedented industrial accomplishment, the St Lawrence Seaway, was the largest industrial project of its time. It eliminated the massive Long Sault Rapids to generate hydro-power and open the Great Lakes to ocean-going vessels. Completed in only four years it was a source of great national pride. It was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth and Vice-President Nixon in 1959. In advance of the flooding, residents were expropriated – most willingly – from their homes, farms and businesses, offered new and modern housing in the purpose built towns of Ingleside and Long Sault and largely rebuilt communities of Iroquois and Morrisburg.

The Sunken Villages Story

July 1, 1958 is remembered as Inundation Day in the Cornwall, Ontario area. At 08:00 a controlled explosion tore open a coffer dam and four days later an area that had once been home to over 6,500 people in 7 villages and 3 hamlets – some dating back to the 1700s – disappeared under the waves of Lake St. Lawrence, part of the newly created St Lawrence Seaway.

A feat of unprecedented industrial accomplishment, the St Lawrence Seaway, was the largest industrial project of its time. It eliminated the massive Long Sault Rapids to generate hydro-power and open the Great Lakes to ocean-going vessels. Completed in only four years it was a source of great national pride. It was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth and Vice-President Nixon in 1959.

In advance of the flooding, residents were expropriated – most willingly – from their homes, farms and businesses, offered new and modern housing in the purpose built towns of Ingleside and Long Sault and largely rebuilt communities of Iroquois and Morrisburg.


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