July 31, 2008: Smith Falls, Ontario

Our destination for today is Smith Falls. Smith Falls was named after Thomas Smyth who constructed a saw mill on the river in 1786. Smith Falls is approximately the midpoint on the Rideau between Ottawa and Kingston, the bookends of the canal.

We passed by the Upper Nickolson lock again, but this time we saw something new. It was the first ospreys we have seen since leaving NC. There was a huge nest in a tall poll erected by the power company just to accommodate the ospreys. The lock master told us that the ospreys had been trying to build their nest on the power lines so to remedy the situation, they decided to provide the ospreys their own place. He said that the pole and a nest had been there for the past seven years. We saw the baby dappled brown, white headed osprey just learning to fly. It is easy to see why the ospreys love this site because the rapids have to be a great fishing spot.

We stopped in Merrickville, and it was just a short walk from the lock to visit the Sam Jakes Inn. The Inn is an old two story stone building originally built as a private residence. Sam Jakes moved there and opened a department store which at one time was the largest general merchant between Montreal and Chicago. The stone work showed the irregularities of hand cut stone on some of the interior walls, although I think it had been expanded in later years. We ate in the dining room, and as we walked past the Inn Keepers desk, Tom was delighted to see that they had a picture of iced tea out for their guests. We took glasses of the dark, sweet tea with us to the table.

At one of the locks, Kilmarna, we came to after lunch, there was a bridge that crossed the top of the lock. On several occasions, we have seen these cranked open, but this one was different. It sat on a set of rollers and was so perfected counterbalanced that one of the lock men was able to just shove the bridge and it coasted open. It was pretty amazing to watch.

When the canal was cut through Smith Falls, the original lock was actually a three flight lock with a gradual rise. But in 1973 there was a new lock built that is very different than the rest of the lock system. It has the highest rise of any lock on the Rideau, 23 feet, and is operated hydraulically, not by hand cranks like all the others. As the Rideau Canal has now been named a Canadian Heritage site, it will be good that the heritage of the locks will continue to be carefully preserved.

We are now tied up by a beautiful little park with fountains and flower beds. We made a meandering bike ride along the canal to a chocolate lovers dream, a Hershey factory, here. The original plant employed over 500 workers, but now they just have a very small operation making Hershey bars and Reese cups. We did get to see some of the original molds that were used for various milk chocolate bars, saw a huge vat of chocolate being stirred by big stainless steel fans, and of course, got to buy some chocolate kisses out of a hopper. No free samples though.