Rideau Canal: A Humble River with Epic Tales 🌉📜

This is the Rideau Canal—small, unassuming, but loaded with history! 🌊 🌉 A UNESCO Wonder Built in 1832, it’s North America’s oldest continuously operated canal 🚤, linking Ottawa to Kingston. Fun fact: It’s a World Heritage Site! 🔧 47 Locks & Manual Labor The entire canal has 47 locks—8 of them in downtown Ottawa alone! 😱 Yachts take 4 hours to pass through, and workers manually crank each lock 💪. Miss the shift? You’re stuck till tomorrow! 🕒 (See pics 5–8 for Ottawa’s lock marathon!) 🏛️ Ottawa’s Capital Secret Weapon Why did Canada choose Ottawa as its capital? This canal! 🗝️ Unlike border cities, Ottawa’s safe from U.S. blockades. If America attacked Kingston or Montreal, Canada could resupply via this waterway 🛳️. Even today, they still eye the U.S. warily… 👀 🏙️ River = Class Divide The canal splits Ottawa into rich vs. regular: West: Posh British elite 🎩—Parliament Hill, the PM’s mansion, and skyscrapers. East: Working-class roots 👷—once markets and vendors, now… homeless camps and that smell 😷. ⛸️ Winter Highway When the canal freezes (Jan–Feb), it becomes Earth’s largest skating rink 🛷! You’ll see bankers in suits gliding to work 💼➡️🩰. #OttawaHistory #RideauMagic #WinterInCanada 🇨🇦❄️