Qu'est-ce qu'un canal à écluses?
English: A canal is an artificial waterway designed to improve navigation on a river or other watercourse.
A lock is a water-filled chamber with gates and sluices which allows vessels to travel between bodies of water that are located at different levels.
When a vessel passes through a lock canal, it's almost as though it were going up or down stairs.
Originally, the canal at Coteau-du-Lac had three locks. However, only two locks remained after major repair work was done in the early 19th century.
This lock canal made it possible to overcome a drop of approximately 2 m in the water level of the St. Lawrence.
The passage of a vessel through the Coteau-du-Lac canal as it travelled up the St. Lawrence to the Great Lakes involved three main steps:
1. The gates (B) between the two locks were closed. The vessel then entered the lower lock.
2. The gates (A and C) at each end of the two locks were closed. The sluices of the central gate (B) were then opened and the water from the upper lock flowed into the lower one until it reached the same level in the two locks. The central gates (B) were then opened an the vessel moved into the upper lock.
3. The central gates (B) were closed. The sluices of the gates (C) at the far end of the upper lock were then opened. The water in the lock reached the same level as that at the upper entrance to the canal. The gates (C) were then opened and the vessel could sail back into the river.
French:
Un canal est une voie navigable artificielle qui améliore les conditions de navigation d'un cours d'eau.
Une écluse est un bassin d'eau muni de portes et de vannes qui permet aux bateau d'accéder à des plans d'eau dont les niveaux sont différents. En fait, écluser un bateau, c'est un peu comme lui faire monter ou descendre un escalier...!
A l'origine, le canal de Coteau-du-lac comprenait trois écluses. Suite à des refections majeures survenues au debut du XIXᵉ siècle, ce nombre fut réduit à deux. Les écluses de ce canal permettaient de combler une dénivellation d'environ 2 m sur le fleuve.
L'éclusage d'un bateau qui empruntait le canal de Coteau-du-lac pour remonter le fleuve Saint-Laurent en direction des Grands Lacs, se déroulait principalement en trois étapes.
1. Les portes (B) qui séparent les deux écluses sont fermées. Le bateau entre dans l'écluse d'aval.
2. On ferme les ports (A et C) des extrémités de chacune des deux écluses. Ensuite on ouvre les vannes des portes centrales (B). L'eau de l'écluse d'aval jusqu'à l'équilibre des niveaux d'eau. On ouvre les portes centrales (B) et le bateau passe dans l'écluse d'amont.
3. On referme les portes (B) centrales. On ouvre les vannes des portes (C) de l'extrémité de l'écluse et de l'entrée d'amont s'égalisent. On ouvre les portes (C) et le bateau peut regagner le fleuve.
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