The Trent–Severn Waterway was formerly used for commercial purposes but now is exclusively for pleasure boats, connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to the Georgian Bay portion of Lake Huron at Port Severn. Begun in the 1850’s, ironically by the time the waterway was completed in 1920, its design had been made obsolete by larger boats and the railroads as the waterway had been designed for boats too small to be commercially viable.
The major natural waterways include the Trent River, Otonabee River, the Kawartha lakes, Lake Simcoe, Lake Couchiching and the Severn River. The total length of the waterway is 240 miles, beginning at Trenton, Ontario, with roughly 20 nautical miles of man-made channels. There are 44 locks, including 36 conventional locks, two sets of flight locks, hydraulic lift locks at Peterborough and Kirkfield, and a marine railway at Big Chute which transports boats between the upper and lower sections of the Severn. The system also includes 39 swing bridges and 160 dams and control structures that manage the water levels for flood control and navigation on lakes and rivers. It is maintained and operated by Parks Canada, a federal government agency, and now is being used for tourism by recreational boaters.
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