Creating the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project

Students at St. Lawrence University may not realize their proximity to one of the greatest North American megaprojects of the twentieth century: the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project. Constructed jointly by Canada and the United States (and Ontario and New York) between 1954-1959, the dams built as part of the project turned much of the St. Lawrence River into a lake that provided a deep canal system and allowed for the production of hydroelectricity. The flooding required a massive, and seldom seen, manipulation of the environment. On both sides of the border, whole communities, farms, roads, and infrastructures were submerged by the Seaway and had to be moved.

In this course we will look at the ways that governments in national capitals, engineers in planning offices, and citizens directly affected by the flooding understood what they were doing and what was happening. We will look at conceptions of nature and the environment and will examine the idea of progress, the role of the state, and the reach of technology as understood during the mid-twentieth century. We will look at national and local impacts. In addition to exploring these ideas in a transnational context, this course will take an interdisciplinary approach and explore literature and other forms of popular culture concerning the St. Lawrence project. With the Seaway located just minutes from Canton, we will take field trips and explore the St. Lawrence environment – and “Lost Villages” – directly ourselves.