The Soo Locks opened at 12:01 a.m. and people were waiting patiently to watch two of the Great Lakes bigger vessels make their way through. Jeff Herrington with the US Army Corp of Engineers says the Edgar B. Speer, followed by its Great Lakes Fleet group mate, the Edwin H. Gott. are so big they can only go through the Poe Lock.
“The Poe Lock is opening. It is the larger of the two operating locks right now with a 12-hundred foot chamber, and it can accommodate large laker vessels that we’ll see here early in the season.”
Herrington says local dignitaries greeted the crew on the Speer Thursday as part of a long standing tradition in Sault Saint Marie honoring the importance of shipping and the locks to the community. The Soo’s smaller lock, the MacArthur, is not expected to open until late April.
