Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Here is a 1857 chart showing the rapids before the cut was made.

[u][url]https://historicalcharts.noaa.gov/historicals/preview/image/LC00013-00-1857WWL[/url][/u]


At that time the recommended track was to the east of Sugar Island, and through Lake George. See [i]Thompson's 1869 Coast Pilot[/i] for directions:

[u][url]https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t89g6t68c?urlappend=%3Bseq=75[/url][/u]

In the roughly 12 years between publication of the chart and the sailing directions, it appears that Canada dredged the "middle channel" to 16 feet deep through Lake George.


By the 1878 version of [i]Thompson's Coast Pilot[/i], it appears to have been down to 14 feet through Lake George :

[u][url]https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015071188588?urlappend=%3Bseq=129[/url][/u]

From the information I have. Dredging operations on the Little Rapids Cut started in 1891 and was completed in 1895. Island #1 was cut in half. One side is where the Sugar Island ferry dock is on Sugar Island and is still called Island #1. The other half is at the lower part of the cut on the mainland side and is still called island #1 also. If you go to Google Maps and zoom in on the area the names of the islands can be seen. I'm not sure which island is Voyeguers island though, but I think the remaining islands were just shaved off. Hope that helps.

It is my understanding that Island #1 and Voyeguers Island were originally one island, separated to allow for mondern freighters. If this is true, when was this work done?