1965-1973 Welland Canal Bypass Construction - 24 minutes

This 24 minute 8mm film of the construction of the Welland Canal Bypass of Welland, Ontario, is the first in a series of historically significant old movie films of the Welland Canals and Niagara Region for a volunteer history project in collaboration with Niagara Region museums, of finding, digitizing, and making publically available. It is comprised of 8 fifty foot reels of homemovie 8mm films recorded by Joseph Kiraly, and donated to this preservation project by his son Don Kiraly. Joseph painstakingly recorded these films between 1965 and 1973.

So many ships were going through downtown Welland that vehicular and pedestrian transit from one side of Welland to the other was halted far too often, and ship passage was becoming more and more hazerdous, so it was decided that a bypass of downtown Welland had to be constructed which began in 1967, Canada's Centennial year.

Joseph's films begin in 1965 with some of the last freighter ships to pass through the centre of downtown Welland, Ontario. Then the construction of the Bypass; the Highway 140 Tunnel and it's Opening Ceromonies, and a lot of period cars that many people would kill to own today. The film ends with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the father of Canada's current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, attending the Dedication Ceremony in 1973.

PM Pierre Trudeau got swarmed by the crowds for an autograph, a picture, even just to touch him, because most Canadians back then practically worshiped Pierre as a demigod. There's a lot of 10-14 year old kids racing around the outside of the crowds hoping to see Pierre who would be in their 50s today.

The Welland Canal Bypass was yet another marvel of Canal Engineering for Canada, not just for it's enormity, not just for the two highway tunnels under the Canal Bypass, but, they actually built a huge aqueduct to also pass the entire Welland River - UNDER - the Welland Canal Bypass.

Music-wise, I started with Frank Mills, a brilliant Canadian pianist and recording artist. Next up are two 1967 songs to celebrate Canada's Centennial. Ontari-ari-ari-o, and the Montreal Expo67 Canada song. Then Stompin' Tom's "Get To It And At It" to convey the work ethic of the 1,000s of Canadians from all over Canada, and from other countries, who worked on the Bypass to get the job done and done right. Most would probably say Stompin' Tom was Canada's answer to Johnny Cash. Actually I think the other way around, Cash was the Stompin' Tom of the U.S. Next some more Frank Mills, then "The Maple Leaf Forever", Stompin' Tom's "CA-NA-DA" song, then the "Royal Canadian Air Force March Past" by Canadian Forces Base Trenton Pipe Band, and finally, "Oh Canada", our National Anthem.

Google the Welland Canal Bypass ( and Welland Canal ) and learn all the fascinating history and facts.