Rideau Canal Locks, Ottawa, circa 1950

The estate of the artist Private Collection, Ontario

The oldest continuously operated canal in North America, the Rideau Canal locks played an integral role in the settlement and industrial establishment of Ottawa. Established in 1832, the locks connect the city of Ottawa, to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston and were opened as a precaution in the event of war with the United States. An invaluable access point to Ontario, the locks could serve as both a thoroughfare and blockade in the event of conflict. As the lumber industry bourgeoned in Upper Canada, the lock systems played another vital role. As raw lumber was sent down the Saint Lawrence from rural Quebec and Ontario logging communities, the logs would be corralled at the north opening of the locks and raised up to and down the Rideau canal to transport the lumber into the province for milling and refinement. Presently, the lock system is used primarily for pleasure boating and is operated by Parks Canada. Broomfield has used dramatic single point perspective to emphasize the strong lines of the locks design. Receding into the horizon punctuated by the Gatineau Hills, the eye moves along the locks towards the neighbouring Quebec shoreline, connecting Ontario to Quebec by the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge. To the east of the locks, just out of frame, sits the historic Chateau Laurier, and to the West, the original historic Commissariat which was later turned into the Bytown Museum. Situated in wintertime, Broomfield captured the dry frigid Ottawa temperatures with the blue-white snow-covered ground and rooftops, literally freezing the operation of the locks until the spring thaw.