Press Release, Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation Concerning the Dondero-Wiley Canal and the Bertrand H. Snell Lock

ST. LAWRENCE SEAWAY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION OFFICE OF INFCRMATION ROOM 605, LAFAYETTE BLDG. WASHINGTON 25, D. C. SLSDC-130 PM RELEASE Monday, February 10, 1958 EX 3-3111 - 5568-69 'WILEY-DONDERO CANAL" AND "BERTRAND H. SNELL LOCK" HONOR SPONSORS OF SEAWAY Members of the United States Congress who sponsored the first St. Lawrence Seaway bill in 1917 and the legislation which was enacted into law in 1954 will have their names perpetuated in Seaway history for all time. Administrator Lewis G. Castle has announced that hereafter the Long Sault Canal, 10 miles long with a bottom width of 442 feet and a minimum depth of 27 feet, will be called the "Wiley-Dondero Canal, while the Grasse River Lock will be known as "Bertrand H. Snell Lock." The Long Sault Canal was renamed to honor Senator Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin and Former Congressman George A. Dondero of Michigan, staunch Seaway advocates for many years, who successfully steered the Seaway Act (Public Law 358, 83rd Congress, 2nd Session) to its final passage. More than 20 million cubic yards of material were excavated for the lock sites and canal, which was completed December 31, 1957. Snell Lock honors Bertrand H. Snell of Potsdam, N. Y., Republican minority leader in the House from 1931 until his retirement in 1938, who introduced the initial Seaway - Power development bill on April 24, 1917. Mr. Snell died on February 2 at the age of 87 in Potsdam, N. Y., Hospital after an illness of two months. Administrator Castle announced that the Seaway Corporation's five- man Advisory Board unanimously concurred in the decision to honor the Congressional "Fathers of the Seaway" by the new canal and lock desig- nations. Comprising the Advisory Board are: Edward J. Noble, a native of Gouverneur, N. Y., who is Board Chairman of Beechnut-Life Savers, Director and Chairman of the Finance Committee of American Broadcasting Co., and owner of the Thousand Islands Club on Wellesley Island, near Alexandria Bay, N. Y.,; John C. Beukema, Muskegon, Mich., President of the Great Lakes Harbors Association; Harry C. Brockel, Municipal Port Director of Milwaukee, Wisc.; Hugh Moore, Easton, Penn., founder of Dixie Cup Co., and Kenneth M. Lloyd, Youngstown, Ohio, Secretary of the Mahoning Valley Industrial Council.