Big Bathtub

The lock lay like a tremendous, zebra-striped bathtub for Paul Bunyan. (Down were the barrage balloons that usually guard it.) Up to the walk atop the 680-ton lock gates stepped 16-year-old Jan Harns, smashed a beribboned bottle of champagne over the black iron and concrete of the walk. Thus this week one of the world's most strategic locks was formally opened to deep-laden, deep-tooting ore boats. The lock, named for General Douglas MacArthur, is the newest on the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, the most vital waterway in the U.S. Through the Soo passes 80% of the iron ore (mainly...

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