It is the world's largest skating rink, the regular inclusion on tourist ‘must-see' lists, and it is now officially one of Canada's global gems.
The Rideau Canal has been named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, putting it in the esteemed company of the Rocky Mountains, Gros Morne National Park, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Old Quebec and the Waterton Glacier.
But the Canadian treasure, which turns 175 this year, is not on the list because of national iconography or winter fun.
UNESCO says the Rideau Canal is no less than a witness to the violent struggle to control the entire North American continent.
Built by the British as a military defence shield, constructed in just five years and costing £800,000 – an astronomical figure in the late 1820s – the Rideau Canal was a major technological feat for its time.
But this leading light of 19th-century construction ruined and killed thousands of people along the way, said Gavin Liddy, superintendent of the Rideau Canal for Parks Canada.
“Rumour has it they stopped taking record [of the deaths],” Mr. Liddy said.
Officially, 400 to 600 workers died of malaria, while other unskilled labourers – many of them Irish and Scottish immigrants – were killed during construction. Mr. Liddy said more than 1000 people were likely to have died.
Surveyed by British and native workers and hacked out of the wilderness by contractors, who often paid for their shovel out of their wage and whose families lived in the mud banks they dug out, it was the most expensive defensive work in the history of the British Empire.
And that was not a good thing for the people in charge, Mr. Liddy said.
Colonel John By was called back to Britain to explain the massive cost of the project, and, while he was eventually cleared of any wrong-doing, the project effectively ruined him.
“He died a broken man, without really getting the recognition that was due,” Mr. Liddy said.
“This was a time when the city of Ottawa didn't exist. Colonel By basically altered the landscape. He created a recreational paradise. Today is a testament to his genius.”
The celebration of Col. By's legacy – including the fact he lent his name to the original town – will continue with massive celebrations this Saturday when Ottawa spends an afternoon toasting its leading lady.
The Rideau Canal
The Rideau Canal is a 202-kilometre chain of lakes, rivers and canals stretching from Ottawa south to Kingston, on the shore of Lake Ontario.
Before its construction, Britain and the United States were vying for control of the continent in the 1800s, and the Rideau Canal was created purely for military reasons.
The British wanted to avoid extensive excavation, so chose so-called “slackwater” technology that uses a series of dams to back up river water to a navigable depth.
A chain of 50 massive locks were created, protected by the construction of six ‘blockhouses' and a fort. Defensible lockmaster's houses were later added at several lock stations and, between 1846 and 1848, four Martello towers – small forts with a gun platform on the roof – were constructed to strengthen the fortifications at Kingston harbour.
It was one of the first canals designed specifically for steam-powered vessels, and has a range of fortifications.
Now, 175 years later, the Rideau Canal is the best preserved example of a slackwater canal in North America, demonstrating the use of that era's European technology on a large scale.
The Rideau is the only canal from the continent's canal-building era that is still operating along its original line with most of its original structures intact.
Also on the list of new additions to humanity's list of priceless sites this week was the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine in Japan, the Parthian Fortresses of Turkmenistan, and the Red Fort Complex in India.
