Loading question...
You are in free guest mode. Timed Practice Revision List Attempt History Progress Tracking Create a free account to unlock these tools
Prev Next
CELPIP Practice Reading: Reading for Information ID: #60129 Medium The Rideau Canal: from a wartime supply route to a waterway for leisure

Read the following passage.

A. The Rideau Canal began as an answer to a military problem. In the War of 1812, the St. Lawrence River was the vital water link between Montreal and the Great Lakes, but much of its southern shore was in American possession, so the route could easily be cut off. After the war, surveys looked for a second, safer route. The one chosen went up the Ottawa River to the mouth of the Rideau, south along that river and a chain of small lakes, and down the Cataraqui River to Lake Ontario at Kingston. British authorities, wary of the expense, showed little enthusiasm until the Duke of Wellington took up the cause.

B. Lieutenant-Colonel John By of the Royal Engineers arrived in 1826 to oversee the project. His headquarters near the mouth of the Rideau River grew into a settlement called Bytown, renamed Ottawa in 1855. By persuaded his superiors to approve larger locks, 134 feet long and 33 feet wide, so that the new steamboats could pass. The work was done almost entirely by hand. Many labourers came from French-Canadian settlements, and many others were immigrants from Ireland. Malaria, which the men called swamp fever, was the greatest danger, and in the summer of 1828 so many were sick that work was shut down for weeks.

C. The canal officially opened in the summer of 1832. Along its 202 kilometres it had 47 masonry locks and 52 dams. The British Parliament was shocked by the cost and recalled By to face an inquiry; he was later cleared of mismanagement. The canal itself became a busy commercial artery, since it was easier to navigate than the dangerous rapids of the St. Lawrence. Timber, potash, mica and iron ore were shipped along it by steamer and barge. By 1849, however, a series of locks had tamed those rapids, and shippers were quick to switch to the more direct route.

D. After the First World War, commercial traffic almost disappeared, and today the canal is used entirely by pleasure craft. Boaters and paddlers travel through 22 lockstations between Ottawa and Kingston. Except for three hydraulic locks, the locks are still operated by the muscle power of staff who crank the gates open with winches. In winter, the National Capital Commission turns a 7.8-kilometre stretch of the canal into the Rideau Canal Skateway. The skating season typically runs from January to early March, depending on the weather, and while the Skateway is open it is free and accessible 24 hours a day.

E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.

Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.

- 1.
Wood was one of several kinds of cargo once moved on the waterway by boat.

- 2.
Nowadays the waterway carries only boats that people use for fun.

- 3.
Illness among the builders once forced the project to stop for weeks.

- 4.
An enemy could have blocked the older supply route without much difficulty.

- 5.
Most of the canal's locks are worked by human strength rather than by motors.

- 6.
Many of the Irish workers stayed in the area once the canal was finished.

- 7.
The man in charge of the canal was called back to answer questions about what it had cost.

- 8.
Wellington himself selected John By to direct the construction.

- 9.
Skaters do not have to pay to use the frozen section of the canal.

With a free account: Retry and compare every attempt.
Saving...