The Soo Area Office is responsible for the operation and maintenance of four navigational locks as well as the improvement and maintenance of navigation channels and structures, such as breakwaters, dikes and walls in the St. Mary's River.

The Soo maintenance shops are equipped to handle most any job; from the repair of huge lock gates, to carpentry and painting. Much of the necessary lock maintenance is carried out in the winter months, after the close of the shipping season.

The Soo Office is also responsible for compiling statistics on commerce passing through the locks. Data is also gathered on river and lake levels, discharges through power canals, and locks and compensating works.

This office maintains and operates a hydroelectric power plant that supplies power to the Soo complex. Surplus electric power is often directed into the eastern Upper Peninsula power grid.

The Soo Locks has also had a role in our nations defense; supplying waterborne raw materials during every major war and conflict since the late 1800s. The raw materials required from the Great Lakes Region would be the same for war as for peacetime--only the tonnage levels would differ. The primary commodities that pass through the locks are tactonite pellets, grain, and western coal.

Click here for an Animated Lock Demonstration.

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