By SETH HENNESSY

Staff Writer

Taking a wrong turn in downtown St. Catharines may leave you in a beautiful place. 

The second annual Family Day Hike run by the Welland Canal Advocate (WCA), began Feb. 15 on Westchester Avenue. 

The five-kilometre hike was led by the WCA's publisher, Rene Russler, and his partner, Shana Matthews. 

It is a colder hike but this year Russler's storytelling and facts warm the hikers.

The "optimum dream" for Russler and other supporters of historic preservation in St. Catharines is to see the canals acknowledged for their importance. 

Bob Watson was along for the day and is a member of the St. Catharines Heritage Committee. 

He does not think many residents know about the scattered locks that remain.

"Most people couldn't point out the second canal," he says but still feels they are worth knowing about. 

"It's a neat part of history." 

The WCA and other community groups hope to raise enough awareness so the canals can be designated as national historic sites. This will ensure protection and the ability to maintain what is left of them.

Since 1847, money problems have swamped the canals' chances at receiving steady maintenance. 

"John A. MacDonald commissioned the first one," says Russler. But within 50 to 60 years since that day, marine technology developed, so many of the canals' uses "became obsolete." 

After some settlement took place, factories sprouted around the canals using the relayed water as hydraulic power. Today it is evident that these factories no longer exist. 

To fix a simple problem today, it would take a lot of money out of funds that do not yet exist. 

Grocery carts are thrown into the water and sticking in the mud enough that a truck and grappling hooks are necessary to clean it up. 

"It would take a couple of thousand dollars just to get a few out, and then they'd be back again," says Russler. 

After the hikers cross the train tracks and climbing over fallen trees, one member of the hike makes a revelation. 

"I used to swim there," says Edna Groff, pointing to an empty field. 

After water levels dropped, there were still small pools of water left including Granny's Creek where Groff used to swim. 

Personal memories still exist in the depths of St. Catharines' past, but the future is erasing other memories. 

At the end of the hike, Russler uses his walking stick to outline in the snow where Lock 14 rests under the new Sobeys on Glendale Avenue. 

Russler does not speak bitterly about new buildings or that the canal has not been kept up. 

He knows that any fault is multi-layered and impossible to assign, but he is saddened when a forgotten canal stone, half covered in snow and bush, is found. 

"It's a bloody shame," he says, but walks on. 

Earlier in the walk when the path looked less beaten and the group looked to him for direction, he simply replied, "We'll blaze our own trail." 

Emily Mazi, 24, found the day delightful. 

"I thoroughly enjoyed the hike. It was awesome to see the historical significance." 

Although Russler was not in earshot, he might be glad to know Mazi's future plans.  

"I am definitely coming back."