Click here to hear Alex Sinclair perform this song.
There’s a thin skin of ice at the edge of the lock
Icicles break from the chains
William Hamilton Merritt walks
The deck of the Annie and Jane
From Port Dalhousie to Chippawa
Through sleet and wind and rain
Here’s to the horses hired to tow
The proud Annie and Jane
Their hooves beat out a steady pace
Their shoulders heave and strain
And the ship climbs up the mountain face
The ascendent Annie and Jane
William Hamilton Merritt spins
His top hat and complains
Of the mud and the ice and the cold cold winds
That slow the Annie and Jane
The horses hooves on the broad tow path
Ring out a glad refrain
they echo from the walls of Chippawa
To the deck of the Annie and Jane
Published in Spirit of the Big Ditch: The Story of the Welland Canals in Pictures, Poems and Songs. Compiled, edited and annotated by Robert Ratcliffe Taylor. St. Catharines: The Historical Society of St. Catharines, 2024
The Historical Society of St. Catharines 