Bydgoszcz Canal (, ) is a canal between the cities of Bydgoszcz and Nakło nad Notecią in Poland. It is 24.7 km long and connects the Vistula river with the Oder river, through the Brda and Noteć rivers (the latter ending in the Warta river which itself ends in the Oder). The level difference along the canal is regulated by 6 locks. The canal was built in 1772–1775 on the order of King Frederick II of Prussia after the First Partition of Poland.
The Bydgoszcz Canal has been listed on the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Heritage List, Nr.A/900/1-27, on 30 November 2005.
Location
The route of the Bydgoszcz Canal finds its way through an ancient valley about 2 km wide, surrounded by steep edges: on the north, the Krajeńskie Lake District banks are 25 to 40 m high; on the south the upper slopes of the Toruń basin are 10 to 15 m high. The area was created about 12,000 years ago by a divide between the basins of Oder and Vistula rivers. The canal starts in downtown Bydgoszcz, flowing through the western part of the city, it then crosses Bydgoszcz district on 7 km and ends at Nakło nad Notecią.
The Bydgoszcz Canal is a key element of the Vistula-Oder Waterway (294.3 km long), which in turn is part of the international Waterway E70, connecting Antwerp (Belgium) and the Atlantic Ocean to Klaipėda (Lithuania) and the Baltic Sea. Its main intended role comes as being a component of this east–west navigable shipping route.
The Vistula–Oder Waterway passes through the Brda River, a tributary of the Vistula, and connects to the Bydgoszcz Canal, which contains two water locks located within the city.
Beyond Bydgoszcz, the waterway continues through the canal to Nakło nad Notecią, passing through 14 water locks. At Nakło nad Notecią, it follows the Noteć and Warta rivers before ultimately joining the Oder River. Several large harbors and berths are available en route: Bydgoszcz, Nakło nad Notecią, Ujście, Czarnków, Krzyż Wielkopolski, Gorzów Wielkopolski and Santok.
History First projects
Assumptively, navigation between Brda and Noteć rivers has taken place in a very distant past, considering archeological foundings: in 1827, an anchor was found where stands today Grunwaldzka Street; in 1840, a large remains of a ship and a docking installation were unearthed near the village of Łochowo.
The Vistula and Oder rivers were only apart, considering the situation of their tributaries (Noteć and Brda rivers): the junction of both hydrographic basins seemed unavoidable. First plans were established as soon as technical and political opportunities appeared. Discussions to link the Noteć and the Brda first occurred in the 16th century during the Polish-Brandenburg talks and were renewed in the 1630s by king Władysław IV Vasa.
Polish project In the 1750s, canal schemes were very popular: first realizations were already completed in France, England or Germany, while in Poland, Prince Michał Kazimierz Ogiński supported the construction of the Oginski Canal, and the Dnieper–Bug Canal was completed at the end of the 18th century. Nearby Bydgoszcz, works started east of Rynarzewo, run by Mr Małachowski, landlord in Łabiszyn: in the 1770s, trenches were excavated and usable as a portion of a navigable canal in the area.
One of the first major projects under consideration by King Stanisław August Poniatowski was a channel linking the Noteć with the Brda via Bydgoszcz. Main aims to be achieved were facilitating Polish goods exports to Western Europe, as well as commercial exploitation of forest resource (neglected so far), while weakening the quasi-monopoly of the then-Prussian city of Danzig. Politically, a consideration speaking against this concept was that such a canal could in fact increase the power of the Kingdom of Prussia.
On 9 July 1766, during a meeting of the Committee of the Crown Treasury, a plan was presented by artillery captain and royal geographer Franciszek Florian Czaki. He proposed to build the canal where the Noteć was the closest to Bydgoszcz. It was planned to be long, wide and deep. The level difference () between the Brda and the Noteć was compensated by six water locks. Construction would have been carried out by a private company, which would then have received the right to collect taxes in return. Approval for building this project was not given by the Sejm, due to the political turmoils of the time (1768): Bar Confederation, then First Partition of Poland. In retrospect, the project was not devoid of technical defects, especially in under-estimating the requirement of water resources that could be found locally (streams and wetlands).
Completion of the Prussian project
The Prussian project was born after the first partition of Poland. Lands where the Vistula, Brda and Noteć flowed were all under the control of the Kingdom of Prussia and Frederick the Great took specific interest in this situation. The Prussian project was worked out by several personalities: Frederick the Great, of course, but also politician Franz von Brenkenhoff, engineer Hermann Jawein or Minister of Foreign Affairs Ewald Friedrich Hertzberg. Presumably, during his journey through the lands occupied by Prussia, Hermann Jawein was the first to identify the potential of the local hydrographic system, in particular meadow resources, which could be obtained after draining the Bydgoszcz canal valley. In February 1772, this idea was brought to the attention of governor Franz von Brenkenhoff, who, once having investigated the situation on the spot, went to talk king of Prussia Frederick II into approving the project. Many benefits were expected from the completion of the canal: creating an alternate trading pole (after Danzig); improving transport and communication within the newly expanded Province of Brandenburg; revitalizing the central Noteć valley; colonizing the Brda and Noteć rivers.
The canal design was shaped in spring of 1772. It hinged on a classic solution: the draining and re-routing of the ancient urstromtal. Initially, plans comprised the use of water supplies from: Ślesińskiego Lake (now Stawy Kardynalskie in Ślesin) near Nakło; streams flowing from the Lake District north of Bydgoszcz; drainage of swamps. Further researches showed, however, that the amount of water would still be neither sufficient nor regular. Hence the decision to use most elevated water flows from the Noteć river, which required the construction of a specific ditch from Rynarzewo to Lisi Ogon. The required support of Noteć waters caused the canal location to be located more to the south than originally planned.
The work began in spring 1773, with a man power of 8,000 workers coming from Mecklenburg, Thuringia, Saxony, Dessau and Czechia. After one year, all the water locks were completed. The canal official opening took place on 14 June 1774, but works continued until 1775. 2000 workers died from dysentery and fever, the rest was ordered to settle in three colonies on Osowa Góra premises.
The new waterway was long, with 10 wooden locks: 9 in Bydgoszcz and one in Nakło nad Notecią. At the same time as the completion of the Bydgoszcz Canal, the water supply channel (Górnonotecki Canal) was achieved: long, it brought Noteć water (picked up near Rynarzewo) to the canal (near the location of the village Łochowo). It was now possible to ferry goods through inland waterway from Vistula, Bug, San and Narew rivers to Szczecin, thus bypassing Baltic Sea.
Apart from the short Kanał Jagielloński (1483), the Bydgoszcz canal was then the oldest artificial waterway completed on Polish lands; at the time, it was called The miracle work of time. It was followed by other similar realizations: the Dnieper–Bug Canal (1784) or the Oginski Canal (1783).
First operational period (1774–1792) The first period of use of the canal was difficult, since Prussia did not allocate funds to maintain equipment and construction (removing sand, vegetation or strengthening the banks). Between 1789 and 1792, a reconstruction of a Bydgoszcz lock (Śluza Miejska ) failed. Hampered by such technical difficulties, waterway traffic never increased dramatically: in the 1775, 1373 barges used the canal, but only 1319 in 1786. In 1792, after a failure to ferry grain from Vistula river to western Prussia, the authorities pushed on funding a modernization of the canal.
Since its inception, an insufficient amount of water has been a significant problem to operate the Canal. The highest section, between Osowa Góra and Józefinki, was particularly affected: the main reason was that the water supply channel (Górnonotecki Canal) did not provide the amount of water expected. In this situation, an extension of the Kanał Górnonotecki was performed (1793–1794), so as to reach Dębinek.
First renovation (1792–1806)
The first reconstruction of the canal was performed by Ernst Conrad Peterson, a land drainage and later canal inspector. Between 1795 and 1801, he had 9 locks and 3 weirs rebuilt with brick material. The lock at Nakło East was the first renovated, leading to an extension of the canal by one kilometer, while one of the locks in Bydgoszcz was removed (between today's locks IV and V). All the rebuilt locks had the same dimensions: by .
They were the first locks in Prussia constructed with bricks (previously sandstone was used). Ernst Conrad Peterson had trees planted on the banks of the canal (between locks I and VI), where today the Old Bydgoszcz canal natural park () is located, and brought settlers who were in charge of managing the banks of the Canal at Osowa Góra. In 1805, he also had the city lock (Śluza Miejska ) rebuilt with wood: the chamber was then long and deep. These structures are still preserved today, along the old canal section (locks IV Wroclawska, V Black Path and VI Bronikowski).
From 1806 to 1875 Once Bydgoszcz incorporated to Polish territory (Duchy of Warsaw's period), repairs and maintenance of the canal kept on. In the area of Dębinek, a new weir was built so as to bring waters from Noteć river to the Górnonotecki Canal and a new lock in Nakło-West was constructed.
Works of Ernst Conrad Peterson were of such high quality, that for decades the canal carried on its operations without any additional extensive repair, except for the replacement of 15–20 years old wooden lock elements. From 1840 to 1852, two new massive granite-brick locks were built: Śluza Prądy and Osowa Góra lock. Both were locks of larger sizes, by . Till 1861, three locks were removed, thanks to the canal bottoming out.
In 1841, a stone bridge over Bydgoszcz Canal was erected downtown: Władysław IV Vasa Bridge, which has been demolished in 1971 during Marshal Ferdinand Foch Street extension. Between 1858 and 1862, shipping traffic on the canal reached 4000 boats yearly.
Investments from 1875 to 1905
After 1870, Europe witnessed a significant acceleration of inland navigation: railways were still expensive, and transport of bulk cargo by water was still considered the most profitable means. This movement was multiplicated by the use of steam engines. On Bydgoszcz Canal, steam ships appeared after 1885: approximately 500 000 tons of cargo were transported each year.
Since the beginning of the operations on the canal, development of water transport had always been limited by a shortage of the volume of water. Improvement occurred in 1878–1882, after the realization of the upper canalization of Noteć at Gopło lake section, and the re-construction of parts of the Górnonotecki Canal.
In 1876, Brda river regulation started in Bydgoszcz, together with the construction of a 50-ha wood harbour in the area of Brdyujście district (today's Bydgoszcz rowing track).