CANAL 



1148 



CANAL 



ON THE NEW YORK STATE BARGE CANAL 

 A view of three of a series of locks, showing how canal navigation is carried over a low watershed. 



tolls on French state waterways have been 

 levied since 1888. 



Germany's most important canal, the Kiel, 

 or Kaiser Wilhelm (see KAISER WILHELM 

 CANAL), provides a waterway between the Bal- 

 tic and the North seas. It was completed in 

 1895, but was later rebuilt and was again 

 opened to navigation in June, 1914. The com- 

 mercial importance of this watercourse is un- 

 questioned, and its strategic value was demon- 

 strated in the War of the Nations. Another 

 notable watercourse is the new Hohenzollern 

 Canal, also opened in 1914. It joins the Oder 

 and Spree rivers, providing waterway com- 

 munication between Berlin and Stettin on the 

 North Sea. In the spring of 1915 a canal be- 

 tween the Vistula and Oder rivers was opened, 

 182 miles in length. Since 1875 the govern- 

 ment has been engaged in the systematic reor- 

 ganization and development of its waterways; 

 rivers have been dredged, that is, canalized, to 

 make them navigable, old canals have been 

 rebuilt and new ones constructed. Of about 

 8,000 miles of navigable waterway, approxi- 

 mately 3,000 miles are canals. 



The Russian system of artificial waterways 

 was begun by Peter the Great. There are now 

 in the country about 500 miles of canals and 

 over 550 miles of natural watercourses canal- 

 ized. One of the most recent projects is the 

 canal between Kronstadt, on the Gulf of Fin- 

 land, and Petrograd, on the Neva River. It 

 is sixteen miles in length and 20.5 feet deep 

 and cost $10,000,000. Within recent years 

 until the outbreak of the War of the Nations 

 the government has been appropriating be- 

 tween $8,000,000 and $12,000,000 a year for 



equal basis, and is destined to influence the 

 economic history of the entire world (see 

 PANAMA CANAL). 



About 4,500 miles of canals have been con- 

 structed in the United States, but not much 

 more than half of this mileage is now in actual 

 use. See list of names below. 



Canals of Canada. The comprehensive canal 

 system of the Dominion of Canada is fully 

 described under the heading CANADA, subtitle 

 Transportation. See, also, the special articles 

 RIDEAU CANAL; SAINT LAWRENCE RIVER; SAULT 

 SAINTE MARIE CANAL; TRENT CANAL; WELLAND 

 CANAL. 



Canals of Europe. Because of the character 

 of the country, the "low countries" (Nether- 

 lands) led the other parts of Europe in canal 

 building, and by 1250 an extensive network of 

 artificial waterways had spread over that 

 region. At the present time Holland alone has 

 over 2,400 miles of canals, and Belgium about 

 1,345. The great canal system of France, now 

 aggregating over 3,000 miles, was begun early 

 in the seventeenth century. This statement 

 means a good deal when' it is realized that 

 France is only two-thirds as large as Texas, and 

 it contains more than half of the mileage in 

 canals boasted by the entire United States. In 

 1666 the French government began the construc- 

 tion of one of the most celebrated engineering 

 projects of the century, the Languedoc Canal, 

 connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the 

 Bay of Biscay, and 148 miles in length. It 

 was first opened in 1668, and since then has 

 shared with the other waterways of the country 

 in the great sums appropriated by the govern- 

 ment for improvement and maintenance. No 



