Göta Canal

Introduction

Göta Canal (Swe: Göta Kanal) is a 190 km (118 mil.) long Canal in Götaland Region officially opened in 1832. Out of the total length of the canal, about 87 km (54 mil.) is handmade or blasted while the rest are natural watercourses. The difference in altitude is 92 m (300 ft.). Together with Trollhätte Canal and Göta River the Göta kanal constitutes a 390 km (242 mil.) waterway across Sweden, from the Baltic Sea to the Cattegat. In total there are 58 locks and 50 bridges on Göta Canal.

From idea to Finished Canal

Baltzar von Platen was the decisive initiator and driving force of the construction of the Göta Canal. He personally studied the terrain in the areas of the planned course of the canal. In 1806 he published his ideas of a canal in his thesis ”Afhandling om canaler genom Sverige”. The image to the right shows the originator of Göta Canal, Baltzar von Platen. Baltzar Bogislaus von Platen was born on 29 May 1766 in Rügen, Swedish Pomerania (Now Germany) and died on 6 December 1829 in Christiania (today’s Oslo). He was a Swedish Count (Earl), member of the Swedish Government (1809), Admiral, Swedish Governor of Norway (1827 - 1829) and the originator of Göta Canal. Baltzar von Platen organized the project and obtained the necessary financial and political backing. His plans attracted the enthusiastic backing of the government and the new king, Karl XIII. On 12 April 1810 he and the newly established Göta Canal Company (AB Göta Kanalbolag) were issued permits to begin the construction of the canal. The canal was constructed with the assistance of the Scottish civil engineer and canal constructor Thomas Telford. In 1810, von Platen was made chairman of the newly established canal company, AB Göta Kanalbolag. In order to build the canal a 100 m wide stretch of land was expropriated by eminent domain through provinces Västergötland and Östergötland. The Västgöta part of the canal was inaugurated in 1822 but Baltzar von Platen was never to see the completion of the canal since he died in 1829. Göta Canal was officially opened on 26 September 1832 in a ceremony in Söderköping by King Karl XIV Johan. The ceremony, including fireworks and dinner with 300 special invited guest cost the canal company 10,837 Riksdaler (about 1,365,988 SEK in 2018’s monetary value). Queen Desideria and the Crown prince couple Oscar and Josefina also attended the inauguration. Göta Canal was owned by AB Göta Kanalbolag until 1978, when the Swedish Government took over the responsibility of the canal. The plans of a canal weren’t new, not even in 1810. It is said that Bishop Hans Brask in 1525 suggested a waterway across Sweden with canals connecting Lake Värnern and Lake Vättern creating a waterway from the west coat to the east coat to avoid the Danish customs tariffs for ships passing the sound between Sweden and Denmark (Öresund) and to avoid problems with the Hanseatic League.

The Construction of Göta Canal

The construction of the canal was initiated in May 1810 when officials turned up the first sod for the canal in Motala and Forsvik. The cost of the project was 9 million Riksdaler (about 15 billions SEK in 2016’s monetary value). [Riksdaler was the currency of Sweden between 1777 and 1873. SEK is the currency code for Swedish Crowns]. In total, 8 million cubic meters of soil were dug up and removed. Further, about 200,000 cubic meters of rocks were blasted and removed. Between 1815 and 1835 as many as 41,371 infantry soldiers of the Allotment System were ordered to work on the construction of the canal. In 1844, an additional 50 soldiers were ordered to the canal and in 1847, another 200 men. In total, 41,621 infantry soldiers and navy sailors were participating in the construction of the canal. One regiment alone, the First Life Grenadier Regiment (Första Livgrenadjärsregementet) in Östergötland accounted for 6,539 of these soldiers. The workforce was kept with military discipline and was split up each day in different groups of 100 -250 men, depending on the task, under the command of necessary officers and NCO:s. The workplan comprised 17 hours a day of which 12 hours were very hard labor. The reveille was sounded at 4:00 in the morning and the work began at 5:00 and lasted until 8:00 in the evening. The tattoo was sounded an hour later, at 9:00. All kind of work was made by hand and simple tools such as pickaxes, wheelbarrows and steel shod spades. The work proceeded 6 days a week between May to October each year. At each work site, there was a sickbay with an attending surgeon. Sweden was at war with Russia between 1808 and 1809 and the workforce also consisted of a smaller amount of Russian deserters who voluntarily reported for work and of course there was a large number of civilian workers employed. For advanced work such as the construction of the locks and bridges skilled craftsmen were hired to do these jobs including British engineers. Much of the expertise and equipment had to be acquired from abroad, notably from Britain, whose canal system was the most advanced in the world at that time. All personal were paid by the canal company and the wages were paid each fourth night. In total about 58,000 people were occupied with the construction of the canal of which the majority were infantry soldiers. They produced about 7 million days of work. Each participating soldier was awarded a silver medal with a bust of King Karl XIV Johan on the obverse side and the inscription “För verksamt biträde till Hafvens förening. Given av Göta-kanal- Bolaget" on the reverse side. More about Military peacetime work. The construction of the canal was planned to take 10 years and the cost was estimated to 1,597,481 Riksdaler. However, the construction took 22 years and the cost was 6 times higher than estimated (9 million Riksdaler). It was by far the greatest civil engineering project ever undertaken in Sweden up to that time.

The Canal as a Mode of

Transportation

The golden years of the canal were during the 50 years following the opening of the canal into the industrialization era of Sweden. Besides offering a waterway from coast to coast, the canal made it possible to transport heavy goods in an effective way. The canal became decisive for the location of many new industries of which Motala Verkstad (Motala Engineering Workshop) was one of the more important ones. The quantity of transported goods soon reached 100,000 metric tons per year. Not until the 1870s were the railroads able to match this quantity. In the beginning it was mostly sailing ships operating on the canal. The sailing ships weren’t able to sail on the canal for obvious reasons. These ships were instead pulled by horses or oxen alongside the canal. However, in the mid-1800s specially built paddle-wheel steamers and propeller steamers replaced the sailing ships on the canal. The passenger traffic were initially passengers accompanying the freight ships. In the 1870 the Canal Company developed the passenger traffic and soon passenger ships operated on the canal. The arrival of the railroads diminished the quantity of goods transported on the canal as trains could carry passengers and goods far more rapidly. By the 1870s, the canal's goods traffic had dwindled to just four major types of bulk goods - forest products such as lumber, coal, iron ore and sand/gravel, none of which required rapid transportation. Later other types of bulk goods were added such as coke, oil and hard coal. The Danish customs tariffs in Öresund was one of the reasons for creating a waterway across Sweden. These tariffs were abolished in 1857 through the so- called Öresundstraktaten. Thereby it became less costly to sail around Sweden instead of using the canal. However, even if the transportation of goods dwindled the canal remained important for the city ports by the great lakes. The canal was an important transportation route for at least 100 years. The railroad never drove the canal out of business. Instead the two complemented one another. Not until the 1930s and 1940s, when the road network was improved, road transportation with heavy trucks took over the canal’s role as mode of transportation.

The Course of Göta Canal

Göta Canal is a part of a waterway stretching from Göteborg on the west coast to Söderköping and the Bay of Slätbaken on the east coast via Göta River and Trollhätte Canal and the great lakes; Vänern and Vättern. The length of the waterway between Göteborg and Stockholm was now reduced to 614 km. The canal itself, Göta kanal stretches from Sjötorp on the eastern side of Lake Vänern in Västergötland, via the canal’s highest point Lanthöjden (elevation 91 m) located west of Lake Viken, via Lake Bottensjön to Lake Vättern. The canal continues through lakes Boren and Roxen and finally flows into the Bay of Slätbaken, in Östergötland. In total there are 58 locks.

The map above shows the full length of the waterways from Göteborg on the west coast via Göta River, Trollhätte Canal, Lake Vänern, Lake Vättern, Göta Canal and finally to the Bay of Slätbaken on the east coast. Image Wikipedia. Map of the Swedish Provinces

Cruise Liners on the Canal

Following cruise liners operate on Göta Canal: • M/S Juno (1874) • M/S Wilhelm Tham (1912) • M/S Diana (1931) The year within brackets is the year when the respective ship was launched. These ships are specifically built to traffic the canal and therefore have sizes adjusted to suit the locks. M/S Juno was built by Motala Verkstad in 1874 and is today the oldest registered ship with passenger cabins. M/S Wilhelm Tam was built by Motala Verkstad in 1912. M/S Diana was built at Finnboda Shipyard, Stockholm, in 1931. Maximum sizes for ships on the canal: • Length: 30 m • Width: 7 m • Depth: 2.8 m The maximum speed on the canal is set to 5 knots.

A few of the Locks on Göta Canal

Each set of locks carries the name of the place where they are located. However, each lock in a location also has individual names. For example, The Duvkullens övre sluss (Duvkullen’s upper lock) is named “Erik Hagström”, the lock Tegelbruket is named “Götha Canal Direction” and Marivehovs övre sluss (Marivehov’s upper lock) is named “Örebro”.

Berg

“Bergs slussar” (The Berg locks) is a collective name of several locks located in Berg, north of Linköping city. The Berg locks consist of a flight of locks and two double locks. The flight of locks consists of 7 locks denoted “Carl Johans slussar” (The Carl Johan Locks). The double locks are called “Oscarsslussen” (The Oscar Lock) respectively “Karl Ludvig Eugens sluss” (The Karl Ludvig Eugen Lock). The elevation of the seven locks of the The Carl Johan Lock is 18.9 m and the elevation of the double locks is 4.8 m.

Borensberg

Borensberg lock is located close to Motala town and was opened in 1825 when stretch Vättern - Roxen was fully operational. This lock is the only lock in the Östergötland part of the canal still being operated by hand. An older name of Borensberg is Husbyfjöl. However, the name of the place was changed to Borensberg in the early 1900s. The former lock- tender’s dwelling at Borensberg still carries the old name Husbyfjöl in front.

Borenshult

In Borenshult, near Motala, is a flight of locks consisting of 5 locks connecting the canal with Lake Boren. On the north side of the locks was a vein of water which caused great problems when the locks were constructed. The vein had to be drained with a limestone conduit into the lowest lock.

Forsvik

The Forsvik lock, also known as the Karl XIII:s lock, is located in Karlsborg town and is the oldest lock on Göta Canal. It was built between 1811 and 1813. The lock was initially shorter but was in 1862 extended to today’s length of 38 m. The width is 7 m. The lock holds 1,000 cubic meters of water and is thereby the largest lock on Göta Canal. Most locks only hold about 700 cubic meters. For a complete listing of all the locks on Göta Canal, see The Locks of Göta Canal

Motala Engineering Workshop

Motala Verkstad (Motala Engineering Workshop) is one of Sweden’s oldest engineering workshops. The company was established in 1822 by the initiative of Baltzar von Platen. He saw the need of having local technical capability available in Motala during the construction of Göta Canal. One of the first assignments for the workshop was various lock works and repairs of the British dredgers used in connection of the canal work. Initially the workshop had 22 employees but Motala Verkstad soon grew to be one of Sweden’s most important industrial enterprises. An Institute of Technology was established in Forsvik, one of the first in Sweden. John Ericsson, the inventor of the propeller, was associated with the institute.

Lock-tenders

In order for a ship to pass through a lock, the lock chambers have to be filled and emptied of water. The chambers are filled and emptied via the lock gates. In order to open a lock gate, the water level on both side of the gate has to be the exactly equal. Initially the lock gates were opened and closed with the assistance of long booms. However, by 1847 all locks were equipped with a type of capstans with cogwheels. The bridges across the canal had to be opened when ships passed. The bridges were in those days opened by hand. The lock gates and the bridges were operated by special lock-tenders (Swe: Slussvaktare) employed by the Canal Company. They were paid in cash but also assigned a lock-tender’s dwelling with an associated small piece of arable land where they could grow potatoes and vegetables. They pay wasn’t high which is why the lock-tenders also had second jobs such as carpenters, quarry workers or even lighthouse keepers etc. However, the locks had to be operated 24 x 7 which means that the wives of lock-tenders had to tend the locks in daytime when their husbands were attending their other jobs. The image to the right shows a lock-tender’s dwelling located somewhere between Söderköping and Mem. Photo Hans Högman 2003. The size of the payment as a lock-tender was dependent on if it was a single or double lock or a bridge they were tending. It was common that the job as a lock-tender was inherited by a son of the lock-tender, generation by generation. There are examples of locks that have been tended by the same family for 100 years. The Duvkullen Upper Lock (Duvkullens övre sluss) was tended by 3 generations of the Stenman family. The middle generation had as many as 11 children who all lived in the lock-tender dwelling. The history of a bridge-tender family on the canal

Photo Gallery

Related Links

• Military peacetime work • The Official Website of Göta Canal • The locks of Göta Canal • Berg, a Bridge Tender on Göta Canal • Map Swedish Provinces • The History of Göta Canal in Swedish

Source References

• Wikipedia • "Indelta arméns arbetskommenderingar 1815 - 1865" , ur Svensk militär tidskrift 1923, häfte 2, Oscar Silverstolpe 1923 • Nationalencyklopedin • Söderköping och Kanalen, Söderköpings kommun 2007 • En vacker historia, Göta kanal - Sveriges största kulturhistoriska byggnadsverk, AB Göta kanalbolag Top of page