No-nb digibok 2011112824010 0035 1-Engebret Soot (1786–1859) (cropped)

Engebret Olsen Soot (26 May 1786 – 3 March 1859) was a Norwegian engineer. He was one of Norway's first canal builders and joined the timber channels at Otteid and Mangen-Grasmo. He is known as the father of the Fredrikshald Canal (now known as the Halden Canal) in south-eastern

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. He constructed locks and canals for the transport of both watercraft and timber.

Biography

Engebret Olsen Soot was born in

Aurskog Aurskog is a former municipality in Akershus county, Norway. The administrative centre was Aursmoen Aursmoen is a village in the municipality of Aurskog-Høland, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries ...

(now Aurskog-Høland) in Akershus, Norway. He started his career as a blacksmith and carpenter. In 1804, he built a mill on the Sotbekken, a small river at Lierfoss in Aurskog-Høland. From 1816 until 1825, he was a caretaker at the Mangenskogen forest in Aurskog-Høland. From 1827 to 1846 he was an inspector on the Halden watercourse () in Østfold and Akershus. In 1824 he built works from Fredrikshald to enable log transport from

Stora Le Stora Le or Lesjön in Swedish and Store Le in Norwegian is a lake in Dalsland, Sweden, the northern end of which proceeds into Norway and into Värmland, where it continues as Lake Foxen. The lake stretches approximately 70 km (43.5 Mi) ...

Dalsland Dalsland () is a Swedish traditional province, or ''landskap'', situated in Götaland in southern Sweden. Lying to the west of Lake Vänern, it is bordered by Värmland to the north, Västergötland to the southeast, Bohuslän to the west, and ...

, Sweden, into the Fredrikshald watershed. Soot built Otteidkanalen, Norway's first canal in Østre Otteid between the years 1825 and 1827. The new log floating channel of 775 meters enabled the transport of logs to

Halden Halden (), between 1665 and 1928 known as Fredrikshald, is both a town and a municipality in Viken county, Norway. The municipality borders Sarpsborg to the northwest, Rakkestad to the north and Aremark to the east, as well as the Swedish mun ...

. In 1849 he opened Soot Canal, Norway's first canal with locks. It was built to allow timber to be transported (floated) to the

sawmills. The canal was 1.5 km long and had 16 locks which extended from Lake Skjervangen at 185 m above sea level up to Lake Mortsjølungen at 201 m above sea level. This was followed by the Halden Canal for boats. In 1858, 414 ships with a total of 950 passengers passed through the locks. He died in 1859 at Strømsfoss in

Øymark Øymark is a former municipality now located in Marker municipality in Østfold county, Norway. Øymark was originally a part of Aremark formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally ena ...

(now Marker) in

Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other side ...

References

External links

Canal Museum at Ørje (Norwegian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soot, Engebret 1786 births 1859 deaths Norwegian civil engineers People from Aurskog-Høland