The Halden Canal near

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 muni ...

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 t ...

, began construction in 1852. The

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

allows boats to travel parallel to the Swedish border of 75 km from

Tistedal Tistedalen is a part of Halden in Østfold, Norway. Originally located four kilometers from the city center, the area started growing up around the sawmill industry and has now been engulfed by Halden, although it still maintains some separate ide ...

Skulerud Skulerud is a village in Akershus, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandin ...

Engebret Soot 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 a ...

(1786 - 1859) was responsible for this canal, as well as the earlier

Soot Canal The Soot Canal ( no, Sootkanalen) was a canal system located in Eidskog Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. Constructed in 1849, it has Norway's oldest sluice gates. It was the work of Engebret Soot (1786-1859). It was built to allow timber ...

. Tistedal is located 4 km from the sea at Halden. Boats can be transported by road here and from Ørje to

Dalsland Canal Dalsland Canal ( sv, Dalslands kanal) is a Swedish canal that enables ships to sail between Lake Vänern and central parts of the Dalsland and southwestern Värmland lake districts. The canal runs across the well-known aqueduct at Håverud and i ...

. Halden Canal was added to the list of priority technical and industrial cultural heritage by the

Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage The Directorate for Cultural Heritage ( no, Riksantikvaren or ''Direktoratet for kulturminneforvaltning'') is a government agency responsible for the management of cultural heritage in Norway. Subordinate to the Norwegian Ministry of the Environm ...

Locks

Four sets of

locks Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

(''sluser'') control the water in the canal. Between 1857 and 1860 the Strømsfoss and Ørje locks were built. In 1865, the Stenselv river portion of the canal, with two locks at Krappeto, was completed. The locks in the Halden Canal can pass vessels which are 24 m in length, 6 m in

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

and of 1.6 m

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...

. ''Ørje sluser'' is located at the north of the system, near

Ørje Ørje is the administrative centre of Marker municipality, Norway, not far from the Swedish border. Its population (2013) is 1,881. Ørje was founded in the 1880s around a timber-processing mill. Engebret Soot had built the first Norwegian cana ...

. These facilities include a

canal lock A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water lev ...

museum and three canal lock chambers with a total elevation difference of 10 meters. The

gates are operated manually. Ørje was built in 1860. At Ørje, a

standing stone A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright rock (geology), stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. T ...

has been erected for the canal constructor Engebret Soot. ''Strømsfoss sluse'' is located near

Strømsfoss Strømsfoss is a village in Aremark municipality, Norway. Here, the Øymarksjøen- Rødenessjøen-Ara-Aspern-Femsjøen watershed meets the national road between Aremark and Rakkestad as well as the county road between Aremark and Ørje. Strømsfoss ...

(in the middle of this system) and has one canal lock gate and 2 meter elevation height. The locks were built in 1860. ''Brekke sluse'' (in the south of the system) is

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...

's highest canal lock system. Brekke has four canal lock chambers and a height difference of 26.6 meters. The Brekke locks were completed in 1924. As a start of the connection between the fjord and the pre-existing canal, three locks with totally nine metres elevation difference were built in Halden in 1909. They are not operative but the lowest at Porsnes is intact. The remaining height difference of 70 metres to Lake

Femsjøen Femsjøen is a lake in the municipality of Halden in Østfold county, Norway. It is the source of the river Tista. Referencesrences See also *List of lakes in Norway This is a list of lakes and reservoirs in Norway, sorted by county. F ...

at which the present canal begins, would be a costly and demanding project and has not been attempted. Leisure boats are transported by lorry here.

References

External links

Halden Canal website (in Norwegian)

Canal museum (in Norwegian)
{{Coord, 59.48, N, 11.6547, E, source:kolossus-nowiki, display=title Canals in Norway Geography of Viken (county) Water transport in Viken Canals opened in 1865