The Kłodnicki Canal () is a

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 ...

along the Kłodnica River in

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( ; ; ; ; Silesian German: ; ) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located today mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic. The area is predominantly known for its heav ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

between the

Oder The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...

River and

Gliwice Gliwice (; , ) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder River, Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional capital ...

. Constructed when the territory was part of Prussian

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

, it was originally known as the Klodnitz Canal (). Because the Kłodnica (''Klodnitz'') was not navigable, a canal was needed to provide transportation for the flourishing

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

and ore mining, as well as the

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

industry in the

region. Designed by John Baildon, an engineer from

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden, Director of the High Mining Office in Breslau (Wrocław), the canal was built between 1792 and 1812. It had a length of about and an altitude difference of about . It incorporated two hybrid inclined track/ canal locks.Early canal inclined planes in Silesia
''www.mikeclarke.myzen.co.uk'', accessed 21 August 2022 The depth of the canal and the design of the locks allowed the use of vessels of up to 50 tons of payload. However, construction of

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

facilities connecting the Upper Silesian coalfields eroded the importance of the waterway. The freight volume on the canal in 1847 was 70,000 tons, but shipments dropped to only 4,400 tons by 1865. Between 1888 and 1893, the canal was expanded to allow the passage of vessels up to 100 tons load and draft. However the waterway did not regain its importance. The Klodnitz Canal facility was replaced by the Gleiwitz (Gliwice) Canal, built from 1935-1939. The territory became part of Poland in 1945 after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

References

Notes

External links

Szymonowicz, Jarosław "A Scotsman in Silesia" Warsaw Voice, 28 March 2007
retrieved on October 16, 2007.
The history of the "Królowa Luiza" mine in Zabrze
, retrieved on October 16, 2007. * Pounds, Norman J. G. "The Industrial Geography of Modern Poland".

Economic Geography Economic geography is the subfield of human geography that studies economic activity and factors affecting it. It can also be considered a subfield or method in economics. Economic geography takes a variety of approaches to many different topi ...

, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Jul., 1960), pp. 231–253. {{DEFAULTSORT:Klodnica Canal 18th-century establishments in Poland Canals in Poland Buildings and structures in Silesian Voivodeship Canals opened in 1812