The oxen dragged the reft mass
That formed this winsome island.’
And now Gefjon and her sturdy sons have been at work again. The whole south of Sweden is an island now, and it is this canal from the Cattegat to the Baltic that makes it so.”
“Well, so it is; and though it is a long while since the days of the Goddess Gefjon, or even of good Bishop Brask, the work is complete at last, and a very creditable work it is. I think, by-the-way, that we English had something to do with it.”
“England had a hand, and a very considerable one, in the other end of it,” said Birger, “but these locks are home manufacture, and the thing really has answered very well. See what a trade it has opened with the Wener only, which was the original plan; the communication with the Baltic being a sort of after-thought of the Ostergöthlanders, carried out by Count Platen. This part of the canal, which was opened in 1800, has made four of our inland counties, Wenersborglan, Mariestadslan, Carlstadslan, and Orebrö, into so many maritime states; and now the other end has done the same for Jonköping and Linköping. In national wealth, it has paid a dozen times over. There is no one who has ever lived, since the days of Oxenstjerna, to whom we owe so much as we do to Count Platen. In the very heat of the war—that is to say, in 1808—he conceived the idea of prolonging the water communication to the Baltic. He went over to England to inspect, with his own eyes, the Caledonian canal. He engaged Telford, returned to Sweden, and, within two months, sent in his plans, with their specification and estimates, which, strange to say, have not been exceeded in the execution. It is this old part of the canal, however, which is, at all events, the most showy job; here are two miles of solid rock cut through, and, as you see, these falls are pretty high—not less than a hundred and twenty feet of them, besides the rapids,—they require, therefore, a good many locks; in fact, as you see, it looks more like a staircase than anything else.”
“It certainly was a singular sight,” said the Captain, “to see our steamer high above our heads, and the masts of the brigs sticking out from the tops of the rocks, and far above the highest trees.”
“This part of the canal is the most showy,” said Birger; “no doubt but Platen’s work was not altogether so easy as it looks. Any one can appreciate the skill of an engineer, who sees a great body of water surmounting a steep wall of rock; but a still greater amount of skill is evidenced in laying out a plan; so as to render such tedious and expensive works unnecessary. When I was a youngster, I was sent by the Kongs-Ofwer-Commandant’s Expedition, to survey, by way of practice, the two lines from our fortress of Wanås-on-Wettern to the two seas, and I really do not know which is the most wonderful conception. The original plan was only eight feet deep, but they are deepening it two feet more, and making the width of the locks twenty-two feet throughout. We shall see the Linköping battalion at work on this to-morrow. I must go and pay them a visit while we are staying at Gäddebäck. I know a good many of the officers.”
“It is a military work, then?”
“Not exactly, though, like most other large undertakings, it is done by soldiers. It is a speculation, something like those in your own country, which is taken in hand by shareholders, with a board of directors, though I believe Government gives them a lift of some sort or other; but in this country, in time of peace, you can always get as many soldiers as you want for labourers, from a corporal’s party up to a battalion, or a brigade, for matter of that. You lodge so much money in the hands of the Government officer appointed for that purpose, and a regiment, or a company, or a detachment, receives orders to march and hut themselves in such a place. Your engineer, or foreman, or bailiff, as the case may be, gives his orders to the officer in command, who sees them carried into effect. It costs more in hard money—and, what is a worse thing for us Swedes, ready money—than any other sort of labour, but it answers exceedingly well for those who can afford the first outlay, for the men are under military discipline, and Government are responsible, not only that you shall have so many men to work, but so many sober men, fit to work, which, in this country, as you know, is not exactly the same thing.”
“And how do the soldiers like it?” said the Captain, who, though he did not say so, certainly was thinking that it was not precisely the situation of an officer and a gentleman, to do duty as foreman of the works for some speculating farmer, or builder, or engineer.