The Rhone Canals.—At the mouth of the Rhone artificial waterways of considerable importance have been provided for navigation purposes, the chief of which, the St. Louis Canal, has a draught of water of 19⅔ feet at low sea-level; its width is 100 feet at the bottom, and 207 feet at the surface of the water.
The channel into the sea is 200 feet wide, at the bottom, from the shore out to the 4-metre (13 feet) line, and 656 feet wide from the 4-metre (13 feet) line to the 6-metre (20 feet) line. The canal is separated from the Rhone by a lock having a depth of water of 24½ feet, a depth of 72 feet, and an available length of 525 feet. Below the lock, at the commencement of the canal, a basin has been excavated, 30 acres in area, and with 20 feet depth of water. The works were begun in 1863, and finished in 1873.
The St. Louis Canal is a work of far greater importance, as regards navigation, than the results anticipated from the improvement of the mouth of the Rhone, to vessels finding a sufficient depth to get up to Arles. This depth was restricted to 6½ feet at low-water level. The St. Louis Canal Works afford access to the Rhone for vessels up to 20 feet draught, and provide these vessels with a harbour, opening into a sheltered bay, in which they are able with ease to load and discharge their cargoes.
The project of the St Louis Canal was from the first assailed by the partisans of the embankment works, as well as by those who considered that the proper expedient was to enlarge the canal from Arles to Bouc. It was urged that the canal would soon be silted up by deposits from the Rhone, both at the sea end and also at the lock. The canal from Arles to Bouc was constructed in 1802, but as it has only a depth of 6½ feet and a width of 26¼ feet on the locks, it has not been available for the craft usually navigating the Rhone since steam navigation was established.
General Features of French Canals.—The general characteristics of the principal canals of France will be understood from the following table, which gives the number of locks, the length of the locks, and their average width and depth on fifteen of the principal canals in the country, as recorded in the Government Reports on the French Waterways:—
Statement showing the number of Locks, with their length, width.
and average depth, on the chief Canals in France.
| Canals. | Number of Locks. | Length of Locks. | Width of Locks. | Average Depth of Locks. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| metres. | metres. | metres. | ||
| De la Deûle | 1 | 38·70 | ... | ... |
| Meuse | 26 | 45 | 5·70 | 2·42 |
| De la Sambre | 38 | 37·60 | 5·20 | 2·34 |
| De l’Est | 33 | 38 to 45 | 5·20 to 5·70 | 2·60 |
| De l’Aisne de la Marne | 24 | 35 | 5·20 | 2·68 |
| St. Quentin | 35 | 34 | 5·20 to 6·40 | 2·29 |
| De l’Ourcq | 10 | 38·80 to 63 | 5·20 to 6·20 | ... |
| De Briare | 43 | 33 | 5·20 | 2·87 |
| Du Muernais | 116 | 33 | 5·10 | 2·07 |
| Du Rhone au Rhin | 73 | 30 | 5·13 to 5·30 | 2·23 |
| De Neufosse | 6 | 34·80 to 36·53 | 5·20 | 2·67 |
| De l’Aire | 1 | 37·95 | 5·20 | 2·00 |
| De la Somne | 23 | 45 | 6·30 | 2·49 |
| De l’Oise et à l’Aisne | 35 | 34 | 5·20 to 8·40 | 2·29 |
| De la Haute Marne | 34 | 25 to 38·50 | 5·20 | 3·10 |
The French Assembly adopted, in August 1879, a law which decreed that the principal lines of canal communication ought to have a depth of 2 metres, and locks not less than 38 metres 50 long, by 5 metres 20 wide. In the South of France the only canals that conform to these requirements are those of the Midi and the Aulize; in Central France, the Canal du Centre, the Canal Roanne à Dijon, the Canal du Berry, and the Canal du Rhone au Rhin. The Canal de Bourgogne, the Canal de Briare, and the Canal d’Orleans, are also up to these requirements. In the north of France, and on the Belgian frontier, it may be said that all the waterways are of the required minimum dimensions.
Paris is the natural centre of the French canals. Barges find their way there from the ports of Dunkirk, Gravelines, Calais, and Havre, large quantities of coal, iron, and wheat being carried, and in the fall of the year the cargoes of numerous timber vessels are made into rafts and floated to their destination. Of late years, however, the increasing quantities of planks and deals sawn in the north, are loaded into the barges. The important coal and iron districts of Belgium, at Mons and Charleroi, provide a good deal of freight for Paris, which goes viâ Condé from the former, and viâ Landrecies from the latter, the two routes uniting at La Fere, whence the Seine, at Conflans, is reached by descending the river l’Oise. The river Rhine is communicated with at Saarbruck and Strasburg; Switzerland at Bâle, and the important ports of Marseilles and Cette by the Yonne, the Burgundy Canal, and the rivers Saône and Rhone. The western ports of Nantes, Brest, and Bordeaux have also canal communication with Paris.
The large péniches of 270 tons, which are about 116 feet long, 16 feet beam, bluff at bow and stem, and almost flat bottomed, draw 1·80 metres when loaded. They are usually worked by two men and the wife of the captain. The value of these craft, with their equipments, is from 10,000 to 15,000 francs, and they are always insured against damage or loss. In all rivers and places with the slightest risk, the use of pilots is compulsory.