The navigable length of the Rhine is 435 miles, and on this length it has a yearly traffic of about 5500 vessels, averaging some 200 tons each. The Rhine has a greater density of traffic than the Danube, on which only some 800 vessels are employed, also averaging some 200 tons; but the Danube, which is navigable to Regensburg, 281 miles from Vienna, has a much longer navigation. It is believed that chain traction could be carried as far as Ulm, which is 131 miles farther.
The Ems.—This river has a limited interior communication, the tide flowing for not more than 15 to 20 miles. The Ems takes its rise only in the territory of Münster, receiving the river Hase, a little above Meppen, and the Söste at Leer, and it is navigable at no great distance in its current. It then runs by the Dollart, a sort of bay betwixt Emden and the Dutch coast, into the North Sea, in two branches; one called the eastern, the other the western Ems, forming betwixt them the island of Borcum. Formerly the river passed close by Embden, from a cut being made to force the current of the river that way, but, being neglected, it has taken its course by the coast of Gröningen. A narrow channel from Embden is, however, kept clear, in consequence of four sluices in the town, which are opened whilst the ebb tide continues.
The Ems has enjoyed a considerable degree of celebrity, not so much from its extent as from its local advantages, and from the political situation of Holland. It enjoys a free navigation by its neutrality, it is under the protection of Prussia, and it is contiguous to Delfzyl, an excellent entrance into Holland, by a canal which runs through the northern provinces, by the city of Gröningen, into the Zuyder Zee. It thus communicates with all Holland and Flanders, the trade of which countries, and some parts of Germany and France, were formerly largely carried on by it.
The Mosel.—The canalisation of the Mosel from Frouard to Diedenhofen, nearly 57 miles, is a portion of an intended navigable communication from Louisenthal, on the Rhine-Marne canal system, to Saar-Kohbenbecken, on the Saar. From Frouard to Arnaville, about 25 miles, it was carried out by the French Government between 1867 and 1870; and from Arnaville to Metz by the Prussian Government, under Herr J. Schlichting, between 1872 and the present time. The canalisation from Metz to Diedenhofen, and the proposed connection between the Nied canals of the Mosel, the Saar, and the Maas, remain to be completed. As the main object of this canalisation was to provide a navigable passage for craft having a draught of 5·9 feet, the minimum depth of water was fixed at 6·56 feet. The bottom width of the canal is 39·4 feet.
Of the 25·15 miles of river dealt with by the French, only 3·14 miles were rendered navigable. The remainder of the main course adapted for navigation consisted of four portions of canal, in all 17 miles in length. In addition there were 1·25 mile of short canals, connecting the main course with the Mosel. Corresponding to the canals there are four movable weirs in the Mosel at Custines, Marbache, Dieulouard, and Pont-à-Mousson, which maintain the necessary water-level in dry seasons. The fall from the Rhine-Marne Canal at Frouard to the Mosel system is 26·25 feet, and the fall from Frouard to Amaville is 48·6 feet, overcome by six locks. The cost of these 20 miles of navigable channel is stated by the French engineers to have been 208,000l. The German works recently executed include a continuation of the main canal from Arnaville to Novéant, where it debouches into the Mosel for a length of 1·05 mile; the canalisation of the Mosel itself thence to Jouy-aux-Arches, 3·38 miles long, where a movable weir maintains the water-level in this reach; and a main canal thence to Metz on the right bank of the river, 5·55 miles long. The branch canals are comparatively independent of the above. One of them is situated on the left bank at Ars, and consists of a rectification of a side channel of the river, 2·54 miles long, intended solely for the use of the iron foundries of that town; a feeder of this, being on low-lying ground, requires special protective embankments. The other, 1258 yards long, connects the main canal with a basin at the railway terminus at Metz. The portion of the Mosel from the embouchure of the Ars branch canal down to the island of Vaux is made into a navigable basin for the use of the foundries, a movable weir at the latter place giving the necessary increased depth of water.
The Rhine and Danube Canal.—In 1834 an elaborate report was made by C. T. Kleinschrod, of Munich, relative to the feasibility of constructing a canal to connect the Rhine and the Danube.[71] The proposal was to proceed from the Rhine by way of the Main as far as Bamberg, and there commence a canal which should proceed by Nüremberg to Keeheim, where it would effect a junction with the Danube. The total length of the artificial waterway between these two points, Bamberg and Keeheim, was stated at 23⅓ German miles. The writer of the pamphlet made an elaborate estimate of the probable cost of the undertaking, which had the support of the King of Bavaria, and it was demonstrated that at that time, when there were hardly any railways in Germany, it would be attended with a great economy of transport. Owing, however, to the competition of railways, and the extent to which they soon afterwards met the requirements of the country, the project was not entirely successful. The canal was completed in 1844. It is 110 miles long and 7 feet deep.
The Danube, which is practically navigable from the town of Regensburg, 281 miles westward of Vienna, and the Black Sea, is the chief important waterway of Austria. Communication is obtained with Prussia by the Danube-Oder canal, and it is now proposed to establish a communication between this canal and the Elbe, in which case, traffic could be carried from Vienna to Hamburg by water all the way. It has been suggested to have communication made between the Danube and the Rhine either by Dilligen, 31 miles below Ulm, viâ Königsbronn, 1640 feet above sea-level, to the Neckar, and from Cannstadt to Mannheim, and alternatively by Kehlheim, Nuremburg, and Bamberg, an ascent of 1375 feet to the Main, whence Mayence would be reached viâ Frankfort.
The Oder and the Elbe Canal.—At an early period in the history of European trade, the desirability of having the Oder and the Elbe connected by an artificial waterway was discussed. This was even more of a desideratum about a century and a half ago than it is to-day. At that time, Stettin, which is built on the west side of the Oder, about 46 miles from its mouth, was perhaps the leading commercial city in Germany, having a large trade with England, France, and other countries on the west, with Scandinavia, and with the Baltic countries. The importance of joining such a port with Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, and with other cities either upon or near to the Elbe, was manifest.
The first canal built for this purpose was that of Plaven, completed in 1745. This canal joined the Havel with the Elbe at Parcy. It is about twenty English miles in length, 40 to 50 feet in width, and has three sluices. It reduces by more than one half the length of the navigation between the Oder and the Elbe. About the same time the canal of Finow was constructed to connect the same rivers by the Finow and the Havel. There are thirteen sluices on this canal. Another canal, called the Frederick William, joins the Oder and the Spree above Frankfort, and, uniting with the Havel near Brandenburg, connects the latter with the Elbe. It is fifteen English miles long, and has ten sluices.
The Holstein Canal was begun in 1777, and was completed on the 4th of May, 1785, but was opened in 1784. The cost of the undertaking was 2,512,432 rix dollars. There are six sluices, which cost 70,000 rix dollars each. This canal, on the side of the Baltic, commences about three English miles north of Kiel, at a place called Holtenau, where there is a sluice, another at Knoop, and a third at Rathmansdorf, till it comes to the Flemhude Lake, which is the highest point; and from this lake, on the side of Rendsburg, there are three other sluices—one at Königsford, another at Kluvensiek, and the last at Rendsburg. These are on what is called the Upper Eyder, and the Lower Eyder is from Rendsburg to its mouth, running by Tonningen, below which place it falls into the sea between Eyderstadt and Dithmarschen. The distance is about 100 English miles, and vessels must either sail or tide it, or both; whilst from Rendsburg to Holtenau, nearly at the mouth of Kiel Bay, upon the Baltic, it is only about 25 English miles, which can be navigated in all weathers, except during a strong frost, as horses can be had, if required, at fixed rates. The vessels are let through a sluice in little more than eight or ten minutes each. For each sluice they pay only 4 schillings Danish, or about so many pence English. The surface breadth of this canal is 100 feet, and at the bottom 54 feet Danish measure, and the depth is at least 10 feet throughout. Vessels can pass through the sluices 100 feet in length, 26 feet in breadth, and 9 feet 4 inches draught of water, Danish measure, and which, for the regulation of the British merchant and shipowner, as well as the master, it may be observed, corresponds in English measure to vessels of 95 feet 4 inches length; 24 feet 9 inches breadth; and 9 feet depth.