The
Finow Canal
Without
a doubt the Finow Canal ranks among the most ancient European
waterways and people say it is one of the most beautiful canals
in Germany.
First
plans to connect the river Havel with the river Oder occurred
around 1540. On the instructions of Elector Joachim Frederick
the first canal was built from 1605 to 1620. It was 39,4 kilometers
long and had eleven locks . Shortly after completion the Finow
Canal was destroyed in the course of the Thirty Years War. Overgrown
and with rotten locks shipping became impossible.
From
1743 to 1746, under the reign of King Frederick II. a new canal
was built and on the 16 th of June 1746 the first barge, loaded
with 100 tons of salt, opened the new Oder-Havel connection. Ancient
documents give evidence for the ship's traffic on the canal. In
the year 1749 about 1.000 barges and 300 fishing boats were passing
the locks. One hundred years later about 13.300 barges and 48.000
floated logs had been counted.
In
the beginning of the twentieth century the transport of goods
enormously increased and another waterway was required. In the
summer of 1914 the new Oder-Havel Canal was opened and the Finow
Canal lost his economic importance.
Today
the so-called 'Treidelweg', a trail from where the boats had been
pulled by men or horses along the banks of the Finow Canal, will
be restored to a bicycle path and hiking trail leading from Liebenwalde
to the lock of Liepe nearby the shiplift in Niederfinow.