Burgundy Canal - History

The history of the Canal of Burgundy is long and complicated, from the first projects in the 17th century to the actual beginnings of construction, the numerous strikes by the builders, to recent political decisions concerning the financing of the canal. The barges continue to cruise up and down the canal.

In 1607 the first act towards the construction of the Burgundy canal was the tax placed on the local farmers to help the financing of the canal section between Dijon and  St Jean de Losne. It was not until 1696, when a study realized by Vauban, who considered the 5 possible routes the canal could use to connect the rivers Saône and Yonne. There were many arguments concerning the route of the canal, civil engineers who disagreed, local mayors who desired the canal to pass as closely as possible, for they understood the economical importance of the trade that would arrive, land owners wishing to sell at very interesting prices.

A project by Mr de la Jonchere in 1718 saw the canal with its summit at the small town of Sombernon, the States of Burgundy charged Mr Abeille in 1724 with the mission of studying the Pouillenay valley. He conclusions concerning the canal were given three years later. The route of the canal was finally decided and accepted.

At the beginning of the reign of Louis XVI in 1765, the construction of the Burgundy canal began on the side of the Yonne working upstream towards the town of  Tonnerre, and a few years later the work began on the Saône side towards Dijon. The cost of the construction was assumed by the French State on the Yonne side up to the limits of Burgundy,  and the Burgundy State with a subvention financed the rest of the construction.

The Yonne side of the canal fell rapidly behind schedule, and due to poor funding the construction of the canal halted in 1793. The state of Burgundy however, pushed ahead and the canal was completed between the city of Dijon and the river Saône, on the 14th of December 1808 the first barges arrived in the port of Dijon. During the revolution all work was stopped

Even with the insistence of Napoleon the 1st, difficulties concerning the construction and the continual poor funding of the project, the canal construction could not advance. It was not until 1822, after a loan of 25 million francs, that the enthusiasm and courage came forth to complete the project. On the 28th of December 1832 a barge crossed the summit of the canal via the tunnel, and the Burgundy canal at last connected the north of France to the south, the river Seine connected to the river Rhone.

The final part of the construction of the Burgundy canal was the complicated and impressive tunnel, which is at the summit. This tunnel is 3.333 kilometres long in a straight line, you must remember that at these times 90% of the work was manual,  at its deepest section there is 48 metres of land above the tunnel. The building of the tunnel began in 1826 and was terminated in 1832, the work was very difficult and dangerous,  and quite a few workers lost their lives during the digging. The tunnel is ventilated by 32 wells, which climb to the surface; these were also used to assist in excavating the earth during the digging.

The Burgundy Canal Tunnel is wide enough for one barge to pass at a time, so a traffic system has always been used. There was no room for a horse to tow the barge, so they crossed over the hill along the tree alley where the wells can still be seen. Meanwhile, until a tug system was developed, the men had to pull on a special cable and using gaffs   to bring the barge through. The first tug arrived on the canal in 1867, as steam powered vessel continued to pull barges through  until 1893 when an electrical tug was installed.

The arrival of the electric tug was a great progress  for the canal, as it could pull five loaded barges of 200 tonnes each or 15 empty barges. The electrical supply was supplied by hydro-turbines located beside the two highest locks on the canal. Here water from the canal, drove the turbines by means of a sluice gate which generated enough power to produce 600 volts on a cable which was some 6 kilometres long. The tug drew electricity from the cable above, which powered an electrical motor. This motor then pulled on a chain that lay on the canal bottom, which was fixed at both extremities of the pound. The tug could then pull the barges through. It would take between 1 and half to three hours to make the crossing depending on the amount of boats being pulled. Although the tug is no longer used, you can still see it if you visit the Burgundy canal as it remains in the small town of Pouilly en Auxois.

Apart from constructing the canal, there was also the problem of water supply, which has always been a delicate problem on the Burgundy Canal. To enable a minimum supply of water there are the two main rivers, on the Yonne side of the canal, the river Armancons, and the Saône side uses the river Ouche. There are also seven reservoirs, which assist in supplying the canal upstream from the two rivers.  In 1830 the reservoir of Grosbois was built and terminated some 8 years later. It held more than 9 million tonnes of water and covers  more than a 100 hectares of land, today the capacity has been reduced to 7 million tonnes. There is a smaller reservoir below this one, which was built in 1900, covering 10 hectares, and holds under 1 million tonnes of water. The reservoir of Cercey was built in 1834, and supplies the canal with  holds 3 and a half million tonnes of water, spreading over 62 hectares.  The reservoir of Panthier was built in two stages, in 1834 and then enlarged in 1869, it holds  just over 8 million tonnes of water and is 120 hectares in surface.  A small reservoir called Tillot which contains half a million tonnes over 14 hectares, and finally Chazilly built in 1830 and enlarged in 1844, which holds 5 million tonnes.

In 1879, in search to maintain an adequate supply of water, the seventh reservoir was built, which is called the reservoir de Pont, the perimeter is just over 12 kilometres and holds 6 million tonnes. This may appear to be a lot of water, but one must remember that the burgundy canal loses water each time a boat passes through a lock, as the canal uses gravity to function, there are no pumps to push the water upstream. Water is also lost through evaporation, leaking lock doors and on the canals dammed stretches.

The canal also had to have lock keepers, which were housed along the canal at the locks. Many of these houses ware built at the same time or just after the completion to the canal. Today 99 % of the lock houses remain, and 80% are occupied, generally by the lock keepers. There is also the Maison Gardes, which are houses that were occupied by teams of workers who would move along the canal to do repair work. There are also many sluice gates along the canal, which allow the canal to overflow into the river, where the water is held back further down stream to then be reintroduced into the canal.

The Burgundy canal is 242.045 kilometres long and is split into 188 pounds of water; a pound is the stretch of water between two locks. The average length of a pound is 1287 metres, there are 113 locks on the Yonne side of the canal and 76 on the Saône. The canal has been built to the Freycient standard that has adopted in 1879; this required the bridges to be lifted and the locks to be deepened. The Freycient standard allows barges up to 38.5 metres long, 5.05 wide and a draft of 1.80 metres   to navigate. The longest pound of water is 10.45 kilometres and the shortest, 210 metres; both are on the Yonne side of the Canal. There are also three main groups of lock with very short pounds called staircases; the first group is from lock 1 to lock 7 on the Yonne side of the canal where the average distance is 333 metres per lock. The second more impressive group is also on this side of the canal and is between lock 16 and 55, giving a total of 39 locks for 13.8 kilometres, an average of one lock every 350 metres. The third group is on the Yonne side, here there is an average distance of 320 metres between locks from lock number 1 to 11.

The Canal of Burgundy  climbs 299 metres from the river Yonne and 199 metres from the river Saône to the summit.

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