Von Platen himself extolled the modernising virtues of the canal in 1806, claiming that mining, agriculture and other industries would benefit from "a navigation way through the country." The project was inaugurated on 11 April 1810 with a budget of 24 million Swedish riksdalers.
Von Platen himself extolled the modernising virtues of the canal in 1806, claiming that mining, agriculture and other industries would benefit from "a navigation way through the country." The project was inaugurated on 11 April 1810 with a budget of 24 million Swedish riksdalers.
The Scottish civil engineer Thomas Telford, renowned for his design of the Caledonian Canal in Scotland, developed the initial plans for the canal and travelled to Sweden in 1810 to oversee some of the early work on the route.
Many other British engineers and craftsmen were imported to assist with the project, along with significant quantities of equipment - even apparently mundane items such as pickaxes, spades and wheelbarrows. The Göta Canal was officially opened on 26 September 1832.
(In English) ==External links== Göta Canal - Official site Canals opened in 1832 19th century in Sweden Canals in Sweden Government-owned companies of Sweden Tourist attractions in Sweden Works of Thomas Telford Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks
In 1851, the tycoon André Oscar Wallenberg founded the Company for Swedish Canal Steamboat Transit Traffic to carry goods from England to Russia via the canal.
/> The arrival of the railways in 1855 quickly made the canal redundant, as trains could carry passengers and goods far more rapidly and did not have to shut down with the arrival of winter, which made the canal impassable for five months of the year.
By the 1870s, the canal's goods traffic had dwindled to just three major types of bulk goods - forest products, coal and ore, none of which required rapid transportation.
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