User:Jesuiskévin/Canal de Niort à La Rochelle

In 1801, Claude Dupin (1767-1828), 1st prefect of Deux-Sèvres noted on navigation:

 * "The navigation of the Sèvre is interrupted in the low waters of summer for about two months, or at least it is reduced to very little (1). There is no towpath anywhere; the sailors drive their boats only with great difficulty, especially when going uphill. The project to open a navigation channel between La Rochelle and Niort has long been presented.  This canal would be a source of wealth for these two cities.  He would also see to the drying up of fifty thousand arpents of marshes in the departments of Charente-Inférieure and Deux Sèvres, and to restore health to a country which is now almost uninhabitable..."  (1) It was during these low waters that the small Port of Sevreau served as a staging post for boats sailing on the Sèvre.

Maritime Canal from Niort to La Rochelle (The first project).
The project was studied in 1740!

In 1808 when Napoleon was passing through Niort, transport through the canals therefore remained a priority, he signed a decree.

Les travaux sont commencés en août 1810 pour la partie reliant La Rochelle à Marans :


 * From Rompsay, the canal heads north-east, a 1300m tunnel is dug to cross the hillock of Dompierre-sur-Mer and the canal joins the edge of the former Gulf of Poitou. This canal and especially the tunnel are the work of convicts from Sainte-Croix (see anecdote paragraph). This part will forever be the only section of the canal which was to join La Rochelle in Paris va Niort without going through the bed of the Sèvre.

'''The very ambitious Canal was to connect La Rochelle, Marans, Niort, Couhé, etc..., to Paris from Chinon... Two very detailed plans are drawn up:'''


 * Canal_Niort.jpg between La Rochelle and Niort, coming from Marans, it had to pass through Saint-Hilaire la Palud, Amuré and enter south of Niort (See map)...


 * -Crossing Niort:
 * The canal arrives from the south of Niort:

These plans show the construction of 8 locks south of Niort between avenue de la Rochelle and avenue de Limoges and 4 locks up to Souché.


 * The new maritime port of Niort, known as Saint-Georges, would be located at the entrance to the city between avenue de La Rochelle and rue du Clou Bouchet. (See Photo), a junction is planned to join the Port located on the Sèvre. After traveling south of Niort, the canal joins the Lambon Valley at the Moujaterie de Souché

Maritime Canal from Niort to La Rochelle (The second project).
La Sèvre, at that time, at the beginning of the 19th century, could only transport goods by barge from Niort to La Rochelle. '''The very ambitious Canal was to connect La Rochelle, Marans, Niort, Couhé, etc..., to Paris via Chinon... Two very detailed plans are drawn up:'''


 * Part between La Rochelle and Niort, coming from Marans, it had to pass through Saint-Hilaire la Palud, Amuré and enter south of Niort (See map)...


 * -Crossing Niort:
 * The canal arrives from the south of Niort:

These plans show the construction of 8 locks south of Niort between avenue de la Rochelle and avenue de Limoges and 4 locks up to Souché.


 * The new maritime port of Niort, known as Saint-Georges, would be located at the entrance to the city between avenue de la Rochelle and rue du Clou Bouchet. (See Photo), a junction is planned to join the Port located on the Sèvre.
 * After traveling south of Niort, the canal joins the Lambon Valley at the Moujaterie de Souché.


 * Part between Niort and Couhé (86), the route goes towards Vouillé, La Crèche, Sainte-Néomaye (2) Saint-Maixent…


 * (2) A tunnel similar to that of Sainte-Croix was planned for the crossing of Sainte-Neomaye…

Extract: Plan of the various projects imagined for the city of Niort.

Maritime canal from Niort to La Rochelle (Project N°2)
The Sèvre, at that time, at the beginning of the 19th century, could only transport goods by barge from Niort to La Rochelle.


 * At the Convention, the Ponts et Chaussées, under the supervision of the state, became responsible for the navigability of the Sèvre and the management of the Port.
 * On July 8, 1846, the Prefecture of La Rochelle awarded the works to be executed for the construction of the Marans-Brault canal on the Sèvre Niortaise river.
 * This canal is the head of the one that allows to go from Niort to the Ocean and seems to condemn the project N ° 1 of the Canal from La Rochelle to Niort and which was to continue through couhé (86)..

In 1847, Jacques Samuel de Bourrousse de Laffore proposed a new route for the maritime canal following the Sèvre valley while avoiding the crossing of Saint-Liguaire (see photo).


 * In this year (1847) loads of wheat coming from the port of Odessa will be transferred to Niort by the Sèvre. See appendix article: -► Importation of wheat from Russia and America in 1847.

Rompsay lock, first completed part of the canal (Photo: Louis Cassegrain early 20th century. Source: Didier Cloux).

Anecdote of the convicts of Belle-Croix in 1831
The beginning of the construction of the canal from Niort to La Rochelle was carried out by prisoners from La Rochelle.


 * When the new King Louis Philippe was enthroned in August 1830, 700 prisoners expressed their dissatisfaction with their working conditions.
 * The new King pardoned only 300 of these convicts, the other prisoners, considered more dangerous and unworthy of royal clemency, would be subject to the second amnesty in January 1831.
 * From January 17, 1831, 140 of these condemned men, not seeing their pardon arrive, escaped to Marans.
 * Arrested and then locked up in the barn of Mr. Lalère owner in Marans, these prisoners finding themselves badly treated no longer wanted to return to Belle Croix.
 * The battle with sabers and bayonets of the grenadiers which followed caused some injuries.
 * The prisoners were then escorted back to the Belle Croix construction site…
 * These prisoners were held at Château Milan in Dompierre-sur-Mer near Belle Croix.

Conclusion
The construction, in the middle of the 19th century, of the railway lines, forced the authorities to suspend the major works generated by the construction of the Canals.


 * In 1845, the departmental councils of Vienne, Deux-Sèvres, Charente and Charente-Inférieure, meeting, noted:
 * "But if the Iron Lines are so necessary today, the communications by water, the inland navigation, have not lost their importance and are, perhaps more useful today..."
 * If none of these projects really succeeded, navigation on the Sèvre was nevertheless maintained thanks to the various locks maintained and renovated.