page_title: Givors canal
section_title: Operation
hierarchical_section_title: Givors canal / Operation
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Rive-de-Gier, le Gier et l' Hôtel de Ville (ancien Hôtel du Canal construit entre 1792 et 1796).
context_page_description: The Givors canal was built between 1761 and 1781 to carry coal, other goods and passengers from Rive-de-Gier to Givors on the Rhone, running beside the Gier river.
  The canal was approved in 1760 and after many problems opened in 1780. The canal was originally 15 kilometres long.
  Goods were loaded on flat barges that could carry several tons. It took about 18 hours for two or three men to pull a barge through the canal.
  The Givors canal played an important role in the early industrialization of Givors and the Gier valley, and became highly profitable.
  At its peak, in 1827, the canal transported 332,000 tons.
  The canal became obsolete when the Saint-Étienne–Lyon railway, the first passenger railway in France, was built in 1828–33 along the same route. In an attempt to compete, in 1839 the canal was extended to 20 kilometres long, with 42 locks to raise or lower boats moving between the sections of level water. Despite the extension, traffic volumes slumped, although the canal was kept open until the start of the 20th century. Little now remains of the canal, which has mostly been covered by the A47 autoroute between Givors and Saint-Étienne.
context_section_description: The canal had to contend with initial opposition from the carters, who used force to prevent coal being taken from the pits to the loading points. However, the canal provided a greatly superior method of transporting coal and was an immediate success. In 1782 it earned 114,000 livres. The Compagnie du canal de Givors was established in December 1788 to take over operations. In letters-patent of December 1788, registered on 5 September 1789, the concession was declared to be permanent.
  Goods were carried on sicelandes, flat wooden boats about 20 to 22 metres (66 to 72 ft) long that could carry several tons.
  They were hauled by two or three margoulins, men who walked on the towpaths pulling the barge with a harness over their shoulder. It took about 18 hours to pull a barge through the canal. A marinier stood on the front of the barge steering it with a wooden pole. Lock-keepers operated the locks and helped manoeuver the barges using a boat hook. Porters loaded and unloaded the barges. They were called crocheteurs after the iron hooks that they used to move bales of goods.
  The combination of the glass works and the canal transformed the sleepy rural village of Givors into an industrial town. The canal and the river both helped Givors distribute its manufactures.
  By the time the French Revolution began in 1789 Givors had 2,800 inhabitants. Its nodal position, later reinforced by construction of various railways, explains the development of the glass works and later of iron and steel manufacture.
  In December 1788, King Louis XVI approved construction of a reservoir to supply water to the canal in dry periods. François Zacharie had proposed a site for the reservoir high up near Saint-Etienne, but the chosen site was low down on the Couzon river near to Rive-de-Gier. This short-sighted decision ruled out the plan to continue the canal up to Saint-Etienne and then down to the Loire. The French Revolution (1789–1799) delayed the work, but the Barrage de Couzon (Couzon Dam) was completed in 1809, capable of containing 1,000,000 cubic metres (35,000,000 cu ft) of water. It was modeled on the dam built at Saint-Ferriol for the Midi canal.
  In 1821, revenue was 816,444 francs, and the company paid a dividend of 555,500 francs. The company was able to raise its rates without reducing traffic. In 1822, the canal earned almost a million francs from carrying 243,200 tons of coal and 96,000 tons of other merchandise. The concession holders had repaid most of the debts they had incurred to build the canal, including many improvements since it was opened, and were able to pay healthy dividends. By 1824, the canal was giving annual revenues of 850,000 francs. An 1824 account described a superb water station at Givors on the right bank of the Rhone, an excellent basin at Rive-de-Gier for loading, fine buildings for administration of the canal and spacious shops and warehouses.
  In 1827, at its peak, the canal transported 332,000 tons. The main purpose of the canal was still to transport coal to Givors, from where it could be taken to other towns on the river Rhone. On the return trip, boats carried some of the merchandise of the Midi including iron, oak wood and other things needed by the factories of the Loire department. By 1831, the population of Givors had risen to 9,210. There were many factories making window panes, bottles and glasses, and the port had a busy trade in coal shipment. Ten large glass works had been established at Rive-de-Gier that also transported their products by the canal.
caption: Old headquarters of the canal company at Rive-de-Gier
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