page_title: Givors canal
section_title: Obsolescence
hierarchical_section_title: Givors canal / Obsolescence
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Dictionnaire illustré des communes du département du Rhône. Tome 1 / par MM. E. de Rolland et D. Clouzet.
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 was leased to the Compagnie des Mines de la Loire on 1 January 1846.
  Tonnage had fallen from 246,000 tons in 1830 to 172,000 tons in 1840. It rose to 238,000 tons in 1850, then resumed its decline: 146,000 tons in 1860, 82,000 tons in 1870 and 24,000 tons in 1878. Until the end of the 19th century the municipality of Givors held that the canal was essential to development of the town, and that barge traffic was still a viable industry, fighting against closure of the canal and demanding that it remain navigable for its entire length despite mounting evidence that it was obsolete. However, by 1881, it was clear that the canal was in poor shape. The natural shores were eroded and the sides of locks 1–32 needed to be completely rebuilt. From locks 32 to 35 the canal was mostly silted up and in some places had disappeared completely, taken over by vegetable gardens.
  The industrial development of the Gier valley had its negative aspects. An 1884 writer described the region of Échalas and Saint-Romain-en-Gier, where the country was furrowed by the river, the canal, the railway and the national road. He described the people as the most miserable in the canton of Givors. He said that everything showed this misery: agriculture, roads, houses, church. Work in the mines was the only choice for the poor villagers. An 1885 travel guide mentions the station of Givors-canal on the railway south from Lyon, where the Nîmes line separated from the line to Saint Etienne. The canal then was mainly used by coal barges. The route from Givors-Canal to St. Etienne passed coal mines, large smelting works and iron foundries.
  The canal company went bankrupt and was bought by the state in 1886. This briefly gave it a new lease of life, but the canal had an obsolete gauge. By the start of the 20th century it was almost abandoned. The canal was neglected and parts were filled in. In the 1970s the A47 autoroute between Givors and Saint-Étienne covered almost all the sections that remained, apart from the site at Tartaras where the double lock and tunnel have been preserved as a heritage site.
caption: Empty canal basin at Givors, around 1901
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