A French Agricultural Canal--the Canal de la and the Nineteenth-Century Improvement of the

By KEITH SUTTON

HE role of canals in the early stages of jeers wlffch in the seventeenth and eighteenth the Industrial tkevolution has been fre- centuries were largely to supplement and es- T quently documented both for pecially to link existing natural waterways, and and for elsewhere.1 A four-point appraisal of so promote their conunerce wlffch in the nine- the use of canals by Thomas Telforcl in the teenth century became increasingly of an in- early x8oo's emphasized their ftmction as a dustrial nature. Thus the significance of the means of conveying minhlg produce to the Canal de la Satddre, a minor, localized water- coast, fuel and raw materials to manufacttrdng way in the Sologne region to the south of ceutres, and manufactured goods, groceries, Orleans, lies in its function as primarily an agri- and other merchandise to markets. Firstly, cultural callal for the transport of marl. How- Tel ford itenffzed their role of"conveying Fuel ever, in its origins it approaches the more for Domestic Purposes; Manure for the pur- general, commercial conception of other poses ofAgrictdture; transporting the produce French waterways. of the Districts through which the Canalpasses, As a region of low naturalfertility worsened to the different Markets; and promoting Agri- by inadequate internal coxmmmications, a the ctdtural Purposes in geueral. ''~ Despite tiffs Sologne had prompted several schemes for early reference, Hadfield considered that "the improvement, sometimes involving canals. value of water carriage in enabling lnanure-- Although these plans proliferated in the eight- to use the old word--to be applied by farmers eenth and ~.ineteenth centuries with the wave to their land has hardly been given its right of new ideas and teclmiques of the Agricultural importance in the history of that revolution in tkevolution, a notably early sixteenth-century agricuhural methods that went on in Britain at project, conceived arotmd a central canal, was the same time as the Industrial tkevolution.''3 put forward by the savant, Leonardo da Vinci, The transport of marl--which is synonymous who passed the last few years of lffs life as a with the term manure in both these quotations protdgd of Francis I at Amboise on the western --suffered from high transport costs as much margins of the Sologne. Da Vinci's proposed as other bulky goods in the days of wagons and canal through the Sologne was part of a larger pack-horses. Early examples of the applica- waterway scheme oflffs to link the Touraine, tion of canals to agricultural purposes in Eng- lffs adopted home, with his native Italy. His land include the Basingstoke Canal which was manuscript notes and sketch-maps are far from enacted in W78 mid the Bude Canal wlffch was clear about the proposed route. Starting from designed to carry sea-sand as a marl into the Tours, or perhaps Blois, the canal was to pass interiors of Devon and. Cornwall. through P,.omorantin and then to take a direct Sinfflarly, agricultural considerations played mute to the River Allier rather than follow the little part in instigating early French canal pro- course of the River Chef. Undoubtedlyin part 1 A. L. Dunham, The Dldustrlal Revolution in France 1815-48, I955, pp. 2,8-48. " C. Hadficld, British Canals--An Illustrated History, i966, pp. 33-4, quoting T. Telford, A Survey and Report of the proposed extension of the Union Canal from Gumley Wharf, in Leicestershire, to the Grand Junction Caual, near Buckby-Wharf, in Northantptonshire, I8o4. Hadfield, op. cit., p. 98. 4 K. Sutton, 'La Triste Sologne. L'utilhation du sol dans une rdgion fran~aise ,~ l'abandon au ddbut du ,i XIXe si~cle', Norois, 6L I969, pp. 7-3o. 5I

I J 5~ THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW this scheme would have ixlvolved the waters of for the transport of marl fromarourid Aubigny the River Sauldre. ~deed da Vinci considered and Blancafort. A cubic metre of marl at that by diverting water from the tribu- Aubigay cost ~ frallcs, while at 8-I2 kin. tary (AUier or ) into the Sauldre ("le distance it had risen to 6-8 francs, so high were fleuve de Romorantin") the canal "would enrich transport costs. Furthermore, about I5 cubic the lands wlfich it irrigates, and would fertilize metres were required to marl each arpent (about the countryside; it would secure food for the I" 25 acres). If such a canal proved to be too inhabitants arid serve also as a navigable canal expensive, Soyer suggested the canalization of for commercial traffic." Thus agricultural as the Grande Sanldre river, either scheme profit- well as commercial justifications were in- ing from integration with a network of rail- voked? After daVinci's death his Sa6r~e-Loire ways. These two early rthleteenth-century link-up was proposed by Adam de Crapone projects would appear to have been the direct and the late eighteer~th century saw proposals precursors of the Carial de la Sauldre. to the Provincial Assemblies of Berry and Pleas for a more organized effort at im- Orl~anais for a Loire-Cher link-up ternfinat- provement of the whole Sologne were to some Lug at , analogous to the earlier Canal extent answered in I848 when the central de Briaire cormecting the Loire ~d the Seine. ~ government set up the Service SpgciaI de la Other late eighteenth-century improvement Sologne as a regiona] amalgamation of the pub- schemes involvillg canals were more parochi- lic works authorities of the three departmellts ally concerned with the econo1~c and par- ofLoiret, Loir-et-Cher, and Cher to cover their ticularly agricultural development of the solognot sections as one admi~fistrative refit. In Sologne. Thus d'Autroche's plan, which won part, the Sologne was benefiting accidentally the prize offered by the Soci~t~ P,.oyale d'Agri- from a state political move in which the real culture d'Orl~ans in I876, included proposals ftmction of the Service SpgciaI was to look after for the state to provide a complete network of the Ateliers Nationaux in the area in all attempt roads supplemented by a canal either paraUel to direct tmemployed and potentially revolu- to the River or by rendering the river tionary workers away from Pat'is by using navigable. "It is only by means of a canal that them in public works constructions. To tlfis orle can hope to drag the whole central part of end 4,ooo francs were granted in May I848, to the Sologlle out of its state of inertia and begin studies of a canal project across the death-like trance in which it is plunged. ''3 Sologne, and some rather haphazard ilfitial Some fifty years later in I836 the same excavations were started, e By October I848 Soci~t~ tkoyale again offered a prize for the these works had been completely abandoned, best me'moire o1~ the area's agricultural situation but the Service Spdcial continued and was to a_~d the means to improve it. The winner, make a siglfificant contribution in the area. Bourdon, continued to include a canal in his Numerous studies were made by these pub- projected scheme of communications, specify- lic works authorities for canal schemes, fre- ing a waterway to transport marl from the quently based on a major canal linking the Sa~cerrois, the region to the east.~ A more Loire and the Cher through the Sologne. A detailed scheme of improvement based on just report hi I85z (table I) showed the prolifera- such a canal from Sa~xcerroishad for long been tion of these schemes, v To this list one could suggested by Soyer. ~ As well as irrigating a have added the Canal du Berry which had considerable area it would principally serve been opened in I835 along the Chef Valley, 1 p. Guillaume, La Sologne au cours des sixties, I954, pp. 48-53, quoting British Museum, Arundel MSS. No. 263, fol. 2o7v. Guillaume, op. cir., p. 53. 3 L. d'Autroche, M~moire sur l'am3lloration de la Sologne, I787, p. 73. 4 M. Bourdon, M3moire sur la situation agricole de la Sologne, I84o. 5 Capt. Servier, M3moire sur lapartie est de lafenille de Gien, I839. Archives du Minlst~re de la Guerre, M.rz. l~.econnaissance Iz53. e Archives Nationales, Paris (hereafter A.N.), FIo-z348-I. 7 A.N. Fro--z346-7 Rapport sur l'amdlioration de la Sologne d'une Commission compos4e de MM. Frissard, l~obinon, Avri], Gayan et Darcy, zg-4-I85z. A PRENCH AGRICULTURAL CANAL. 53

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"°,ll~ ~"o,,j,ooo" ~,,°'"'"'%%%, 54 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW but this was reaUy only peripheral to the So- ally it followed the Saul&e as far as Brinon logne. Of these schemes the report placed the where it crossed over to the Beuvron Valley Canal de la Sauldre first in order of priority. using the Etang du Puits as a reservoir. Soon after the completion of this section, the grand T.~Br.z I canalization scheme was abandoned as being CANAr. VROJ~CTSn~ rim SOr.OGN~, I85z too costly, and in I86I the idea of a network of Estimated cost local roads superseded it. Consequently the Length (thousand extension of the canal westwards to the railway (kin) francs) was replalmed, taking a more northerly line from the original scheme. It was not tmtil 1869 Grande Canal xSI I7,5oo that the second section of I3 km. was opened R.igole du 56 I,IOO extending the canala s far as Lamotte-Beuvron, R.igole du Beuvron 40 450 a total length of 43 kin. 4 A further wait of R.igole du N&nt 35 350 several years tmtil I873 was necessary for the Canal de la Sauldre 36 z,ooo construction of a short line from the quais of Ceinture sup~rieure 60 900 the canal to those of the railway station.5 Even Ceintm'e inf&ieure 50 700 so the cost oftranskipment was to be so high as Canal de la 1k~re 68 ~,ooo effectively to bar the use of canal-borne marls Canal du Barageon zz beyond the railway line. At the other extremity 518 z4,9oo the starting point of the callal was extended slightly in I885, from Latmay to the H@ital These canal schemes were not without their de Blancafort. 6 contemporary opponents. Gaugirall thought it The primary basis of this callal scheme was a retrograde step to develop canals in the R.ail- to transport marls cheaply into the central way Age. By returning to the ideas of Leo- comnlunes though Machat, tile Director of the nardo da Vinci, he forecast that the state would Service Sp&ial de la Sologne, originally in- involve itself in large capital outlays which cluded large-scale irrigation in his general would result in little, if alW, financial profit3 sdxeme of improvement. For the provision of Quoting the example of the successful im- this marl the state purchased in i858 an area at provement of the Dombes region, Gaugiran Latmay and encouraged private alld public advocated, instead, the creation of a network workings. Prices were fixed along the canal at of agricultural roads, which he considered as between I'85 francs and 2"6o francs per cubic 'Talpha de toute r&olution agricole. TM hi the metre, according to distance? As well as state I86o's tkis viewpoint was to prevail but not initiative local efforts were often made to guar- without one attempt to put a canal scheme into antee the tmloading of marl at various points practice with the construction of the Callal de along the canal. Thus, in I859 , the inhabitants la Sauldre. of the comnmne of Chaon campaigned for the The abandoned workings of the 1848 Ateliers establishment of a station on the canal near Nationaux were taken up again following the the Vieil-@rouv~ lock so as to avoid the poor granting by the state of a credit of 3oo,ooo roads and the longer route to the station at francs? Between I852 mid I859 the first sec- Brinon. 8 tion of the canal was constructed from Latmay, By I87o there was a fleet of twelve boats 2 kin. from the marl deposits near Blancafort, operating on the canal, each with a capacity of I

just outside the Sologne, to Coudray in the about Ioo cubic metres. ~Traffic along the canal J western part of the commune ofBrinon, Initi- gradually increased, especially in the early x E. Gaugiran, Vues cle Sologne, Sa renaissance, x857, p. Io5. 2 Gaugiran, op. tit., p. Iz3. a A.N. FIo--2347-8. 4 C. Moindrot, La valise nloyenne de la Sauldre et la Sologne d'Anbigny, Dipl6me d'Etudes Sup4rieures, I95o, p. 7z. G. Devailly,L'oeuvre du SecondEnlpire en Sologne, Dipl6me d'Etudes Sup6rieures,I947, p. 47. 5 E. Gaugiran, Coup d'oeil d'unprotectiomTistesur les travauxpublics en Sologne, r878, p. 4. 6 Moindrot, op. tit. 7H. Sainjon, R3sultats dus ct l'intervention de l'Etat enfaveur de la Sologne, 1873, p. 18. 8 A.N. FIo-z356-AL 9 Gaugiran, I878, loc. cir.

, <.)~ ..... A FRENCH AGRICULTURAL CANAL 55 187o's after the opening of the second section, TABLE IV as table n shows. The sudden jump in 1874 MERCHANDISE CARRIED ON TIlE CANAL DE LA of more than 12,ooo tonnes was largely due SAULDRB IN 18744

TABLE II tonnes % ANNUAL TRAFFIC ON TIlE CANAL DE LA SAULDRE, Marls 31,17o 9I"22 1866-74 i Construction tonlle$ tonnes materials 1,863 5' 45 Timber for fuel 29o o. 84 2866 9,678 I871 26,864 Building timber 33 o" zo 1867 lO,O87 I872 24,720 Various other goods 816 2" 39 I868 14,343 I873 21,515 I869 7,813 1874 34,172 34,17Z IOO'OO z 870 I 1,444 marl. In accordance with tlfis breakdown1 the to the fact that M. Masson who owned the bulk of the traffic was westwards, into the greater part of the marl workings at Launay Sologne, as table v indicates. had finished installhlg equipment there and Areally the i1~uence of the canal was limited could greatly increase production. ~ to the zones along its banks within which it was The bulk of the goods carried on the Canal economic to transport the marl in wagons. de la Sauldre consisted of marls, ,'uld, by way of Akhough the Lamotte-Beuvron terminal was comparison, table m is of merchandise other linked to the railway by une rampe ferre'e than marl entering into the traffic. The canal's 1873, this did litde or nothing to extend the canal's influence, largely because at the same TABLE III time the state subsidy on railway-borne marl ANNUAL TRAFFICIN MERCHANDISE OTHER THAN was removed. 5 Tlfis plus the cost of tranship- MARL, 1871-58 ment at Lamotte-Beuvron meant that the rich tonnes tonnes Blancafort marls were never able to penetrate the Sologne beyond the railway. Indeed, by 1871 1,712 I874 3,002 188o it is doubtfulifthe marls were much used 1872 4,700 1875 1,54I beyond a band two or three kilometres wide I873 2,515 on either side of the canal.6 h~ terms of cost-effectiveness the Canal de la contribution to the economy was thus mahfly Sauldre was apoor investment for the state. in terms of agricultural improvement. As the Gaugiran calculated that by 1878 the whole details of the merchandise carried ill 1874 venture had cost the state some 8,500,0o0 (table iv) demonstrate only a minute propor- francs for studies, construction, wages, interest tion was taken by local products other than on capital, etc., and that, on the figures then

TABLE V TRAFFIC MOVEMENT IN 1874 ON THE CANAL DE LA SAULDRE 7 Absolute Number of boats Average tonnage % of empty Direction tonnage loaded empty total of loaded boats boats in total traffc

Westwards 33,508 644 -- 644 52" 03 o Eastwards 664 47 597 644 I4" 13 92" 7

1 Archives Ddpartementalesdu Cher (hereafterA.D. Cher), S.zoog, Situation du service au I5 juin I875 (Conseil gdndraldu Cher), Rapport de l'ingdnieurordinaire. 2 A.D. Cher. S.2oo9. 3 Gaugiran, I878, op. tit., p. 7; A.D. Cher. S.2oo9. * A.D. Cher. S.2oo9. Gaugiran, I878, op. tit., p. 5. 6 Moindrot, op. tit., p. 73. 7 A.D. Cher. S.2oo9. :]!

56 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW available, ea& cubic metre of marl shipped by crossed by the Orldans-Vierzon railway which the canal boats had cost the state about 27 had been established as a route of cheap, subsi- francs3 However, the canal was to continue to dized marl into the heart of tlxe Sologne from be an ilffluence in the development of this 1853. Unfortunately similar detailed statistics limited section of the Sologne for some time to based on the revised evaluations of the Cadastre come. have been destroyed for the Department of The wider theme of the improvement of Cher and even the less reliable Enqugtes agri-. land use in the Sologne during the period coles d&ennales are incomplete ill their survival. I85o-8o, together with the role m it of better 01dy the commmle of Argent, at the extreme commLmications has been considered else- eastern eild of the Canal de la Sauldre, can be where3 Probably the best indicatiou of this examined in detail (table vI). agricuhuralimprovement was the reduction of wasteland, for the increase iv- arable was, in T.~I~I.EVI some commmles, v-ullified by considerable afforestation of formerly ploughed lalld. Thus wasteland declined from a total of I3O,OOO 1848 1862 1892 hectares (28"3 per ce~xt) in 185o to 33,644 hec- tares (7"o per cent) in I88O in the Sologv-e as a Arable 0aid whole. Arable land increased correspondingly artificialpasture 3,351 3,793 5,II7 from ZlO,OOO hectares (45"7 per cent) to Woodland 429 480 4~5 °.75,ooo (54"4 per cent). The Sologne as de- Wasteland 1,953 550 17° fined by Agabriel for these figures was slightly increased in size between these two dates. Obviously the spatial effect of the marl brought Similar progress was tmdoubtedly made in along the Canal de la Sauldre was limited evell those commtmes crossed by or adjacent to the within the communes cited above. Further- Canal de la Sauldre, but land-use statistics are more its effect was limited in time also and incomplete especially withill the Department during the present century m.-m.y of the im- of Chef. From I85o to 1879 arable land in- proved fields have lapsed, along with the canal creased from 33 to 47 per cent of the area of the itself, into a state of disuse. However, in comimme of Chaon, from 44 to 59 per cent in modem France the value of areas like the Pierrefitte-sur-Sauldre, and from 35 to 38 per Sologne can probably be better measured in cent in Lamotte-Beuvron. Wasteland declined amenity rather than agricultural terms, hi this iv_ the same period from zI to IO per cent in respect a relict agricultural canal without the Chaon, from 3o to 9 per cent in Pierrefitte-sur- normal accompanimellt of industrial eyesores Saul&e, and from I I to o per cent hi Lamotte- can still represent a valuable resource for the Beuvron3 The latter commmle was also French cotmtryside. 1 Gaugiran, 1878, op. cir., p. 8. -" K. Sutton, 'The ILeduction of Wasteland in the Sologne--Ninetcenth Century French Ikegional hnprove- mend, Institute of British Geographers Transactions, 52, 1971, pp. 129-44. 3 F. Agabriel, Mise en valeur de la Sol(~ne, 1942, p. 4o. 4 Nou,Mle d.vaiuation des revenus territoriaux (Ioi dn 7 ao,~t 185o, art. 2). 5 Aindlioration de la Sologne. Renseignenlents statistiques, i 848- 9, A.D. Loir-et-Cher, Series M; A.D. . 5S12. Enqu~te agricole ddeennale, i861; Enqu~te agricole ddcennale, I892.--A.D. Cher. Series M.

7: i