Engebret Olsen Soot (26 May 1786 – 3 March 1859) was a Norwegian engineer. He was one of Norway's first canal builders and joined the timber channels at Otteid and Mangen-Grasmo. He is known as the father of the Fredrikshald Canal (now known as the

Halden Canal The Halden Canal near Halden, Norway, began construction in 1852. The canal allows boats to travel parallel to the Swedish border of 75 km from Tistedal to Skulerud. Engebret Soot (1786 - 1859) was responsible for this canal, as well as the ...

) in south-eastern

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. He constructed locks and canals for the transport of both watercraft and timber.

Biography

Engebret Olsen Soot was born in

Aurskog Aurskog is a former municipality in Akershus county, Norway. The administrative centre was Aursmoen. Aurskog was the location of the Battle of Toverud. The parish of ''Urskog'' was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskaps ...

(now Aurskog-Høland) in Akershus, Norway. He started his career as a blacksmith and carpenter. In 1804, he built a mill on the Sotbekken, a small river at Lierfoss in Aurskog-Høland. From 1816 until 1825, he was a caretaker at the Mangenskogen forest in Aurskog-Høland. From 1827 to 1846 he was an inspector on the Halden watercourse () in Østfold and Akershus. In 1824 he built works from Fredrikshald to enable log transport from

Stora Le Stora Le or Lesjön in Swedish language, Swedish and Store Le in Norwegian language, Norwegian is a lake in Dalsland, Sweden, the northern end of which proceeds into Norway and into Värmland, where it continues as Lake Foxen. The lake stretches ...

Dalsland Dalsland () is a Swedish traditional province, or ''landskap'', situated in Götaland in southern Sweden. Lying to the west of Lake Vänern, it is bordered by Värmland to the north, Västergötland to the southeast, Bohuslän to the west, ...

, Sweden, into the Fredrikshald

watershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...

. Soot built Otteidkanalen, Norway's first canal in Østre Otteid between the years 1825 and 1827. The new log floating channel of 775 meters enabled the transport of logs to

Halden Halden (), between 1665 and 1928 known as Fredrikshald, is both a List of cities in Norway, town and a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality borders Sarpsborg to the northwest, R ...

. In 1849 he opened

Soot Canal The Soot Canal () was a canal system located in Eidskog Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. Constructed in 1849, it has Norway's oldest sluice gates. It was the work of Engebret Soot (1786-1859). It was built to allow timber to be transporte ...

, Norway's first canal with locks. It was built to allow timber to be transported (floated) to the

sawmills. The canal was 1.5 km long and had 16 locks which extended from Lake

Skjervangen Skjervangen is a lake in Eidskog Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The lake lies less than northwest of the border with Sweden and about southwest of the village of Skotterud. See also *List of lakes in Norway This is a list of ...

at 185 m above sea level up to Lake Mortsjølungen at 201 m above sea level. This was followed by the

for boats. In 1858, 414 ships with a total of 950 passengers passed through the locks. He died in 1859 at Strømsfoss in

Øymark Øymark is a former municipality now located in Marker municipality in Østfold county, Norway. Øymark was originally a part of Aremark formannskapsdistrikt (from 1837), but on 1 July 1903 Øymark was separated from Aremark to form a separat ...

(now Marker) in

Østfold Østfold () is a county in Eastern Norway, which from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023 was part of Viken. Østfold borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other ...

References

External links

Canal Museum at Ørje (Norwegian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soot, Engebret 1786 births 1859 deaths Norwegian civil engineers People from Aurskog-Høland