Industrial History: 2025

Monday, December 8, 2025

1860 Jelenie and Buczyniec Boat Inclines on Elbląg (Elblag) Canal in Poland

Buczyniec: (Satellite)

As one would expect, one cradle goes down while the other goes up.

At one end of the shipway is the building that houses the machinery and the sheaves that guide the cable under the water to pull the cradles.

Krzysztof Jakubiszak, Aug 2022

Here is a close up of the four sheaves that turns the cable 90 degrees and shoves it under the water.

Ina Stölzer, Nov 2025

And this is the machinery in the building.

Ladislav Porteš, Oct 2025

This water wheel on the side of the building powers the machinery.

Mirtill Hanti, Aug 2024

At the other end of the shipway is three sheaves that simply change the direction of the cable. Note that one boat is getting on a cradle and another one is waiting for the next one to arrive.

Mirtill Hanti, Aug 2024

You lean forward and enjoy the ride.

Gabriele D'Amato, Jul 2019

Jelenie and Buczyniec are two of the shipways on the Elbląg Canal.

Anete Vipule, Jul 2025

Facebook Reel

Ken Osetroff: The canal is located in East Prussia ( NOW POLAND ) and was designed between 1825 and 1844 by Georg Steenke, carrying out the commission awarded by the King of Prussia. Construction began in 1844.

Richard Hill posted 18 photos with the comment:

PERPETUAL MOTION at the Elbląg Canal
(photo post accompanying the reel of the same name)
While Belgium can boast its massive boat lifts - they were not the first - nor the most technically innovative. Back in 1840 in East Prussia the Elbląg Canal (as it is now called) was completed and lifted boats over 100m in height over a 10km section. Now the fun part - to do this it was engineer that it was purely power by the flow of water with NO help from an external force (no steam engine, no horse or manpower - just the flow of water!)
Today it is a tourist attraction with the pulley stations also open to the public who can stare in awe all this is done simply by the flow of water and was designed almosst 200 years ago !

Richard Hill posted nine photos with the comment: "UPDATE: The Elbalg Canal (Oberländischer Kanal) whose boat lifts are powered by the flow of water was designed and built by the Prussians….and in Berlin's Deutsches Technikmuseum you can see a big model of how it worked."

1840 Mill Dam & 1998 Canoe Rapids and Putnam Street Bridges over Red Cedar River in Williamston, MI

Dam: (Satellite, this is a replacement.)

Rapids: (Satellite)

Bridge: (Satellite)

Digitally zoomed from the historical marker below

I found this historical marker while looking for a display of the Leffel mill turbine.

hmdb, 2017 photo by Cosmos Mariner

Since I knew the town had water-powered mills, I recognized the mill pond and its dam in this map.

1911/47 Mason Quad @ 62,500

The pond covered even more of the swamp in 1970.

1970/73 Williamston Quad @ 24,000

The pond no longer exists because the dam was wiped out by a flood on Apr 18, 1975. "To restore natural fisheries, and other environmental concerns, the state denied efforts to rebuild it. With a grant from the Natural Resources Trust Fund and funding from the sale of bonds by the Downtown Development Authority, an innovative alternative was realized in 1998. Costing less than a dam and fish ladder, the boulder impoundment raises the water level over one mile and provides whitewater recreation and natural wildlife habitat." [hmdb]

This source calls it a canoe rapids.

The 1902 bridge looks like it was pin connected.

Digitally zoomed from the historical marker above
By the latter half of the 19th century, iron bridges were being factory produced by numerous companies. By 1900, iron bridges had become a common site throughout Michigan. Today, only a few remain.

The 1931 bridge looks like it had concrete girders.

Digitally zoomed from the historical marker above
With the coming of the automobile, traffic demanded a two lane bridge. A reinforced concrete bridge was dedicated in 1931, completed in 1932, served until 2005. This bridge was built under the "State Reward Act", financed in part by gasoline tax revenue. The "reward" was payment of half the cost through the State Highway Commission (the Village and County Road Commission paid the balance).

Today's bridge and canoe rapids. I can't tell what type of girders the 2005 bridge had.

Digitally zoomed from the historical marker above

Today's bridge is decorated with brick, stone and metal railings.

Street View, Jul 2025

Sunday, December 7, 2025

1844,1903+1931,2001 Uhlerstown-Frenchtown Bridges over the Delaware River

1844: (Archived Bridge Hunter link is broken; Bridge Hunter)

1931: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

drjtbc
"It carried an average of 4,200 vehicles per day in 2023. (The Bridge Commission’s average annual daily traffic counts can be viewed here: https://www.drjtbc.org/bridge-info/traffic-count/.)"

Postcard via BridgeHunter_1844
"Damaged in flood of 1903, two spans replaced with steel trusses"

Michael Quartararo posted three photos with the comment:

Uhlstertown-Frenchtown Bridge over the Delaware River
Pennsylvania on the left, New Jersey on the right

HistoricBridges
"While the bridge has a roadway width that would usually be classified as one-lane, this bridge carries two narrow lanes of traffic. The safety of motorists is ensured by enforcing a slow 15mph speed limit and also eliminating trucks from using the bridge....A unique benefit of being owned by the toll commission, this bridge has its own bridgetender who guards the bridge against truck drivers who either cannot read or believe that weight limit signs are a form of joke. Many historic bridges have been damaged or destroyed by trucks who ignored weight limit signs and attempted to drive over the bridge."

Christopher R Hernandez posted five photos with the comment: ""Uhlerstown-Frenchtown Bridge, Delaware River between Uhlerstown, PA & Frenchtown, NJ. Opened 1931.
Robert Hedden: https://www.drjtbc.org/bridges/uhlerstown-frenchtown/