After draining water from a 200-year-old Parisian canal, they were shocked by what they saw
It was cloudy. The crowd had gathered and watched what was happening along the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris. No one could take their eyes off the scene unfolding before their eyes. All watched the murky waters of the canal recede as authorities cleared the waterway. What had been hiding under the waters of the canal for the past two centuries? After all this time, the public of the Canal Saint-Martin attended a spectacle which they did not expect at all. But what exactly did we find there?
It was high time to empty the Canal Saint-Martin
Authorities had watched the troubled waters of the Canal Saint-Martin recede as it emptied. It is not every day that we have the opportunity to discover the mysteries that hide in the depths of the waters. As the bottom of the canal became more and more visible, people standing there were able to discover a new part of the city's history. It can be said that none of them expected to see what they saw there.
A large water reserve
The Canal Saint-Martin extends over nearly 4.5 kilometres. It was built under Napoleon Bonaparte, after the latter himself approved the project. This canal was initially built to transport and supply drinking water to the 550,000 inhabitants of Paris. While knowing that there was a good chance that the population of the French capital would only increase thereafter.
It was much more than that
More than that, Napoleon Bonaparte hoped that access to clean water would help control health problems in the city. Because many cases of cholera and dysentery had been reported at the time. The Canal Saint-Martin extends over nearly four and a half kilometers from the city. It also allowed at the time to transport food and building supplies to Parisians, everywhere in the city.
Its fascinating history
In the decades that followed, two other canals were built in the same spirit. The authorities had worked on the construction of the Canal Saint-Denis and the Canal de l'Ourcq. The latter had a width of 3.4 meters, over a length of 108 km. It extends from Port-aux-Perches to the Bassin de la Villette to merge with the Canal Saint-Martin. Keep in mind that all these canals were built hundreds of years ago.
During the French Revolution
Of these three canals, the one most people know best is the Canal Saint-Martin. It passed under the Bassin de l'Arsenal, Place de la Bastille. This place is very well known in the world because of the key events that took place there during the French Revolution, from 1789 to 1799. It was here that the revolutionaries had attacked the prison by surprise. The whole neighborhood is steeped in history. This is why the public was eager to discover what was hidden under the water of the canal.
What is the Canal Saint-Martin used for today?
Nowadays, the Canal Saint-Martin is a popular place among the inhabitants of the capital and the tourists. Young Parisians often stroll along the banks and frequent the surrounding cafes. In addition, tourists like to have their picture taken in front of the canal, the surrounding monuments and the various bridges. But then why had the authorities suddenly decided to drain the water from the canal?
All the weird things we could find at the bottom
After an existence of nearly two centuries, the Canal Saint-Martin had certainly seen a number of things happen... In general, the city authorities try to empty the canals every ten to fifteen years to clean them by ridding them of waste that accumulates at the bottom. But this time it wasn't just a routine cleaning. So what made it so different?
The drainage procedure
Also known as the City of Light, the city of Paris each of great and many secrets. Some of them had hidden well, under the troubled waters of this channel. Parisians were curious to discover what might lie submerged beneath their beloved Canal Saint-Martin. They observed from a distance but attentively the drainage operation that was in progress. What would they discover?
World War I relics
It was only in 2001 that the Canal Saint-Martin was emptied and cleaned for the first time. At the time, the city authorities were able to remove no less than 40 tons of waste that had accumulated in the water. Sosome were fascinating finds, such as bullets, bombs and gold coins from the First World War. Not only that, but the authorities had also pulled out an automobile from around the same time. Time has passed since 2001. What were you going to find in the water this time?
What was the cost of this major cleaning
The enormous work of cleaning the Canal Saint-Martin had begun. It was going to take a total of three months, and involved draining about 3 million cubic feet of water. The city of Paris had to pay more than 9 million Euros for this purpose, but it was something important to do. The crowd of passers-by were eager to find out what had been hiding in the canal all this time...
Passers-by had gathered to watch what was happening
On January 7, the work to drain the water from the Canal Saint-Martin began. The secrets that had lurked beneath the waters of the waterway would finally come to light after being buried for 15 years. People from all walks of life had taken to the decks to observe the operation. They wanted to be on the front line to see with their own eyes what the authorities were about to discover. Everyone was quivering with curiosity.
A surreal moment
It must have been a memorable moment! After all, you don't have the chance every day to see the Canal Saint-Martin empty, without the slightest drop of water. The people who were there couldn't believe their eyes. It was surreal to be able to see the bottom of the canal. They all wanted to find out what was there, lying on the floor of the Canal Saint-Martin.
Living beings in the water of the Canal Saint-Martin
At first, the workers had to empty the Canal Saint-Martin until only about 50 cm of water remained. They then had to walk back to this bottom of water to recover the various objects and living beings that had taken up residence there. The working staff had fished out about five tons of carp, trout and bream! They then took the fish to more suitable breeding grounds. Prior to this they had carefully weighed and identified them. Although the new location the fish were going to be taken to was not necessarily the most "comfortable" location for them, it was still better than staying in a channel.
People had thrown a lot of garbage in the water
Various everyday objects had taken up residence in the depths of the Canal Saint-Martin. For example, we found bicycles there, among other things. These bikes turned out to be from the fleet of Vélib, the city's self-service bicycle system. By 2007, the project had made around 14,500 bicycles available on the streets of Paris. Unfortunately, they are often found in strange places…
The strangest discoveries
As the draining process continued, more bizarre objects appeared. In particular, you could discover mopeds, bicycles and wheeled bins at the bottom of the Canal Saint-Martin! More so, there was also a toilet in there. All of this had contributed to making the water in the canal opaque and dirty, so it was important to collect everything. People had a good laugh seeing all these objects. However, these were not the only unusual objects that could be found at the bottom of the canal. The cleaning staff found even bigger.
How did these items get there
"It's like an underwater treasure, but weird," told The Guardian Marc, a witness to the scene, before adding: "I can't believe the amount of Vélibs in there. I guess they were stolen and thrown away afterwards. It's weird." But there is more than that. Because bicycles were not the only strange things that had found their way to the Canal Saint-Martin.
Paris is dirty
"That's Paris for you," said Bernard, one of the spectators. " It's dirty. Apparently, it had only gotten worse in recent years. Bernard had also been present when the city of Paris first emptied and cleaned the canal. “The last time, I don't remember seeing so much waste in the canal,” he confided. " I despair. Young people use it as a trash can.”
Even weirder than bikes
If you thought finding bikes in the Canal Saint-Martin was weird, wait until you hear more… the cleaning staff have also picked up bikes there. Who knows how these vehicles ended up there!? And things only got stranger and stranger from then on.
There was so much trash
Of course, when we emptied myself, we suspected that there were not only fish and other living beings in the Sa Canal.int-Martin. There were items that everyone expected to find there. Like plastic bags, traffic blocks and glass bottles. All those who were there were not even paying attention to these objects. They were there to witness the discovery of much stranger objects!
A lambda office chair
First, none of them had any idea how an office chair had ended up there. This discovery had aroused the skepticism of the spectators of the scene. Would an office worker have moved by rolling on his office chair to the 10th arrondissement to throw it into the canal? A very ridiculous theory, but confessed that imagining the scene made you sketch a smile.
There was also a suitcase
It's quite fun to develop theories on how these objects made their way to the Canal Saint-Martin. As the water emptied, other unusual objects appeared in the opaque water. The public was therefore able to discover that there was also a very disgusting suitcase there. Someone had probably thrown it there?
A traffic block
Yet another strange object that made people who were there wonder. A traffic block, which one of the cleaning workers retrieved from the bottom of the Canal. Who could have thrown him there? All that money spent cleaning up what bad guys vandalized.
A true destination for shopping
There was also a shopping cart at the bottom of the Canal Saint-Martin. This had left people perplexed, and curious to know the history of this shopping cart. Had its owner accidentally dropped it into the canal after loading groceries into the trunk of the car? In any case, it would seem that Paris is indeed a real destination for shopping.
save the fish
The workers in charge of cleaning had continued to drain the water from the Canal Saint-Martin until only 50 centimeters remained. Before going any further, they first had to take care of securing the fish that lived there. The cleanup crew had spent three days catching carp, trout and bream in the canal waters. Once they had caught all these fish, they put them in another already cleaned part of the channel.
Swimming in the Canal Saint-Martin could be something doable
Even though it had been disheartening to see all the rubbish that people had thrown into the Canal Saint-Martin, there is still hope. The discoveries of these objects in the water had brought to light the problem of filth and lack of respect for places in the city. The authorities then took the opportunity to raise the issue. "If everyone behaves well and avoids throwing anything in the water", said Celia Blauel, the Deputy Mayor, in an interview for the MailOnline, "we could be able to swim in the Canal Saint-Martin in a few years. ".
It was a very expensive process
No one could have imagined how serious the problem was if the canal had not been drained. In fact, the canal district is a district where real estate is in high demand. To live in this district, Parisians sometimes have to pay a high price. Indeed, real estate properties in this borough sell for nearly $9,000 per square meter. One can imagine that the residents of the neighborhood had no idea that such problems were so close to home.
Why the Canal Saint Martin district is so expensive
The Canal Saint-Martin has always been an asset of the district, an attractive specificity of this area, which has contributed to the increase in real estate prices in this arrondissement. The Canal Saint-Martin has been used as a source of inspiration by many artists. The stone walls all around are decorated with graffiti and a large immersive space is dedicated to art.
Drainage took two decades
Over the course of two decades, workers commissioned by the municipality drained the three canals of the city of Paris. The whole thing, when combined, was a distance of over 80 miles. The best known of the three is the Canal Saint-Martin. This 110 km canal connects the Seine and the Canal de l'Ourcq.
Tourists and Parisians
If you know Paris, you know that the Canal Saint-Martin district has a rather lively nightlife. The once quiet area now attracts a large number of young people throughout the day and also in the evening. Many residents immediately thought that all of this would only contribute to further deterioration of the canal. And unfortunately, they weren't wrong about that. They discovered the extent of the damage in 2016.
The incredible nightlife of the neighborhood of the Channel
If you know Paris, you know that the Canal Saint-Martin district has a rather lively nightlife. The once quiet area now attracts a large number of young people throughout the day and also in the evening. Many residents immediately thought that all of this would only contribute to further deterioration of the canal. And unfortunately, they weren't wrong about that. They discovered the extent of the damage in 2016.
The construction of the Canal Saint-Martin
The construction of the Canal Saint-Martin was authorized by Napoleon I, Emperor of France. Work began in 1802. At the time, Paris had a population of around 550,000 people. And the population was not going to decrease anytime soon. The trend was rather the opposite with a growth of the inhabitants of the city. Napoleon had plans to incorporate a waterway that would provide fresh water to the city and improve the general well-being of the people.
The Canal Route
The Canal Saint-Martin starts from the Seine de l'Arsenal basin just below La Bastille. The Bastille – today symbolized by a simple column – was once the location of the Parisian prison, famous for its capture during the French Revolution of 1789. The Canal then extends near the Place de la République before ascending towards the north of the city to the Bassin de la Villette. It then flows into the Canal de l'Ourcq.
Strange things in the water
Think back to what sparked your curiosity the first time you saw the title of this article. Do you want to know what has been discovered in the water of the Canal? Remember what we revealed to you above: tables, shopping carts, suitcases, garbage cans, toilets, bicycles and motorbikes were discovered at the bottom of the canal, once the water was drained. Also found was an old-era stereo laying on the floor. You never know what you're going to find until you look for it...it didn't stop there.
Way too many bottles and cans
Workers on the site discovered a large number of cans and bottles while draining water from the Canal Saint-Martin. Do you have any idea how many of these containers have been discovered underwater? You will probably be off the mark trying to answer this question. Because there were hundreds of thousands of these objects, if not more, buried under the water of the Canal of the city.
It was not worthy of the neighborhood
The heart of the city of Paris is crossed by the Canal Saint-Martin, which extends as we have seen over a length of almost five kilometers. This canal crosses the 10th arrondissement, which is known to be a “bobo” (bohemian bourgeois) district of the French capital. The city's nightlife and tourist attractions have recently exploded in this borough. Don't miss it on your next trip to the City of Light! in any case, such a dirty Canal was not worthy of the popular district.
More interesting finds
As the curious gathered near the Canal Saint-Martin to better see what was going on there, more and more artifacts had been discovered and identified in the murky water. The Canal is emptied and cleaned approximately every 10 to 15 years, offering passers-by many years ahead of them to destroy, throw or deposit all sorts of objects, from the most standard to the most bizarre. Let's take the example of the stereo system of the time, which was found at the bottom of the Canal Saint-Martin. We wonder how she could have ended up there rather than bulky items?!
Gathering of crowds
Locals were understandably curious and interested to learn more about the process of draining and cleaning up the Canal Saint-Martin – after all, who wouldn't? As the workers resumed their work, spectators kept gathering around the Canal to watch all that was happening there. Maybe in all this crowd, some Parisians were looking for a long lost object? Or maybe they were just looking for a fun outdoor activity. We would certainly have stopped too to attend such an event. Not you ?
"Vintage" items
Even though such cleaning is repeated every 10 to 15 years, vintage objects, such as this camera, are systematically found during the cleaning process of the Canal. Go find out why! It is difficult to understand how these objects ended up at the bottom of the water, in particular because they are much older than the date of the last cleaning of the Canal. As far as we know, some people have regularly "lost", voluntarily or accidentally, property in their possession in the water of the canal. But objects, some older than expected, have also been discovered.
Discoveries sentimental roads
Even more startling objects surfaced and were discovered as the canal's 90,000 cubic meters of water was drained. Some of them even more surprising than you could have imagined so far. Take this stuffed bunny, for example. In comparison to everything we've seen so far, it seems to be quite original. The contrast in this photo between the nearly undamaged stuffed animal and the totally dilapidated looking motorcycle is almost unreal.
anger management
This photo, in our opinion, captures the whole mood of the scene. To be honest, you could probably tell quite a story around this shot. The dirty sea has swept over the muddy throne... It's absolutely covered in moss... It's kind of haunting when you think about it. Once again, our mind wanders to a variety of possibilities that may have led to throwing this chair into the Canal Saint-Martin in the first place. Would it have been a tense situation? a fit of anger? Different scenarios are possible.
A long ordeal
As the water poured slowly into the Seine and the Canal Saint-Martin emptied little by little, the staff commissioned on site by the city of Paris ensured the smooth running of the operation. And this for hours. Many works had been carried out, from the relocation of fish caught in the water to the complete renovation of the four double locks of the Canal. Certain small parts worn by time had of course to be replaced. The whole process was going to take about three months from start to finish.
Teamwork
With the scope of this project, it makes sense that a large number of people were involved in making it happen. As you can see in this image, hundreds, if not thousands, of people worked on the construction site to make sure everything was done correctly and the result was a real success. Not to mention the fact that we had to make sure not to endanger anyone's life. Even though most of the work was automated using machines, there are some tasks that only professionals could do with their hands.
Lift heavy loads
Some tasks were particularly dangerous, and so many things could go wrong at any time! It was the first time since 2001 that the Canal Saint-Martin had been emptied. Such a site, which only occurs once every ten years, is colossal, and the team of workers in charge obviously had to prepare heavily to carry out a mission of such magnitude. In addition, it was necessary for the municipality to obtain the required permits for essential machinery and equipment.
Other locations
After seeing what had been stored in the Canal Saint-Martin for about 10 years, we can quite understand that other countries are deciding to drain their water points and empty their sewers for a major cleaning! And it was not in vain! Several strange things have been discovered during operations to drain and clean up waterholes in the UK. There are some things in particular that you wouldn't expect to find in such a place. Let's take a look at some of the items found by drain cleaning companies.
Animals
No one wants to be judged for intentionally harming animals, but what a despicable thing to dispose of them in canals or other waterholes?! It is, however, commonplace… all over the world, and not just in the UK. During drainage operations, carcasses of cows and sheep were found, as well as those of cats and dogs. Fortunately, many animals were rescued from the sewers without being injured or killed. Another thing observed in the United States is that alligators are said to roam the sewers, although many refer to this as an unverified urban legend.
solid gold
Waste accumulates in the sewers and not all of them are useless. In 2009, staff at a Japanese cleaning center raised 5 million yen in gold. They were clearing the area and removing the mud that had accumulated when they discovered the precious metal. In the end, they collected no less than 1,890 grams of gold per ton of waste!
luxury watches
In fact, the canals hold more riches than we think! In 2012, a sewer expert named Aaron Large discovered four luxury watches in the sewer pipes of England. It wasn't just old watches! His find included an 18k gold Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph believed to be worth £21,000, along with another Rolex and two other high-end products he found just days later. He did
nally found the rightful owner of one of the watches, while he discovered that the other three were counterfeit watches. Either way, Aaron's manager praised him for his contribution.
half a car
We can still point out that some discoveries in the sewers and waterways are more imposing than others. A drain cleaning company, for example, unearthed half of a scrapped Mini model car in 2014, making it one of the largest objects ever found during waterhole drains in London. That year it cost £70m to clean the capital's sewers, an amount that - let's face it - blew all scores for sewers!
Jaw bones
Some objects found in sewers or drained waterways seem impossible to identify, no matter how long you watch and examine them. A rather unusual jaw bone was found during a drainage operation in Canada in 2009. The bone could have come from several different herbivorous animals without it being possible to determine precisely which one. However, these bone discoveries are not as surprising as elsewhere in Canada, where more than average numbers of dinosaur remains have been discovered. But these discoveries are however made in man-made infrastructures, so it remains surprising.
The unpredictability of drainage
As seen through this article, the process of draining and cleaning waterholes like canals is a heavy project every time. These are expenses of up to hundreds of millions, discoveries of totally random and extraordinary objects; Suffice to say that this process is not trivial. These cleaning operations often mark the beginning of surprising stories, and the discovery of valuable objects, doubtful or that you would not expect to find there; the sewer and canals can be a goldmine.
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