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In 1732, sielininkai, who brought siel from Nemunas to Klaipėda around Ventės cape, opened up excellent prospects for wood trade. However, the timber merchants had heavy losses. In the windy water area of the Horn of Vente, storms only dismantled the stilts tied with the wicks and scattered the logs. Since 1765 The Prussian authorities rejected five projects of Klaipėda merchants, and only in 1858 did they allow the Minija river at Lankupiai to be connected to the port of Klaipėda by waterway. However, the work started only five years later. In 1863, excavation and construction works were started for state tax levies. In October 1865, an 8-kilometer section was handed over for navigation. The canal started at Lankupiai, where it branched off from Minija and went northwest to Dräverna. After the successful Prussian war with France in 1870, the remaining 15-kilometer section of the canal from Dreverna to Smeltė was dug by about 700 French prisoners of war. in 1873 September 19 in the pouring rain, the opening ceremony of the canal, named after the then German Kaiser Wilhelm I, took place.