The slushy send-off: Sweden's first lock and the grand adventure of Göta älv

In the heart of Göta älv lies Lilla Edets sluss, a monument to the grand adventure of the river. For centuries, a four-meter-high waterfall posed a challenge to boat traffic, forcing vessels to either heave their cargoes ashore and carry them past the falls on foot or expect damages. One man, King Harald Hårdråde, dared to sail upstream with 60 Viking ships. The rest is history. Lilla Edets sluss marks the spot where history was made. Work on the sluss began in the 1580s at the behest of King Johan III.

The sluss, the first of its kind in Sweden, was completed in 1607. Yet its history was far from smooth. The sluss was damaged and repaired several times during the first half of the 17th century. From 1613 to 1619, the sluss belonged to Denmark, which took the surrounding area as collateral in connection with the payment of the second Älvsborg lösen. An overhaul of the sluss was completed in 1642, and the same year, a new tariff based on the goods transported was established.

Göteborgs stad took over the operation of the sluss in 1651 in exchange for a third of the sluss income. After the sluss was damaged during the wars that Sweden was involved in, it was rebuilt in 1784. Parts of the 1600s sluss can still be seen east of Lilla Edets kraftverk today. There is also a commemorative stone that was erected in 1930 in memory of the 47 soldiers from Västgöta-Dals regemente who drowned after extinguishing the great fire in Lilla Edet on August 29, 1830.

Ströms kanal was completed in 1832 on Inlandsön on the western side of the älven. Ströms sluss, the sluss on Inlandsön, was replaced by the current one in 1916. The southern of the two slusses on Ströms kanal was demolished when the current sluss was put into operation, leveling the water level in Ströms kanal with the lower part of Göta älv. Trafficverket plans to build a larger sluss west of the current one in 2025.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons