Water

Water was the first medium of transport whether small craft on the rivers of the Middle and Far East or ships upon the Mediterranean and Indian Seas. Naturally, the hoisting of sails made travelling long distances easier and oars were the levers of motion. Where no waterways existed, they had to be introduced in the way of canals. Lifting machines dug the canals, but once water flowed within, craft could not be moved uphill! Solving the elevation of barges and other canal craft brought some of the industry's most innovative lifting the shiplifts, and not to be forgotten, drydocks that lifted ships completely out of the water! As luxury ships housed hundreds, even thousands of passengers, they became mini-cities requiring transportation between levels.

The French built the first great canals, the first being the Briare Canal linking the Seine and Loire rivers. The waterway elevated ships 128 feet within eight miles and then lowered them 266 feet over a distance of 23 miles. Canals multiplied during the 17th century. With the railroad being only a distant vision entrepreneurs looked to the development of water transport to carry the steadily increasing loads of the newly industrialized world. The trucking industry was awaiting national networks of modern highways Ð also a far vision!