The handle that opens the lower gate
The Salmon gates
The lock seen from the downstream waiting bridge.
History:
Stockfors factory is located about five kilometers upstreams by one of the Kymmene river branches to the sea. In 1902 the factory started a wood grindery. For the products they needed a better fairway to Spjutsund by the sea were they had a harbour. The products were loaded on barges and pulled to Spjutsund were they were loaded on sea-going ships.
The fairway in the river was dredged in 1902 to 1905. The canal and damm was built in 1903 at Skråkafors and the Stockfors factory payed it all. Nysted, a man from Norway, was engaged to build the canal and lock.
The factory maintained the canal, hired a canalkeeper and wanted monopoly for the use of the lock, but the Finish court of water rights decided that it must be open to the public. Soon after 1908 a steamer started a passengerline between Stockfors and Kotka. This continued until 1923. Nowadays the wooden boat m/s Alfa have traffic on the line.
Pyttis municipality has been maintaining the lock since 1978. This lock is now the only manually manouvered lock in Finland with direct connection to the sea. It gives a fairway of about six kilometers from the sea to Pyttis church village.
The lock is 25 meters long and 8 meters wide. Elevation is 2 meters. The depth in the whole fairway is at least 1,2 meter.
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The handle that opens the lower gate | The Salmon gates | The lock seen from the downstream waiting bridge. |
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The lower gates | The handles that manouvers the watergates | The lock chamber and the canal upstreams |
© Pictures by Leif Stenström
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