Mass Of Onlookers
No one could keep their curiosity at bay; before long, a crowd had gathered. They all watched intently as the water slowly drained away, eager to see the secrets that had been hidden all this time.
But the onlookers had no idea what they were about to see, and once they did, they would question if it was even real.
Living In Paris
Bernard Marc was a 54-year-old man from Paris. He had lived there since birth and had watched the city grow and evolve throughout the years.
He had a great love for the city. It had provided him with the love of his life and was home to his two adoring children. When he discovered there was a city clean-up, he decided to participate as a way of paying the city back. But he had no idea where it would lead him.
The Most Popular Canal
Paris is well-known for its canals, one of the most popular being the Canal Saint-Martin. They had built it so that the city could have access to more clean water and helped with essential deliveries by boat.
However, much had changed over the years, and the canal was no longer what it was built to be.
An Opportunity
Bernard had noticed how the canal was disrespected by people throwing their trash into the waters. It made him sad to see but being part of the clean-up allowed him to do something about it.
As much as he looked forward to it, there was no preparing himself for what he was about to see.
A Tourist Attraction
The canal had stood through many centuries and held hundreds of memories. It became a great tourist attraction, and the locals frequented it as well.
When it was announced that the canal would be drained, citizens and tourists alike gathered around to see. They knew it needed cleaning, but no one could have guessed what would be left behind once the water had gone.
Building Plans
Napoleon had been the one to look at the plans and give the go-ahead for the 4.5km long canal to be built.
The population was made up of 550,000 individuals whom all needed clean drinking water, and the canal was designed to provide that. But no one thought that the people would see a steady increase, and there was more to the canal than everyone initially thought.
The Hope He Had For It
During that time, it was not uncommon for the water to lead to diseases such as Cholera and Dysentery. In fact, they were affecting more of the population than Napoleon would have liked, and he hoped that access to clean water would put an end to it all.
The canal was built to surround three miles of Paris for the residents to have easier access to food and supplies transported by boat.
A Success
The Saint Martin canal had proved a success, so it wasn't long before another two were made like it. It took two decades for the Canal de l’Ourcq and the Canal Saint-Denis to be built.
The 108 kilometers long and 3.4 meters wide Canal de l’Ourcq was joined to the Canal Saint-Martin. It twisted and turned from Bassin de la Villette to Port-Aux-Perches, and the centuries-old architecture was a marvel to see.
A Dark Past
The Saint-Martin canal was the most famous of the three. The underground canal flowed from the Place de Bastille to the Bassin de l'Arsenal. It had been learned that the Bassin de l’Arsenal was a well-known place where a prisoner was attacked in the French Revolution.
The authorities knew of the canal's dark and bloody past, but that had been centuries ago. They had no idea what awaited them at the bottom of the cloudy water.
Change In The Times
Life in Paris had undoubtedly changed since then. Wealthy Parisians frequented the popular cafes or spent time on the bank, and the bridges were often occupied by tourists taking photos.
Tourists seemed to love the canal as much as the locals loved relaxing there, and Bernard was no exception.
An Early Start
Over the years, Bernard had often sat by the canal enjoying coffee with his family. But now he was in a waterproof suit with a hose in his hand, ready for the job to start.
The work started early, at around 6 in the morning. The whole operation to start draining the infamous canal had gone well so far. But that would soon change.
Strange Things In The Water
The last 200 years have certainly taken a toll on the old canal. Officials are now making a concerted effort to drain it completely and remove everything that has found its way to the bottom.
They make a huge effort to do this every ten to 15 years. However, things were a little different this time.
A Huge Operation
Paris, the “City of Lights,” was actually hiding many secrets in the dark waters of the notorious canal. In fact, some items at the bottom of Canal Saint-Martin were so bizarre that they jarred Parisians into watching the spectacle unfold from the banks.
Throngs of people stood rapt as the draining operation was underway. Of course, no one expected what they found.
Findings From The First Drain
When the canal was drained for the very first time back in 2001, over 40 tons of waste was removed from the water. But the strangest and most historical finds were gold bullets and bombshells from WWI.
Stranger still was an automobile from the era that was lifted off the sandy bottom as onlookers watched in suspense. What would they uncover this time?
Something Was Wrong
As the water drained from the canal, Bernard was curious to see what it was hiding in its depths. As he looked at the surface of the swirling water, he could swear that something caught his eye.
Something didn't feel right to Bernard. As the water swirled, something stirred in his chest. Something was wrong.
Intuition Screaming
The water kept being drained until it was only 50cm high. Now the workers, including Bernard, leaped down into the knee-high water clean up by hand.
He put on his gloves, grabbed his net, and waded deeper into the water. It was brown and murky, he didn't like this. He heard a voice in his mind screaming that something was wrong.
Frightening
The net he trawled the water with instantly caught resistance as old trash filled it to the brim. He made the mistake of looking at the net and almost vomited in disgust.
He walked over to the huge trash cans to dump the nets-worth of trash inside. But before he got there, he tripped on something in the water and looked back as the surface split into two.
Closer Look
He had no idea what he was looking at. He just knew he needed to get out of there quickly. But before he had a chance to back up, water started to splash violently around him.
Seeing the trouble Bernard was in, a co-volunteer rushed toward him to see what was happening. “Stay still, Bernard!” he cautioned. “Let me get a closer look.”
Sad And Angry
The man grabbed his net and cleared some of the trash away. What came into view left them both in a state of turmoil.
Bernard could just about make out the shape of the biggest fish he had ever seen. Its eyes were alert with aggression and fear as it tried to break itself free from the astonishing object that was holding it.
Fish And Waste
Bernard helped the man free the giant trout from a wheel of a vintage scouter that must have cost a very pretty penny once upon a time. They then scooped up the beast in a net and transferred it to a more suitable habitat. It was just the first of many rescues that day.
Bernard and his team fished out more than five tons of carp, trout, and bream and removed more than 40 tons of waste from the water. But that’s not all.
Underwater Dumpsite
Walking along the shallow depths was like walking on a dumpsite filled with thousands of bikes.
“It’s like some kind of weird submarine treasure,” said a local Parisian onlooker. “I just can’t believe the quantity of Vélibs in there. I guess they were stolen and thrown in afterward. It’s bizarre,” he shrugged.
What’s That Doing Here?
As the waters were receding with the continuous draining, wheelie bins, mopeds, and bicycles were recovered from the depths of the base of the canal. A toilet came into plain sight in the canal and was recovered as one of the essentials that were decomposing to add to the murk.
That added a pang of humor to the whole endeavor. But what was even harder to believe was how much this operation cost the city.
Expensive Operation
Paris had to shell out more than $10 million to execute this much-needed cleaning operation. But with the amount of tourist attraction and property development the canal attracts, it’s important to keep it from falling into despair.
An unkempt canal can negatively affect tourist attractions and property pricing around the area. As for Bernard, he had other worries…
Filthy
“That’s Paris for you. It’s filthy,” Bernard sighed. What’s more, it appears to only be getting worse. Bernard and authorities now know they are dealing with a waste crisis when it comes to the canal.
“The last time [the canal drained], I don’t remember seeing so much rubbish in it. I despair. The youth are using it as a dustbin.”
That’s Weird!
Even more strange, a pair of motorcycles were also found as the waters continued to drop. How did such expensive pieces of transportation end up dumped in the canal?
The truth may never be known. But the findings get weirder. While much of the rubbish revealed at the bottom of the canal was of the sort that you might expect, some definitely wasn’t.
Random Objects
Items such as glass bottles, shopping bags, and traffic cones – some of it left locals puzzling over exactly how such objects had ever ended up in the water. An office chair was also among the collectibles. Its discovery evoked a level of skepticism.
Was an office personnel missing a much-anticipated party in the 10th arrondissement that the user traveled on the wheels of the chair? Quite ridiculous, right?
More Trash…
Further, as the collection of clean-up staff carried on with the enormous job, they also got to have a peek at a gross suitcase that lay beneath the water.
What was inside? One crew member was left with no other option but to go pick up a traffic cone that bobbed to the surface. However, the government itself is quite aware of the issue of trash finding its way into the canal.
Preserving The Canal
Using the publicity of the draining project, Paris’ deputy mayor Celia Blauel encouraged the populace to stop using the canal as a dump.
“If everyone mucks in and avoids throwing anything into the water, we might be able to swim in the canal in a few years,” she said in an interview. Given the canal’s significance, there’s a good argument to be made for keeping it clean.
House Prices
After the recovery of these items that could have otherwise remained in oblivion, it is quite unfortunate that Parisians and other migrants had to dig deep into their pockets to pay for homes along the canal’s vicinity.
The prices reach up to a whopping $9000 just for the acquisition of property along the 10th arrondissement, oblivious of the hidden mysteries beneath the highly regarded district.
The Canal’s Legacy
The Canal Saint-Martin has been a huge part of the Parisian culture from the beginning. It has served as an inspiration for many artists, such as impressionist painter Alfred Sisley, whose works can be admired at the Orsay Museum.
It’s been featured in many movies, including the highly-acclaimed Amélie. Today, the canal hosts many elaborate works of graffiti as well as a large multimedia art space at 104 rue d’Aubervilliers.
In order to protect the privacy of those depicted, some names, locations, and identifying characteristics have been changed and are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.