The Lost Underground Freight Canal | Exploring 131 Feet Below Ground by Boat

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Beneath the streets of Zabrze, Poland, lies an astonishing system of underground canals, forgotten for decades and rediscovered by accident. Built in the 19th century, this adit was a key piece of the Industrial Revolution, connecting coal mines to markets across Europe. But this place is more than just a feat of engineering-it also bears witness to the lives of miners who worked here under extreme conditions.
What other secrets and stories await discovery in these depths? Join us on this journey to find out.
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IT’S HISTORY - Weekly Tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
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» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Ryan Socash
Editor - Karolina Szwata
Host - Ryan Socash
Music/Sound Design: Dave Daddario
» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.

[@ITSHISTORY]

Extended version here www.patreon.com/RyanSocash?

[@30yearsagonow]

The idea of traveling 14 kilometers underground by boat, in silence and darkness, is haunting. It must have felt like entering an entirely different world.

[@MatthewCallier]

The guide was great. What a fascinating place.

[@ITSHISTORY]

Want me to do more episodes like this?

[@naughtiusmaximus830]

Why would he volunteer a polish translation? Stockholm syndrome?

[@SaltyFrosticles]

Definitely. An occasional on location episode would be great 👍​@@ITSHISTORY

[@bigc8300]

@@ITSHISTORY Yes please.

[@MatthewCallier]

@@ITSHISTORY Absolutely!

[@osgeld]

fascinating I love these type of industrial heritage sites, just the sheer willpower and human effort is amazing

[@Colbleep1]

Go visit the Lackawanna Coal Mine tour in Scranton Pennsylvania. They take you underground. Educational and chilling.

[@mecx7322]

Visit underground Dudley canals and caverns in Birmingham area in UK.

[@marcpleggeproduction]

Love an onsite episode! That had to be awesome to see in person!

[@niteshades_promise]

Pittsburgh pa had a canal to the center of state. horse and mules walked the boats. was forgotten and rediscovered when constructing skyscrapers. i wish it was open. 🍻

[@DeathSocrates]

underground?

[@niteshades_promise]

@DeathSocrates yeah for miles and miles. from what i read on a trail plaque. had an old picture from a skyscraper construction. i bet a lot of buildings have secret access downtown. im trying to find a way in. 🍻

[@DazO9874]

What a fantastic effort by the miners and also by the restoration team. Great look at a fantastic historical landscape. God bless

[@bigdoug1558]

I worked underground for 30 years, how different my life was, to these workers. Great video and a fantastic piece of history.

[@firesurfer]

An adit is a horizontal or nearly horizontal passageway that leads to an underground mine. The term comes from the Latin word aditus, which means "entrance"

[@jetsons101]

Ryan, this was Amazing.................

[@dalaisdramalama4470]

amazing to watch the poles stealing history without batting an eye.................

[@TristanMorrow]

200 years before anyone said "hyperloop" there was a transportation tunnel network that was useful and just worked!

[@jme36053]

A work in progress. May they continue to uncover their past.

[@dalaisdramalama4470]

their past? THEIR past? Sure, that's why the writing is in german, that's why he can't even properly translate the meaning of 'Glück auf', because it's THEIR past and theirs alone...

[@abcdef-qk6jf]

Great video. Water ways were how the majority of goods were transported. Some countries are land locked - and to this day still depending on rivers and canals for the transport of some of the goods. In my country some of the most famous robbers were caught by the law in 1830... In 1847 trains were starting to replace the old dirt roads. Robbers were another reason to choose the canals - the traffic on the canals ment never being on your own. The canals were literally fuelling the Industrial Revolution by bringing in the coal. We tend to forget history within the context of its own time. After WW2 my country built a lot of railroads - nobody anticipated normal citizens could afford cars... The trains being a vital part of the progress in the Industrial Revolution - trains were needed for transport of humans and goods. By pure coincidence in 1962 - 17 years later some of the railroads were closing because of people could afford a car and the need for the trains declined.

[@rayraap3905]

Great video Ryan, keep up the good work. 👍

[@navelriver]

An amazing place! Who knows what constructions have been built, lost and forgotten in history!

[@CrosscutFilmsSask]

Well done, Ryan! Hopefully there will be more on location episodes in the future!

[@DonjiPicudo]

This was phenomenal! Really interesting, thank you

[@67comet]

:) .. that air powered drill .. exciting, not scary .. You'd get used to it after a day of getting your joints hammered and your tendons all swollen and sore .. It is amazing how we can get used to aggressive machinery .. Impressive system down there, thank you for making the trip and documenting it for us ..

[@TylerTheBassCreator]

If only it was invented in time for them to use one lol

[@ronblack7870]

if it's only air it's very dangerous because of dust. usually they would also spray water into the hole to atop the dust and cool and lubricate the drill.

[@NewWitNip]

Awesome job, thank you for your hard work,

[@PatrickJernigan]

Very impressive

[@LynnD584]

Wow. Fascinating.

[@neilbethell2299]

Wow, what an amazing discovery

[@jangles1839]

What a wonderful piece! Thanks so very much for sharing Ryan and I pray that you have a very Merry Christmas & God bless! ~ Scott 💙🙏🏼

[@StephenMortimer]

BEST YOU HAVE MADE

[@J.A.Smith2397]

Love seeing ya get on scene like this

[@parksto]

I didn't knew you're doing "On Location" videos. That's very good too! Thank you Ryan, good job 👍

[@StripeTheFerret]

Love this channel ❤

[@melodymonger]

Fascinating stuff, thank you 😃🙏

[@johnbayliss1098]

Total incredible my brother thank you thank you thank you

[@mar4kl]

Wow, this was intense!

[@ricksaint2000]

Thank you Ryan

[@daveweiss5647]

This is absolutely amazing! Buit in the 1700s!

[@chrisdaniel1339]

This was great. More History on Location please. Maybe you could turn the channel into a historical/travel vlog

[@mike79patton]

What neat place to kayak!

[@SB-qm5wg]

This is really cool.

[@TooManyHobbies58]

WOW!!! Just wow!! Amazing!!

[@JorgeFernandez-uc9qb]

That was amazing!

[@brendakrieger7000]

Very fascinating structure

[@johnthiel7422]

Amazing

[@ITSHISTORY]

Thanks John, we have another extra „On-Location” episode coming next Tuesday as well. Stay tuned!

[@stefanjohansson6297]

So amazing. 😮❤

[@AnalystPrime]

Using those pneumatic drills gave people "driller's disease", which is not really a disease but physical damage to the nerves in your hands...

[@abcdef-qk6jf]

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

[@whitecanegamer]

I think they used to call it White Finger too. Fingers would turn white due to lack of blood flow to the hands. Caused by using vibrating tools for prolonged periods.

[@Mazatzal]

This looks like fun!

[@ingo_8628]

When you said Poland and showed the Picture with Glück auf, it became clear that this little incident from 39 to 45 influenced this tunnel.

[@ameyring]

Gluck auf is also present in salt mines in Germany at least. Means good luck!

[@rickpinelli1586]

The logo of the Hammer and Pick looks like the Columbia University School of Mines logo.

[@alainarchambault2331]

Freight canals were a thing before railroads were invented. It was the only way to move massive freight in the early industrial age. Ryan, I advise you to view another KZbin channel called "Cruising the Cut" about Britain's own canal system. I'll tell you, if I was British, I'd be in my own narrowboat instead of Nomading North American Highways in my retirement. As today, the old British canal system is used by people living on this canal system.

[@whitecanegamer]

They used to 'walk' the barges in tunnels like this in the UK. Lads would lay down on the barge and walk on the walls and roof of the tunnels, propelling the barges through the cut. Interesting to compare it to the hook and pole approach used here.

[@stevedrane2364]

Fascinating. . . Coal miners are nearly extinct in Europe now, only 10,000 left in the UK. We were time traveler’s every shift descending down the shaft. .

[@whitecanegamer]

The town where I live and the surrounding towns in the North West of England only exist because of the Coal beneath them. I know things have to move on but still sad they're gone.

[@liskl5982]

the pneumatic drill action resembled using a jack hammer. The people who operate these tools have to have a lot of strength.

[@HaraldMerkel]

Glück auf is German and used by miners as a greeting just like Hello. It comes from the wish that the greeted may come back out of the mine happy and alive ..

[@ajkleipass]

If these canals were all over Europe, I wonder what roles they played in the two World Wars?

[@Ps119]

tough life back then

[@E.T.GARAGE]

Thanks for sharing 👍😎👍

[@OdinReactor]

This is not unusual for Poland. Keep in mind that the Polish state did not exist for 123 years, so there are a lot of underground tunnels throughout modern day Poland to maintain the Polish culture. Look into the the city of Klodzko (formerly Glatz in German) for another major hub of tunnels.

[@YoYo-y2c8r]

No1 operates jackhammers for extended periods of time. Every guy on the crew gets a minute or 2 of hammer time 🔨 lol

[@doowroh]

Curious to know where the water came from, how it may have been refreshed or did it just get swampy? Maybe it was in the video and I missed it, though.

[@johnwang9914]

I would've expected them to have had acetylene lamps rather then just transport the coal in darkness. Long before we had electricity, we still had portable lamps...

[@MSportsEngineering]

Ry Ry, can you list the place name in the description please?

[@gregthomas9670]

For American history across the ocean consider including the old slave forts along the east African coast.

[@josephpalmieri3095]

And you think your workplace is bazaar!

[@ritahealy6757]

Was this tunnel used in WW2?

[@clauswichmann1490]

Todays seven words, because you do great 😁😁😁 💙💙💙🌈🌈🌈💙💙💙

[@SuperMika70]

👍

[@jwfinley7808]

Its not too scarry dont ask a City boy who works with a camera?

[@fredwood1490]

I suppose building the canal underground was cheaper, for the Investors, than buying the land and demolishing the buildings, even though there would have been fewer buildings. Control of the grade, underground, would have been "easier" too. Above ground, they were called "Navies" while underground they were called "Miners" but seldom were those workers called "Human"! Such people, (Women and children were known to do this work too), seldom get the credit they deserve, because the Mine Owners "Built the mine" with their money, not their backs.

[@earlysundays9544]

The Amherst 2.0 by Johnston & Murphy is.. sofa king wack.

[@DimasFajar-ns4vb]

zamzam water sir

[@oupahens9219]

1799 they had color photo?

[@andrewfischer8564]

no one used these tunnels in either world war?

[@BJHolloway1]

A very interesting video but is the word Edit a colloquial word or a mistranslation?

[@vague-rant666]

What's the water depth??

[@pernillenielsen8083]

Asked and answered in the video. You should watch it, it's pretty good.