The Report of the Local Commission for the Drainage of the Ljubljana Marshes
SLOVENIA, October 31 - The idea of draining the Ljubljana Marshes and making the land fertile was not new at the beginning of the 19th century. In his The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, Valvasor had already discussed various possibilities and plans of this kind. Expectations that the construction of the Gruber Canal in 1780 would help achieve this goal were not fulfilled, as during periods of heavy rainfall the canal could not drain away large volumes of water that flooded the Marshes from springs along its southern edge and from the surrounding hills. The rivers and streams flowing across the Marshes had very little gradient and drained into the Ljubljanica River, which, within the city of Ljubljana, was narrow and relatively shallow because of the accumulation of sediment. Its flow was further impeded by the numerous mills and dams built along its course through the city. At the instigation of the court in Vienna, the issue of draining the Ljubljana Marshes was discussed many times with the provincial and local authorities. However, the plans never seemed to come to fruition, partly because of the ongoing wars with France. After the end of the Illyrian Provinces, discourse on the subject resumed. The authorities analysed the estates in the area, they identified potential sources of funding and even prepared a questionnaire in the Slovene language to assess the local population’s willingness to cooperate. The plans gained renewed momentum after the 1821 Congress of the Holy Alliance in Ljubljana, when Emperor Franz I himself visited the Ljubljana Marshes and personally championed the drainage of the Marshes. In August 1823, the plan and its funding were confirmed. Funding came partly from the state treasury and partly from local authorities, while local residents agreed to help as much as they could with their labour.
Before work could begin in the Marshes, it was first necessary to clean and deepen the riverbed of the Ljubljanica and the Gruber Canal, reinforce the riverbanks, and remove water gates, mills and other water-control structures in the city. These operations were known as the preparatory works (»Vorarbeiten«). Although some minor work had been done before, systematic work in the Marshes began with the establishment of the Local Commission for the Drainage of the Ljubljana Marshes on July 1, 1826. Its task was to coordinate the efforts of all parties involved and make sure that the works were carried out in a coordinated and systemic manner. The Commission had to approve the digging of every ditch and authorize any work to be undertaken. Led by Johann Zaruba d'Orszov, the Ljubljana district commissioner, the Commission included representatives of the building directorate, the mayor of Ljubljana, Janez Nepomuk Hradecky, and representatives of district seigniories of Barje: Ljubljana-surroundings, Ig, Bistra, and Višnja Gora. The canals were planned so that water would reach the Ljubljanica along the straightest and shortest possible route. Meanwhile, bridges and roads were being built, along with the so-called štradons - paths connecting villages with the land cultivated by the villagers. The work of the Commission involved drawing up plans, inspecting the sites, and consulting local resident, who were most familiar with local conditions. Where necessary, the Commission members then revised their initial plans.
By the end of its first year of operation, the Commission had drawn up a report on »the progress and success of the drainage works in the Marshes«, requested by the Ljubljana Gubernium. The Commission’s members began by expressing their gratitude to Emperor Franz for his generosity, which had made it possible for their work to begin. The report explained that the works in the Marshes had begun before all the preparatory works were complete. They expected that less marshy terrain would enable them to remove what they called »millennia-old puddles« and facilitate the cultivation of the Marshes at an earlier stage. To this end, they went out into the field and, together with the local farmers, selected suitable, low-lying areas for the construction of drainage ditches. As a result of good cooperation, the results exceeded expectations. Already in the first year of operations, farmers were able to transport hay from the meadows by wagons, whereas before they had to rely on experienced local villagers to carry the mown grass on their backs, which was a laborious undertaking. In those parts of the Marshes where the water receded first after floods, preparations began to enable the building of new settlements. The Commission also strove to build roads surrounded by ditches wide enough to accommodate boats during floods and to facilitate the maintenance of the roads.
In the first year of the operation, 21,520 fathoms (1 fathom equals 1.89 metre) of ditches were constructed in the Ljubljana Magistrate area, 4,524 fathoms in the district Ljubljana – surroundings, and 6,847 fathoms of canals and ditches in the Ig district. They emphasized that the work was carried out thanks to considerable efforts of the farmers, who themselves sometimes lived in very difficult circumstances. The Commission's members often witnessed entire families digging ditches, sometimes standing in water up to their waists.
On the right side of the Ljubljanica, in the so-called Ilovica, six parallel canals were constructed along Dolenjska cesta. These canals carried water either into the Ljubljanica or into the main canal. The latter extended as far as the bed of the Klen stream near Lavrica and was 3,470 fathoms long and a fathom and a half wide. They built štradons as well. Gravel deposited during heavy rain was used to improve the quality of the soil. Landowners whose properties bordered the canals surrounded their land with ditches. The Ljubljana Magistrate owned land in Ilovica as well. Before the drainage works, the land was of use only to experienced hunters. Now, however, it was producing hay, and the Magistrate was intending to sell it the following spring.
The Želimeljščica stream flooded the surrounding meadows whenever it rained. The soil was of such poor quality that the fodder grown there sometimes caused death of livestock. To address this problem, a 1,452 fathom-long canal was dug to connect the Škofeljščica stream near Rogovila with the Iščica stream. This allowed water from the Želimlje valley to drain away along a much shorter route. The canal was constructed in consultation with representatives of the local communities in the Ig district and at their expense. The results surpassed all expectations. In the very first year, the meadows along the canal improved so much that they yielded wagonloads of hay in places where before the grazing cattle was in danger of sinking into the marshy ground. Plans were also made to dig several additional ditches, attached to the canal, to improve drainage in the marshland near Krmenica along the road towards Ig. Seeing how useful the canal had proved, local landowners asked the Commission to dig another one at their expense. This second canal was to drain water from the ditches running from the settlements of Gumnišče, Blato and Strojanova valley, where there was better soil in the low-lying areas along the foothills.
They also began constructing a road linking Škofljica and Ig in a straight line across the permanently flooded part of the Marshes. They expected two wide ditches along the road to help drain the surrounding land.
At Volarje, three canals were built to connect the Iščica with the Ljubljanica. By doing so they attempted to drain the part of the Marshes between the Ljubljanica and the villages of Iška Loka, Matena, Vrbljenje and Tomišelj. At the same time, the construction of water gates on the Loščica and the Iščica was intended to ensure enough water remained in the Ljubljanica to allow boats to pass through the city even after the drainage works had been completed.
The aim of the draining the Ljubljana Marshes was not only to cultivate the land, but also to promote settlement in the area. The Commission reported the first settlement at the confluence of the Iščica and the Loščica, where »a hard-working family man by the name of Martin Blaž« had made his home. Others began approaching the Magistrate to enquire about purchasing the city's demesne land at Volarje, which was suitable for cultivation. Although the Magistrate was favourably disposed to such requests, it nevertheless preferred to wait until the works in the city had lowered the level of the Ljubljanica sufficiently to allow new canals to be channelled into it. The Commission's members saw for themselves that the construction of smaller ditches had already made it possible to grow root vegetables and cereals successfully.
The Commission also reported to the Gubernium that the inhabitants of the left bank of the the Ljubljanica were making equally great efforts to achieve the same results. Although their land had already been partly cultivated, it was still frequently flooded, while other parts remained entirely marshy.
On the marshy ground between the Ljubljanica and road to Trieste, beyond the village of Notranje Gorice, lay extensive meadows used for grazing livestock. The quality of the grass, however, was so poor that it sometimes led to livestock deaths. To address the problem, it was decided to clean and deepen the main canal running from Notranje Gorice to the Ljubljanica to prevent prolonged flooding during heavy rainfall. The canal followed a winding course, and because the Ljubljanica often stood at a higher water level, water could not drain into it. As a result, the canal became increasingly silted up. It was cleared entirely at the expense of local residents. A fathom and a half wide and 1,482 fathoms long, the canal was then able to drain away water immediately after rainfall. The ditch was then extended as far as the provincial road to Trieste in order, according to the Commission, »to also receive water from the hills and prevent it from spilling across the Marshes in all directions, forming puddles and causing harmful evaporation« A new road was also built between the provincial road and the Zablate manor. Water could now drain into the two ditches alongside the road and fertile fields began to appear within a year. Since there was still much to be done to achieve the desired results, the Commission pledged to ensure that the diligent residents did not lose their enthusiasm for the work or grow tired of it. There was some marshland left between the Ljubljanica and the provincial road to Trieste, along the stretch from Brezovica to Ljubljana, but the Commission hoped that it would disappear once the water level of the Ljubljanica fell and the completed Curnovec and Mali Graben canals carried away the excess water. The two canals, 2,870 fathoms long, were already collecting water from areas that had not yet been cultivated and carrying it in a straight line into the Ljubljanica.
The Commission concluded its report by noting that such enormous undertaking required sufficient time to complete. By the time the first stage of the drainage works was completed in 1829, the Ljubljana Marches looked considerably different from the picture presented in the document featured as this month's archivalia. The work, however, proceeded in succesive phases and continued into the twentieth century.
Andreja Klasinc Škofljanec
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