Online Encyclopedia

ODER (Lat. Viadua; Slavonic, Vjodr)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 3 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

ODER (
See also:
Lat. Viadua;
See also:
Slavonic, Vjodr)
  , a
See also:
river of Germany, rises in Austria on the Odergebirge in the Moravian tableland at a height of 1950 ft. above the sea, and 14 M. to the east of Olmutz . From its source to its mouth in the Baltic it has a
See also:
total length of 56o m., of which 480 m.'are navigable for
See also:
barges, and it drains an
See also:
area of 43,300 sq. m . The first 45 M. of its course lie within Moravia; for the next 15 m. it forms the frontier between Prussian and
See also:
Austrian
See also:
Silesia, while the remaining 500 M. belong to Prussia, where it traverses the provinces of Silesia,
See also:
Brandenburg and Pomerania . It flows at first towards the south-east, but on quitting Austria turns towards the north-west, maintaining this direction as far as
See also:
Frankfort-on-Oder, beyond which its general course is nearly due north . As far as the frontier the Oder flows through a well-defined valley, but, after passing through the
See also:
gap between the Moravian mountains, and the Carpathians and entering the Silesian plain, its valley is wide and shallow and its banks generally low . In its
See also:
lower course it is divided into numerous branches, forming many islands . The main channel follows the
See also:
left side of the valley and finally expands into the Pommersches, or Stettiner Haff, which is connected with the sea by three arms, the Peene, the
See also:
Swine and the Dievenow, forming the islands of Usedem and
See also:
Wollin . The Swine, in the
See also:
middle, is the main channel for navigation . The chief tributaries of the Oder on the left
See also:
bank are the Oppa, Glatzer
See also:
Neisse, Katzbach,
See also:
Bober and Lausitzer Neisse; on the right bank the Malapane, Bartsch and Warthe . Of these the only one of importance for navigation is the Warthe, which through the
See also:
Netze is brought into communication with the Vistula . The Oder is also connected by canals with the
See also:
Havel and the
See also:
Spree . The most important towns on its banks are Ratibor, Oppeln,
See also:
Brieg, Breslau,
See also:
Glogau,-Frankfort, Custrin and
See also:
Stettin, with the seaport of
See also:
Swinemunde at its mouth .

Glogau, Custrin and Swinemunde are strongly fortified . The earliest important undertaking with a view of improving the waterway was due to the initiative of

Frederick the
See also:
Great, who recommended the diversion of the river into a new and straight channel in the swampy tract of
See also:
land known as the Oderbruch, near Custrin . The
See also:
work was carried out in the years 1746–1753, a large tract of marshland being brought under cultivation, a considerable detour cut off, and the main stream successfully confined to the canal, 12 M. in length, which is known as the New Oder . The river at
See also:
present begins to be navigable for barges at Ratibor, where it is about loo ft. wide, and for larger vessels at Breslau, and great exertions are made by the government to deepen and keep open the channel, which still shows a strong tendency to choke itself with sand in certain places . The alterations made of
See also:
late years consist of three systems of
See also:
works: (1) The canalization of the main stream (4 m.) at Breslau, and from the confluence of the Glatzer Neisse to the mouth of the Klodnitz canal, a distance of over 50 M . These
See also:
engineering works were completed in 1896 . (2) In 1887–1891 the Oder-Spree canal was made to connect the two rivers named . The canal leaves the Oder at
See also:
Furstenberg (132 M. above its mouth) at an altitude of 93 ft., and after 15 M. enters the Friedrich-Wilhelm canal (134 ft.) . After coinciding with this for 7 m., it makes another cut of 5 M. to the Spree at
See also:
Furstenwalde' (126 ft.) . Then it follows the Spree for 12 m., and at
See also:
Gross Tranke (121 ft.) passes out and goes to Lake Seddin (106 ft.), 15 m . (3) The deepening and regulation of the mouth and lower course of the stream, consisting of the Kaiserfahrt, 3 M. long, affording a waterway between the Stettiner Haff and the river Swine for the largest ocean-going vessels; a new cut, 44 M. long, from Vietzig on the Stettiner Haff to Wollin Island; the Parnitz-Dunzig and Dunzig-Oder canals, together 1 m. long, constituting the immediate approach to Stettin . Vessels
See also:
drawing 24 ft. are now able to go right up to Stettin .

In 1905 a project was sanctioned for improving the communication between

Berlin and Stettin by widening and deepening the lower course of the river and then connecting this by a canal with Berlin . Another project, born at the same time, is one for the canalization of the upper course of the Oder . About 4,000,000 tons of merchandize pass through Breslau (up and down) on the Oder in the
See also:
year . See Der Oderstrom, sein Stromgebiet and seine wichtigsten Nebenflusse; hydrographische, wasserwirtschaftliche and wasserrechtliche Darstellung (Berlin, 1896) .

End of Article: ODER (Lat. Viadua; Slavonic, Vjodr)
[back]
ODENWALD
[next]
ODERBERG

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.