The history of rivers is the history of peoples. This formula is fully confirmed by the entire development of Russia.

Let us go back to the role and significance of the Moskva River in the upcoming of the city and the whole of the country itself. Let us call into memory the role of the Neva, the Volkhva and the Tvertsy Rivers in the construction of Saint-Petersburg, the role of the Volga and Kama Rivers in the creation of the agrarian and industrial infrastructure of the country. The same is true for such inland waterways, as the Northern Dvina, the Ob, the Yenissey, the Lena and the Amur, which helped develop the vast areas of Siberia, the Far East and the Arctic Coast. In the modern age of high velocity communication systems the waterways have not forfeited their transportation significance. They are an integral part of the entire transport system and at times also the only mode of transportation.

The first thing in realisation of the program of internal water ways reconstruction in Russia was the White Sea-Baltic channel. The project of the "water way" between the White Sea and Onego Lake was presented to the minister of the communication means in 1835. However, earl Tol has rejected the project just for one reason - the description was made in Russian language, which he didn't know. The channel was constructed in 20 months and was put into operation in 1933, on the 2nd of august. The construction of the channel was charged to OGPU. Many lives of our counrymen were taken during this short term. A memorial stone to the victims of political reprisals was brought from there. The channel has connected the White Sea and Onego Lake and has reduced the way from the Baltic sea to the White sea for 4000(!) kms.

Presently the White Sea-Baltic canal (the biggest inter-basin connection in the North-West of the country) is a reliable, cheap waterway, that belongs to the United Deepwater System of the European part of the Russian Federation. This system has linked five seas and thus allowed to operate large-capacity vessels of the sea-river type and thus to perform uninterrupted movements for the transit of export/import cargoes. The route is being served by the White Sea - Onega State Department for Waterways Management and Navigation.

Inland waterways, connecting the central counties of Russia with the White Sea coast, were known as transportation routes as early as the 12th and 13th centuries. These routes were initially "paved" by the inventive merchants from Novgorod. These routes were difficult and dangerous. Several times it was attempted to undertake an eventual sophistication of them, but pitifully enough all these suggestions and projects of the undertakers, merchants and scientists, longing for creation of a through-pass route were buried in the archives because of the lack of finance. It was only once the case, as Peter I used one of the sleeve-rows (from the mouth of the Nyukhachi River at the White Sea up to Povenets on the Onego Lake) to move his troops and two frigates to reach the fortress of Nutburg (Oreshek) on the Ladoga Lake.

Out of the total length of the system (227 km) the share of the artificial canals makes up 43 km, while the lakes, reservoirs and backwater-supported rivers make up 184 km altogether. To the system of the canal-structures belong 19 locks (of which 13 are two-chamber locks and 6 single-chamber locks), 15 dams, 49 levees, 12 drain-outlets for depth regulation on lock-heads. The length of the stream-pressure front made up over 50 km. All the structures were built "in dry", which allowed to substantially decrease the construction costs. As construction materials were used cheap, well-available local materials, such as timber, soil-ground, turf. Hydrotechnical structures of the White Sea-Baltic canal are striking in their simplicity and sophistication of their engineering. Currently, if a reconstruction is taking place, this initial structure scheme is as a rule preserved in its old form unchanged. An exponent of the high engineering skill is the Shavanskaya water-draining weir, made of bending wooden blocks of 12 and 100m of height. Its special feature is the constant contact of wooden pieces with water, preserving them from decay.

The existence of the White Sea-Baltic canal gave a powerful impetus to the economical and cultural development of Karelia and Belomorye regions. In fact the emerging of towns and industrial zones in the Northern part of the region is to be explained through the presence of the canal this way or another. In the system of the canal were erected a cascade of Vyg power plants, producing cheap electricity.

The significance of the White Sea-Baltic canal was especially high after starting the of operation of the present-day Volga-Baltic waterway in 1964. The throughput capacity of the canal and the actual volume of transportation increased for the matter of several times. At the same time a further growth of the volumes mentioned put forward a demand for a continuation of improvement of navigational condition, which is the more urgent, if the implication of modern fleet of the type "river-sea" is considered. The structures of the canal, having undergone a reconstruction, for their technical level are fully corresponding to other interbasin connections in this country.

Reconstruction of navigable hydrosystems of the canal is being undertaken without any standstill of theirs, without interrupting the navigation process, because all the necessary repair is done during the winter season using the existing potential of the repair-sites of their own.

The canal route begins from Povenets location on the Onego Lake bank, which is a major international tourist-attraction resort for visiting the islands of the Kizhy with their historic National Park of Nature/Architecture Reservation and Ethnography called "Kizhy", incorporating valuable monuments of the Russian wood-house construction with its principle of "striving for benefit, durability and beauty". In the location of "Besov Nos" (Demon's Nose) bear the ancient rock images drawn by our ancestors with depictions of the ancient habitation mainstays. Tourists are also attracted by international competitions staged here for amateurs of the sailing sports and regattas.