Over 50-kilometre-long canal was designed to link great Mazurian lakes through the Łyna and Pregoła
rivers with the Baltic Sea. The construction began in 1911, was interrupted after less than three years and taken up again in 1934. To overcome 111-metre difference of water levels it was necessary to build
10 huge locks – two of them, never finished, are situated in Leśniewo. Part of the preserved track runs
in artificial earthworks. After World War II when the state borders were changed, the canal lost its importance and its construction has never been completed. Nowadays
on the Polish side apart from Leśniewo there are
three locks: one in Guja (working) and two in Bajory. 
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