Augustowski Channel – is a 19th century man-made water-way which connects the River Neman with the Vistula basin. Eighteen locks allow for raising and lowering vessels. The idea to build the channel originated at the beginning of the 19th century fueled by a desire to circumvent East Prussia while exporting grain.

As long ago as in the 60-70s of the 18th century the court of last king of Poland Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski (1764–95) dreamed up a program of construction of water ways in the Rzecz Pospolita. Mikhail Oginskiy sponsored works to build a link between the rivers Yaselda and Schara; Anthony Tyzengauz helped build the King’s Canal (Piaseczynski Canal) which connected the rivers Pina and Mikhavets. The idea to connect the Narva River with Neman emerged long ago but it was not until 1815-1821 that the political atmosphere became favorable enough for specialists to get down to the project.

In 1822 prince Franciszek Xavier Drutski-Lubetski and Anthony Tadeus Mostovskiy assured the king that there was a need to build a big water-way to the port of Ventspils, a water-way which would connect the Vistula River with the Neman and, extending further north through the rivers Venta and Dubissa, would flow into the Baltic Sea.

In the second half of 1823 a group of military land-surveyors headed by Colonel Prondzynski and Lieutenant-Colonel Riza carried out the necessary measurements. By the end of the next year experts drew up a construction plan for the channel (over 500 maps, plans and technical drafts) which was adopted on February 15, 1825 by Emperor Alexander I.