After financial preparation, shoveling, and field surveying, in 1901, the French began to dig the Xa No canal (canal).
A corner of Xa No canal today.
This is the initiative of two influential French landowners, Duval and Guery, in exploiting the vast wilderness between the two provinces of Can Tho - Rach Gia. Not only agricultural benefits, the French also look further: With this canal, a strategic waterway will connect with Cai Lon River, to the West Sea; contribute to breaking the isolation of Rach Gia area from Cochin China.
The excavation was carried out by the French company Montvenoux, bringing four shovels named Loire, Nantes and My Tho 4, My Tho 1. Each powerful 2 horsepower, each large bucket scoops 350 liters, blows the mud far away. 375 yards.
Due to the mechanical excavation of the canal from a mud shovel placed on a barge (Vietnamese reads it as a shovel), this canal is called a canal. About the name Xa No, because this is the starting point of the canal on the Can Tho side. The excavator cuts through Xa No canal, so this project is also named Xa No canal, although the canal runs as far as Vi Thanh and Hoa Luu.
Learn in detail how to dig Xa No canal, with technical parameters, to see that the scale and the work done are quite massive; but extremely difficult of a first-class irrigation project in Cochinchina, comparable to the Saigon - My Tho railway project at that time.
The meridian has a total length of about 45km, 12km on the Can Tho side, 33km on the Rach Gia side along a straight water line, without curvature. The canal is dug according to the specifications: 2,5-9 meters deep, 60 meters wide at the mouth, 40 meters below the bottom.
In just 3 years, the Xa No canal was completed, costing up to 3.680.000 French francs. The inauguration ceremony took place at the Vam Xang section of the canal on the Can Tho side, attended by the governor-general of Indochina and many local officials.
This is a strategic project, part of the large exploitation plan of the French colonialists, on the large land between Can Tho - Rach Gia. Therefore, it has a strong impact on the economic and social development in the long-sleeping land. In other words, because in the past it was only manual mining, so it was difficult to advance quickly. Experiencing a long way, the reclamation work from Gia Long to Tu Duc has not made much progress, it has to wait until science and technology are applied and mechanical strength is promoted, then this land will truly be built. transform yourself!
The canal section on the Can Tho side has the starting point from the Vam Xang junction, the Can Tho canal; The last part of the canal is at the boundary of Nhon Nghia village (present-day Bay Thousand area). From here, continue digging the Rach Gia side to the Vam Xang - Hoa Luu site adjacent to Cai Tu canal (a tributary of Cai Lon river).
The part of the canal on the Can Tho side is easier to construct, because it is near many branches and canals. Besides, at this time, Phong Dien and Cai Rang areas are already prosperous and have favorable conditions in terms of logistics for canal digging activities. Meanwhile, on the Rach Gia side, there are four wild forests, in the rainy season, water is flooded, in the dry season, the grass is dry, and there are many wild animals. Time to dig canals: from One Thousand to Fourteen Thousand regions, there are almost no inhabitants, no villages, hamlets... In this area, there is a whole wild forest land belonging to the end of Nhon Nghia village (Can Tho) long to Vi Thuy villages. , Vi Thanh; including the land of Hoa Luu village (Rach Gia). The population still lives scattered, along the natural canal banks of Tram Cua, Cai Nhum, Cai Nhuc canals, ...
In the first years of the canal, when the excavation was completed, it was not explored much, but encountered two big storms in the year of the Dragon (1904) and floods and droughts (1905), so the situation was not very positive. After that, many influential French and Vietnamese landowners began to requisition and acquire land from the direction of Can Tho and gradually encroached on Rach Gia.
In the early decades of the twentieth century, the potential for agricultural development in Vi Thanh, Vi Thuy and Hoa Luu regions was just awakened, showing the clear effectiveness of the excavation of the Xa No canal. Specifically, many Western and Vietnamese fields were formed in the form of "Tay Be" fields, ie the French landowner named Alber Gressier (also known as Tay Be, Ong Kho fields) in Seven Thousand. This landowner exploits the land by: Every 1.000 meters dig a large horizontal canal, 500 meters away, dig a small canal to drain water, release alum for the land on both sides of Xa No canal. That's why there are sutra names in numerals: One Thousand, Three Thousand, Four Thousand and Half, Seven Thousand, Fourteen Thousand... Why don't they dig more horizontal sutras in the direction of Vi Thanh? Because this area does not belong to Tay Be field, there are many natural rivers and canals available such as: Nang Chang, Tram Cua, Ba Doi, Cai Nhum, etc. At the same time, thanks to the fresh water of the Xa No canal, there are many melaleuca forests. In Hoa Luu, Vi Thanh was gradually exploited for farming and farming.
To encourage, the French government has also issued many policies on reclaiming and managing land such as: Those who claim land on 10 acres, are exempt from tax for 5 consecutive years; In the field owned by a Frenchman exploiting 1 acres or more, 400 tenants are allowed, and a new village can be applied. However, the French government also stipulates: Urgent land must not be eaten along the canal, more than 80/1 of the circumference of the land. The urgent display area of over 4 acres is decided by the Governor-General of Indochina.
The remarkable results of the excavation are: for the first time applying the centralized model of agricultural production in the form of a field of land, from a few dozen, a few hundred to a few tens of thousands of acres (such as the field Ong Kho – Seven Thousand). . Accordingly, the application of scientific and technical advances such as: Closed irrigation, through the construction of sluices and dams made of stone (now still evidence). In terms of pulling power, find and buy many medium-sized buffaloes for plowing; just pulled the cart while harvesting. Some documents say that in the Seven Thousand Fields, they used to experiment with plows, including harrows, sowing machines, etc. But the results were not very satisfactory.
With efforts to promote the effect of digging Xa No canal, the number of landowners and rich people in Vi Thanh, Vi Thuy, Hoa Luu areas increased rapidly, emerging with famous figures owning a lot of land. In 1912, according to statistics of Rach Gia province, the French owned the most land with 26.121 acres of 23 landowners. In the 30-40s of the last century, in Hoa Luu village alone, the number of Vietnamese landowners increased rapidly: Tran Kim Yen (Six Yen): There was land from the Di Han junction to Kinh Nam running 5km long along the Nuoc River. Chisel, with 5 holes of Melaleuca forest hundreds of acres wide.
In addition, there are many other landowners in Hoa Luu who do not know the amount of land such as: Tiger Council, Tran Phu Quoi, Nguyen Viet Lien, Tran Giac, Ly Tan Loi (Ca Loi), Boi Bang, ... and dozens of strong farmers. (rich farmer) other.
Land expands, fresh water overflows, farming methods also gradually change, farming techniques are still mainly weeding, rice transplanting, harvesting, and clean grazing. The average yield at that time was 10-12 bushels/work. In particular, there is a house that cultivates 3 acres of land with nearly 50 bushels of rice. From 1910, merchants and traders bought rice from Rach Gia (Go Quao, Long My, Vi Thanh, Vi Thuy, Hoa Luu) according to the Xa No canal, transported it to Cai Rang market, brought it to the mills, and then transferred it to the mills. to Cho Lon for export.
The reclamation work quickly brought results, contributing to Rach Gia province's rise to the top of the South in terms of rice production, with an area of 319.960 acres, an output of 394.900 tons, in 1930.
VI THANH
