Past and Present No. 10: Henrichenburg Schiffshebewerk

This innovative boat lift on the Dortmund to Ems Canal was constructed in 1899. Connecting the inland port of Dortmund with the North Sea involved a change of levels in the Waltrop area – the lift eliminated the need for a long and slow series of locks. Kaiser Wilhelm performed the opening ceremony in August 1899 – commemorated by belligerent Prussian Eagles that glare down from the heights at both ends of the lift. The lift took just 2 minutes to raise or lower a vessel but the whole operation took 45 minutes. The average number of daily operations was 40. It was retired in 1962 when an electrically operated replacement was commissioned nearby. The abandoned lift remained in a derelict condition until 1995 when it was restored as part of the Ruhrgebiet Route Industriekultur – an ambitious programme of repurposing redundant industrial relics as heritage attractions.

Today’s Recipe No. 2

It’s easy to take Shredded Wheat for granted without reflecting on what a bizarre substance it is. Very much a product of 19th. century food technology, it seems to be formed from multiple extrusions of wheat paste filaments stacked up and modelled into pillow shaped structures and baked to a brittle finish.

This small book, The Vital Question, was published by The Cereal Machine Co., Worcester, Mass. in 1899 and contains 148 pages of recipes devised by Mrs. Harriett Higbee, every one of which depends on the inclusion of Shredded Wheat. It comes complete with a passionate testimonial from its inventor, Henry D Perky,

“From the most abject physical wreck I have succeeded, by the use of naturally organized food, in reorganizing my body into perfectly healthy conditions.”

The miraculous powers of Shredded Wheat that achieved this transformation are now available to all in combination with an extraordinary variety of foodstuffs including oysters, goose and woodcock. There exists no meal or dish that cannot be enhanced by the judicious addition of Shredded Wheat. Members of the Tatnuck Farmer’s Club were given the opportunity to discover this for themselves on January 20th. 1899 when they sat down to a dinner of:

Celery Soup with Shredded Wheat Croutons
Fricassée of Chicken on Shredded Wheat Toast
Creamed Spinach on Shredded Wheat Toast
Jellied Apple Sandwich. Cheese with Shredded Wheat Toast.
Wheat Shred Drink. Fruit. Nuts.