Georg Jakob Steenke was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 and a königlicher Baurat (royal construction councillor) of the Kingdom of Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

. His father Johann Friedrich Steenke and his grandfather, both also from Königsberg, were involved with maritime trade.

In 1833 Steenke built a canal

Canal

Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...

, the Seckenburger Kanal, in the Memel (Klaipėda)

Klaipeda

Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County....

 area. He designed the Oberländischer Kanal (now called Elbląg Canal

Elblag Canal

Elbląg Canal is a canal in Poland, in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, 80.5 km in length, which runs southward from Lake Drużno , to the river Drwęca and lake Jeziorak. It can accommodate small vessels up to 50 tons displacement...

), which was built between 1844–58 from the Drausensee (Drużno)

Druzno

Drużno is a body of water historically considered a lake in northern Poland on the east side of the Vistula delta, near the city of Elbląg. As it is currently not deep enough to qualify as a lake hydrologically and receives some periodic inflow of sea water from the Vistula Lagoon along the Elbląg...

 to the Drewenz (Drwęca)

Drweca

The Drwęca is a river in northern Poland and a tributary of the Vistula river near Toruń, forming a part of the city's administrative boundary. It has a length of 207 km and a basin area of 5,344 km², all in Poland.Towns:...

 River. Inaugurated in 1860, it connected the cities of Deutsch Eylau (Iława), Osterode (Ostróda)

Ostróda

Ostróda is a town in Ostróda County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland, with 33,603 inhabitants as of January 1, 2005. It lies in the Masurian Lake District and is a growing tourist site owing to its relaxing natural surroundings.-History:...

, and Elbing (Elbląg)

Elblag

Elbląg is a city in northern Poland with 127,892 inhabitants . It is the capital of Elbląg County and has been assigned to the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship since 1999. Before then it was the capital of Elbląg Voivodeship and a county seat in Gdańsk Voivodeship...

. It connected territories with about 100 yards differences in heights by putting ships on carriage carts on tracks and using pulley wheels and cables to have the ships glide up the hills.

A monument to honor Steenke, was removed after the area became part of Poland in 1945. When UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

placed the canal on its list of architectural marvels, the monument was put up again in 1986.