A connecting lock was built in 1834, to enable boats to enter Aberdeen harbour, which eased the problem of transhipping goods to larger vessels.

Contractors working for the railway company drained much of the canal before any money had changed hands, and the breach had to be repaired.

Advertisements appeared in the local press, listing the benefits of the enterprise, which included increasing the value of certain stone quarries and land.

3. c. 68) was obtained on 26 April 1796, which created The Company of Proprietors of the Aberdeenshire Canal Navigation, and authorised them to raise £20,000 in £50 shares.

Meanwhile, land was being advertised in Inverurie, on the assumption that construction of the canal would result in factories and other public works being built.

By 1798, the company was advertising for masons to build three locks, and for contractors to cut and puddle some 7 miles (11 km) of the canal bed.

A reward of £5 was offered to anyone supplying information which led to the conviction of those who were throwing stones and rubbish into the cut, and generally damaging the works and boats.

[5] By 1800, Fletcher was worried that he might lose his job, as a result of the shortage of funds and the levels of compensation paid to landowners.

He therefore asked Rennie if he could move on, and in 1801 obtained a post as Superintendent for the construction of Union Bridge in Aberdeen.

The committee of management met at Inverurie, where they were congratulated on completing the task by the provost, magistrates, minister and others.

After seven and a half hours, they reached the terminal basin next to the docks, and retired to the New Inn for dinner and toasts.

[8] Fourteen of the locks failed within the first few months, and reconstruction of the masonry resulted in the canal being shut[9] until October 1806.

[11] The canal ran up the strath of the River Don from Aberdeen for a total of 18.25 miles (29.4 km)[1] to a terminus just south of Inverurie.

The canal had 17 locks, all in the first 4 miles (6.4 km) between Aberdeen harbour and Stoneywood, together with 56 road bridges, 20 culverts and five aqueducts.

Passengers were only carried on the top section, and disembarked at a building called the Boathouse,[14] situated above the five St Machar Drive locks.

Passenger boats ran twice daily during the summer months, but from 1816, some of their traffic was taken by coaches running on the turnpike road, which were quicker but more expensive.

With easier transport, quarries near Kintore were able to obtain a contract to supply 700,000 cubic feet (20,000 m3) of granite for a major project at Sheerness.

[1] The work was funded by those who held mortgages agreeing to forgo their dividends for a period, and the total cost was around £1,500.

[9] Plans for a railway from the south to Aberdeen were announced in 1844, and later that year, there were proposals to continue the line northwards, to reach Inverness.

The £36,000 was to be transferred on 1 April 1848, but the railway company were unable to complete the transaction, due to the state of the money market.

Despite the fact that the canal had not yet been bought by the railway, the contractors Erskine and Carstairs cut through the bank at Kintore, and drained the entire upper section from Port Elphinstone to Stoneybank.

An official opening took place several days later, and the Aberdeen Journal described the route, mentioning the importance of Port Elphinestone as a centre for trade, caused by its former position as the terminus of the canal.

Woodside still has a canal bridge which is in use for the road only with nothing now running underneath;[14] the railway is slightly to the north at this point.

It was once well outside the bounds of the city proper, and so both that area and Old Aberdeen still boast roads named Canal Street, which sometimes leads to confusion.

At Port Elphinstone, by Inverurie, there is a short section of open water, about 1 mile (1.6 km) in length, and a circular walkway has been created at the northern end.

The footpath continues along the west bank of the channel until the end of the watered section at the site of the old Inverurie Paper Mill, where it drains into the River Don.