The Thirty Years War led to a number of projects to link the Protestant Netherlands to the Mediterranean without the dangerous sea journey round Catholic Spain.
The authorities agreed to the plan on the condition that the canal would run entirely through Bernese territory, making stipulations about the width of the wayleave and the exploitation of adjacent watercourses and forests.
A group of investors financed the project, and work began in 1638 from the eastern end, where the river Thielle was already navigable for 8 kilometres up to the confluence of the Orbe and the Talent.
The western section, falling 19 metres over 8 kilometres to Cossonay, with 6 locks, took eight more years to build, being hampered by floods, unforeseen difficulties in the cuttings, and a shortage of funds.
The water supply was assured by an arm with a single lock connecting the summit level to the River Venoge at La Graveyre, close to Éclépens village.
In 1679, a new terminus was built at Le Bouquet, four kilometres north of Cossonay, and gradually this lowest section, which had been difficult and expensive to maintain, fell out of use.
When a cargo was expected, a sluice was opened to allow water from the Venoge to enter the summit level, the lock gates were closed and the canal filled.