In 1771 the Council of Castile, presided over by the Count of Aranda, created the position of protector with powers to make all kinds of reforms necessary for the achievement of the enterprise, appointing his brother-in-law Ramón Pignatelli to occupy it.

[2] On August 15, 1790, the 110 km Imperial Canal of Aragon was completed after laying the last stone of the El Bocal dam, in Navarre.

The main works lasted two more years, so that on November 30, 1786, the Port of Casablanca was inaugurated, which included two locks for the passage of ships and a flour mill.

A few days later, the first fountain ordered by Pignatelli was installed as proof of the arrival of water to Zaragoza, hence its inscription:[1]Incredulorum convictioni et viatorum commodo.

[2] Aware of the poverty of the peasantry, he conceived a great enterprise similar to those undertaken in France, Holland and England: a canal linking the Cantabrian Sea with the Mediterranean, an old Aragonese dream, to export their livestock and fruit and vegetable products.

So that, in addition to serving as a commercial and postal communication because it would be navigable, with its abundant flow it would supply irrigation to fertile but dry lands, which would be bought at low prices by the less favored classes for whom the project was really intended.

In the 19th century, an attempt was made to extend the channel to Tudela and to build locks in Zaragoza to connect it with the Ebro, but this idea, due to the high costs involved, was never carried out.

[6]The existence of customs between Navarre and Aragon hindered the interregional traffic of goods; nevertheless, the canal effectively fulfilled its diminished role as a means of regional communication.

The construction of other railroad lines caused the ideas of extending the canal and making the Ebro navigable to lose strength; however, neither disappeared.

[7] Currently the offices of the General Community of Users of the Imperial Canal of Aragon are located at number 1, Avenida de America in Zaragoza.