At its western end the Northern Dvina Canal starts at the Sheksna River (a part of the Volga–Baltic Waterway), 10 km south of the town of Kirillov.

Arkhangelsk was fully restored as a sea port in 1762, and thus water connections between the Northern Dvina basin and central Russia were badly needed.

In 1798 research started on the best route for a canal connecting the Sheksna and Lake Kubenskoye.

[1] In the beginning of the 19th century, the North Ekaterininsky Canal was considered to be more important, and the project was shelved.

However, the North Ekaterininsky Canal proved inefficient for a number of reasons and was finally closed in 1838.