a grant from Charles I to make the river Soar "portable for barges and boats", though the scheme was never completed. 1794 The Leicester Canal was opened, making the Soar navigable for almost . The western line was also opened- this was known as the Charnwood Forest Branch. However, most of the branch was made up of rail tracks rather than a waterway. This included a uphill climb from Loughborough Basin. At the western end of the branch, rail lines travelled towards Coleorton and Swannington. A track to Cloudhill, which would have connected to similar lines on the Ashby Canal, was proposed but never built. 1795 Another branch line (operated by a separate company) opened from the main line of the Leicester Canal (between Cossington and Syston) to Melton Mowbray. The line was long and used the River Wreake for virtually the whole of its course. The line was sometimes known as the Wreake Navigation, though it is better known as the Melton Mowbray Navigation. This new line was so successful that within a year William Jessop was appointed to survey another new line which would extend the Melton Mowbray Navigation to Oakham in Rutland, a further . The extension would be called the Oakham Canal. An Act of Parliament was passed and work began. 1796 While the lines to Leicester and Melton Mowbray were doing very well, trade on the Charnwood Forest Branch was very slow to pick up. The company even put on demonstrations in an attempt to encourage its use. With no real success being gained from this the company went into the coal carrying and selling business itself. 1797 A proposal to extend the main line of the Leicester Canal much further south was announced. A new canal, the Leicestershire & Northamptonshire Union Canal, would link the river Soar with the River Nene. However, like many great ideas, the money ran out before the imagination did and the line reached just 17 of the proposed , coming to a stop at Debdale Wharf near Kibworth Beauchamp. Thus the Leicestershire & Northamptonshire Canal never even got close to Northamptonshire. In fact, the whole project had proved to be something of a failure, the company having spent thousands of pounds building a waterway which passed nowhere in particular and ended in the middle of the countryside miles from any major town. Meanwhile, the Charnwood Forest Branch was still