The mill bridge spans the Soeste, which rises from a hollow on the eastern edge of the Schullenmoors in the north of Emstek. It flows north past the core town and is reinforced about 2 km west of the Emsteker Bäke coming from the town. In a north-westerly direction it reaches the outskirts of Cloppenburg, which it crosses in a south-westerly direction. There it already has so much water that a watermill could previously be operated here, as evidenced by the name “Mühlenstraße” in the Cloppenburg city center. The Soeste flows through two other former mill locations, Stedingsmühlen and Neumühlen, into the Thülsfeld dam, which was built in the 1920s. Shortly afterwards it leaves the Geest area and flows through Friesoythe to Kampe, where its largest tributary comes from the right, the Lahe. Half a kilometer later, it is passed under the coastal channel with a culvert. Not far after that, the influence of the tides begins. united, and on to Barßel. On the last kilometer after the local boat harbor, it is somewhat widened and is probably also called "Zandersee" here.
At the confluence with the Nordloh-Barßeler Tief, the name and hydrographic definitions differ from one another today: The Soeste in particular ends here, while the low emerges 3.2 km upstream from the Aue-Godensholter Tief and the Nordloher Canal. Hydrographically (water code 388) it continues in the lower part of the deep and becomes 4.7 km further to the Jümme. Official maps from the 1980s also differentiated between the Nordloher Tief east of the confluence with the Soeste and the Barßeler Tief west of the confluence. [4]