South of the city of Datteln, three waterways meet directly: the Rhine-Herne Canal from Duisburg, the Datteln-Hamm Canal from Hamm and the Dortmund-Ems Canal from Meppen and Dortmund. A few kilometers to the north also branches off the Wesel-Datteln-Kanal direction Wesel.
The here about 15-kilometer-long canal section to the port of Dortmund is almost 15 meters higher than the other three channels. Together with this section, the Henrichenburg ship lift in Waltrop-Oberwiese, which was necessary to bridge the difference in altitude, was opened in 1899. The drive of the mighty trough, in which the ships were transported between the plains as in an elevator, was a technical innovation of his time. As early as 1914, the first lock was built in the immediate vicinity of the ship lift, along with the completion of the Rhein-Herne Canal. This was taken out of service in 1989, renovated and is now part of a park-like landscape. In addition to the Old Lock, the third lift or lowering system was built in 1962: the New Lift. In 2005, the new elevator was also closed due to technical defects. The only lifting station in operation is the new lock, built in 1989 between the old shaft lock and the new lift, the fourth canal construction in Oberwiese. All lifts and locks, ie all four technical so-called "descent structures", form the so-called lock park Waltrop. A large part of this is taken up by the LWL-Industriemuseum with the Alten Hebewerk and an exhibition on inland waterway transport. Some areas are inaccessible premises. However, the Channel Islands around the Old Lock became a park-like complex.