On 10th August 1791, 38 years after the start of the Castilla Canal along the Campos Branch, the waters of the rivers Pisuerga and Carrión joined near to teh convent of Calahorra, through the recently completed the Northern Branch.

One year later, with the doors now fitted on the 25 sluces, navigation began along the Northern Branch and part of the Campos Branch.Thus, the old dream of the learned to create inland navigation canal for the easy and cheap transportation of goods and, particularly, to dispatch cereals from Castilla heading for the Americas through the port of Santander was, at least in part, made reality. Simultaneously to this transportation of goods, the passenger transport was also established and so, years later, a daily boat was established between the localities of Palencia and Valladolid.
The Castilla Canal led to a deep transformation for the region in terms of its economy, society and landscape, due to the jobs it created during its construction, operations and the adapting of the surrounding area, as well as the enormous mass of documentation created over the 250 years sicen its beginning along the Campos Branch on 16th July 1753.
Nowadays, the canal is mainly used for irrigating 50,000 Ha. and for supplying around 200,000 people in over 40 municipalities, the use of power through two small hydroelectric power stations and certain flour factories being truly marginal.