From the earliest times the Baïse attracted people: later, many mills appeared. So intense did traffic on this river become that Henri IV of France saw fit to have the crude passage-ways at the mills replaced by locks, up as far as Nérac. But it was not until 1839 that the first boat reached Condom. The Armagnac trade, cork products from Albret and the replacement of small mills by large mills and grain and flour-stores brought unprecedented activity to the Baïse.
In 1952 the river was decommissioned, until the arrival of river-touring allowed the Baïse to regain its former activity. After the Lot, the Garonne Canal and the Canal du Midi, the Baïse is yet another rare jewel among the navigable waters of south-west France, one which is a “must” to discover.