One of the worlds most useless canals goes through my town (on it's path to crossing the entire width of the country). It was built largely with russian POW's. However, roughly eight years before it was completed, steam locomitives became a thing, making it obsolete.
Close, but no dice. This one was built a fair while earlier , and is part of a 390km long waterway (of which the majority is natural). It's still maintained today, but not used for any commercial traffic.
Ooooh, that sounds like the Göta Canal, making you Swedish! The Masurian Canal was built far too late to be correct but my brain was fixated on the uselessness aspect.