The Main Line of Public Works was a package of legislation passed by the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryl ...
in 1826 to establish a means of transporting freight between
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
and
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
. It funded the construction of various long-proposed canal and road projects, mostly in southern Pennsylvania, that became a canal system and later added railroads. Built between 1826 and 1834, it established the
Pennsylvania Canal System
The Pennsylvania Canal (or sometimes Pennsylvania Canal system) was a complex system of transportation infrastructure improvements including canals, dams, locks, tow paths, aqueducts, and viaducts. The Canal and Works were constructed and assemb ...
and the
Allegheny Portage Railroad
The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania, United States; it operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Allegheny ...
.
Later amendments substituted a new technology,
railroads
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
, in place of the planned but costly canal connecting the
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...
(Philadelphia) to the
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...
.
Historic background
![NorthAmerica1762-83](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/NorthAmerica1762-83.png)
Trans-Appalachian settlement had begun in earnest during the latter years of the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
(1754-1763). Following the war, the British government made several agreements, primarily with the
Iroquois Confederacy
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
, which resulted in official policies to curb the expansion of settlement in the
colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
Mid-West
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
. This was one of many British policies that created support for the American Revolution
[ See section]—not just along the
American frontier
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of United States territorial acquisitions, American expansion in mainland North Amer ...
for those hoping to emigrate into the
Ohio Country, but also for Eastern seaboard populations that were blooming in the pre-industrialization period.
After the 1779
Sullivan Expedition
The 1779 Sullivan Expedition (also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, the Sullivan Campaign, and the Sullivan-Clinton Genocide) was a United States military campaign during the American Revolutionary War, lasting from June to October 1779 ...
broke the power of the
Five Nations of the Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...
towards the end of the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, settlement became viable from the lower
Susquehanna Valley
The Susquehanna Valley is a region of low-lying land that borders the Susquehanna River in the United States, U.S. states of New York (state), New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The valley consists of areas that lie along the main branch o ...
to upstate New York as far as
Lake Erie
Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...
. The United States was able to claim
trans-Appalachian territories from the Ohio River to the lower
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
, and west to
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
and
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
.
As the Revolutionary War wound down, many family groups went west, establishing scattered settlements from below the
Wyoming Valley
The Wyoming Valley is a historic industrialized region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The region is historically notable for its influence in helping fuel the American Industrial Revolution with its many anthracite coal-mines. As a metropolitan are ...
across the near west into the retreating western frontiers and the lands of the old
Ohio Country.
In the early 1800s, the new farms along the moving frontier were connected back to Atlantic seaboard cities by turnpikes, canals, and other transportation infrastructure works funded mostly by private funds or local governments.
The
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
exacerbated a difficult energy crisis, and bituminous coal imports from Liverpool, England, ground to a halt under an 1812 embargo. Industrialists in Philadelphia pressed for some solution to their foundries' fuel needs and by year's end, legislation was on the books for improving the
Schuylkill River
The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It fl ...
into the
Schuylkill Canal. But this project was underfunded, and other canals were completed first, including the
Lehigh Canal
The Lehigh Canal, or the Lehigh Navigation Canal, is a navigable canal that begins at the mouth of Nesquehoning Creek on the Lehigh River in eastern Pennsylvania. It was built in two sections over a span of twenty years, beginning in 1818. The low ...
in late 1820
and the
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...
in 1821. By mid-decade canal projects and some railroads were being proposed, organized, chartered, and built in Pennsylvania and other northeast seaboard states.
By the 1810s, population west of the mountains was exploding. Regional transport hubs were established in
Brownsville,
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
,
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
,
Buffalo,
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
, and in the 1840s,
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, and
St. Joseph
Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers ...
,
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
. The markets of this burgeoning population were targeted by the business class of Philadelphia and New Jersey.
In 1823, entrepreneur White made a proposal which would have dammed and created a
Ship Navigation allowing deep keeled coastal shipping to reach docks and pickup and tran-ship the coal steadily coming down the
Lehigh Canal
The Lehigh Canal, or the Lehigh Navigation Canal, is a navigable canal that begins at the mouth of Nesquehoning Creek on the Lehigh River in eastern Pennsylvania. It was built in two sections over a span of twenty years, beginning in 1818. The low ...
into
Easton, Pennsylvania
Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river tha ...
; the first 60 miles of which down to the Philadelphia suburb town of
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
would later become the
Delaware Canal
The Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, more commonly called the Delaware Canal, runs for parallel to the right bank of the Delaware River from the entry locks near the mouth of the Lehigh River and terminal end of the Lehigh Canal at E ...
. An employee of industrialist
Josiah White
Josiah White (1781–1850) was a Pennsylvania industrialist and key figure in the American Industrial Revolution.
Career
White began early factory-centered mill production in 1808 in water powered ironworks near Philadelphia, along with his part ...
's had figured out how to get
"Rock Coal" to burn properly during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
renewing serious interest in exploiting these relatively coal resources. Efforts to improve shipping capabilities on the
Schuylkill Navigation was lagging hope when backers took to quarreling over the best way to proceed; disgusted, White distanced himself from the project. White went looking for a source of coal in 1815 looked at the mines of the failing and unreliable
Lehigh Coal Mine Company
Lehigh may refer to:
Places United States
* Lehigh, Iowa
*Lehigh, Kansas
* Lehigh, Oklahoma
* Lehigh, Barbour County, West Virginia
*Lehigh, Wisconsin
*Lehigh Acres, Florida
*Lehigh Township (disambiguation)
*Lehigh Valley, a region in eastern Pe ...
—who'd almost managed to drop more coal in the Lehigh than they'd delivered to market since their founding in 1792. After surveying and deciding improving Navigation on the Lehigh could be feasible, returned to lease the operations of that company. Two years later he'd obtained the legal permissions "to ruin himself" fixing up the Lehigh, so founding the
Lehigh Navigation Company
Lehigh may refer to:
Places United States
*Lehigh, Iowa
*Lehigh, Kansas
* Lehigh, Oklahoma
*Lehigh, Barbour County, West Virginia
*Lehigh, Wisconsin
*Lehigh Acres, Florida
* Lehigh Township (disambiguation)
*Lehigh Valley, a region in eastern Pen ...
and using a quasi-lock of his own design between 1818 & 1820, the works had made sufficient improvements to be able to deliver 365 tons of coal to Easton late in the year—by 1825 the annual tonnage had climbed to over per annum, and the two overachievers had firmly established anthracite as a reliable inexpensive fuel.
A couple years later, the legislature declined another offer by the
Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company
The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company (LCAN) (1988–2010) was a modern-day anthracite coal mining company headquartered in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. It acquired many properties and relaunched the Lehigh Coal Companies brand in 1988. The LCAN r ...
(LC&N) which had built the Lehigh Canal with private funds. LC&N was unquestionably one of the most innovative companies of the era, driving the mining, transportation and industrial development of Pennsylvania by example, implementation, and by funding quite a few projects, as well. This new proposal was to build—''at the companies expense''— the project that would (in concept) become their version of the eventual
Delaware Canal
The Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, more commonly called the Delaware Canal, runs for parallel to the right bank of the Delaware River from the entry locks near the mouth of the Lehigh River and terminal end of the Lehigh Canal at E ...
(alternatively the 'Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal') built by the states engineering managers a few years later.
The route was nearly the same, but the Delaware Canal as the state built it had numerous engineering flaws, including locks both too short and unpaired (single & supporting only one way traffic) locks LC&N's experience and expertise would have mitigated. LC&N had started coal flowing to Philadelphia using short squared-off blocky barges it called
coal arks, but in 1822-23 was already re-doing the upper four locks on the Lehigh Canal to support a steam powered tug pulling boats over built to support two way traffic with full locks. By 1825 the volume of coal coming down the Lehigh & Delaware to Philadelphia was becoming huge and problematic — LC&N was rapidly over logging the forests feeding the Lehigh to build boats for the one way trip.
[ The extra expenses of the lack of a tow path canal for the sixty miles Easton-Philadelphia was very costly to LC&N,][ and the state's ]Delaware Canal
The Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, more commonly called the Delaware Canal, runs for parallel to the right bank of the Delaware River from the entry locks near the mouth of the Lehigh River and terminal end of the Lehigh Canal at E ...
attempt when opened in 1832 was five years later than promised and didn't work; the State had to hire Josiah White to repair its major deficiencies, then needed LC&N's expertise to operate it.[ LC&N ended up running both canals into the 1930s, and retained the rights to the Lehigh until the 1960s.][ While some problems were fixable, the ]Delaware Canal
The Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, more commonly called the Delaware Canal, runs for parallel to the right bank of the Delaware River from the entry locks near the mouth of the Lehigh River and terminal end of the Lehigh Canal at E ...
's lock's design was always an costly economic problem until the Canal became the parkland and current haven for pleasure boats.[
White and Hazard made the offer in return for a break on tolls, and even included an offer to operate the system at cost—the state garnering all the tolls. This offer too was declined, and in 1827 in a separate amending act, the state authorized the Delaware Canal, which was delayed for a few more years costing LC&N many dollars, until it was finally dug alongside, and generally in sight of the Delaware River between Easton down river to Bristol. When completed in 1832 by the state it also didn't work—having leaking issues and water supply problems like those that plagued the Union Canal and Schuylkill Navigation, and the state needed to hire Josiah White to fix it before it became fully usable in 1834. ]Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company
The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company was a mining and transportation company headquartered in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, now known as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. The company operated from 1818 until its dissolution in 1964 and played an early and i ...
would operate the Canal into the 1930s, and controlled its resources and those rights attained on the Lehigh until the 1960s when they reverted or conveyed back to the state.
Hence the Canal system was envisioned and built at the urging of New Jersey and Pennsylvanian businessmen, especially Philadelphia's bearing witness to the navigations
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...
improving commerce on the Lehigh and Schuylkill River
The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It fl ...
s, though in 1824 both systems needed further development. But the same decision makers were also continually reading the copious press coverage about the progress, the works designs, and engineering feats accomplished or building as the Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...
progressed. Philadelphia's luminaries were vying with other coastal cities to become the United States' most important and influential port as the country's population expanded westward to the Ohio Country and Northwest Territory
The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Established in 1 ...
regions. The system would also not only open better access to the newly opened Southeastern Coal Region and the initial mines in the Panther Creek Valley
In Eastern Pennsylvania, the valley of the Panther Creek tributary of the Little Schuylkill River, a very small and relatively short mountain creek, was historically important due to its stranglehold on energy production, a key region central to ...
but authorized an extension of the Lehigh Canal up to White Haven, and a railroad connecting that upper canal with the coal sources in the Wyoming Valley
The Wyoming Valley is a historic industrialized region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The region is historically notable for its influence in helping fuel the American Industrial Revolution with its many anthracite coal-mines. As a metropolitan are ...
. All the eastern projects were to reliably provide clean-burning anthracite coal to eastern cities that had already consumed much of the eastern forests for heating fuel.
List of works
The rail portions of the system were authorized in 1828 by an act of the Pennsylvania General Assembly entitled ''An act relative to the Pennsylvania Canal, and to provide for the commencement of a Railroad to be constructed at the expense of the state and to be styled "The Pennsylvania Railroad"'' (Act of March 24, 1828, Pamph. Laws, p. 221).[Burgess, George H. and Kennedy, Miles C. (1949), ''Centennial History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company'', Philadelphia: The Pennsylvania Railroad Company. p. 10, 96]
Begun with Navigations
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...
construction along the Susquehanna and the West Fork of the Susquehanna with surveys for the best route over the barrier of the northern Allegheny Mountains
The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...
, the system in time ran from Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
on the Delaware estuary westwards across the great plain of southern Pennsylvania (goal of connecting the Susquehanna to New York City via canals) through Harrisburg
Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...
and across the state to Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
and connected with other divisions of the Pennsylvania Canal
The Pennsylvania Canal (or sometimes Pennsylvania Canal system) was a complex system of transportation infrastructure improvements including canals, dams, locks, tow paths, aqueducts, and viaducts. The Canal and Works were constructed and assemb ...
. It consisted of the following principal sections, moving from east to west:
*Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad: from Philadelphia to Columbia near the former ferry site known as Wright's Ferry, in Lancaster County. Originally expected to be a bona fide canal in the 1820s conception, the easternmost leg of the Pennsylvania Canal
The Pennsylvania Canal (or sometimes Pennsylvania Canal system) was a complex system of transportation infrastructure improvements including canals, dams, locks, tow paths, aqueducts, and viaducts. The Canal and Works were constructed and assemb ...
was to be a continuation of the first funded and more difficult to construct engineering navigations
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...
and construction farther west in less populated rural regions. The canal joining the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers was to run across the most populated expanse of Pennsylvania's Great Valley region (and so was delayed politically in part) but its planning was overtaken by the growth of railroad technology, which by the mid-1830s had demonstrated sufficient promise to adopt the new technology for the leg of the capability and funding and construction was shifted to a railroad—it was faster and cheaper to build above ground and make bridges than it was to dig a deep ditch and provide it with reliable water supplies to enable two way barge traffic.
*Eastern Division Canal: from Columbia to Duncan's Island at the mouth of the Juniata River
The Juniata River () is a tributary of the Susquehanna River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed August 8, 2011 in central Pennsylvania. The river is ...
.
*Juniata Division Canal: from Duncan's Island to Hollidaysburg
Hollidaysburg is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Blair County, Pennsylvania, Blair County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is located on the Juniata River, south of Altoona, Pennsylvania, Altoona and is part of ...
*Allegheny Portage Railroad
The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania, United States; it operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Allegheny ...
: from Hollidaysburg to Johnstown
*Western Division Canal: from Johnstown to the terminus in Pittsburgh.
The canals reduced travel time between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh from at least 23 days to just four.
The Main Line of Public Works was completed in 1834 and was sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
on June 25, 1857, for $7,500,000. Within a year, the PRR replaced the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh route with an entirely rail-based system.[
]
Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad
The Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad began in Philadelphia at Broad
Broad(s) or The Broad(s) may refer to:
People
* A slang term for a woman.
* Broad (surname), a surname
Places
* Broad Peak, on the border between Pakistan and China, the 12th highest mountain on Earth
* The Broads, a network of mostly nav ...
and Vine Streets, ran north on Broad and west on Pennsylvania Avenue (a segment later taken over and submerged/tunneled over by the Reading Railroad), then headed northwest across the Columbia Bridge over the Schuylkill River
The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It fl ...
. Just after crossing the river, it traveled up the Belmont Plane, an inclined plane
An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...
in the current location of West Fairmount Park
Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, with ...
, and continued west across the eastern part of the state to Columbia, where the Columbia Plane headed down to the Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...
. At that point, the eastern division of the canal continued north along the river and then west.
Th
Northern Liberties and Penn Township Railroad
was incorporated in 1829 to build a branch continuing east on Noble Street and Willow Street
Willow Street is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 7,578 at the 2010 census. In the early part of the 20th century the main thoroughfare in town was ...
to the Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...
. This opened in 1834.
Belmont Plane
The Belmont Plane ran from the Schuylkill River for , rising per for a total rise of . Steam-driven cables dragged the railway cars to the top of Belmont Hill.
The Plane was the site of a signal event in railroad history. On July 10, 1836, the Philadelphia-based Norris Locomotive Works
The Norris Locomotive Works was a steam locomotive manufacturing company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that produced nearly one thousand railroad engines between 1832 and 1866. It was the dominant American locomotive producer during most of ...
drove a 4-2-0 locomotive up the Incline, making it the first steam locomotive to climb an ascending grade while pulling a load. The engine, named ''George Washington'', hauled a load of , including 24 people riding on the tender and one freight car, up the grade at per hour. So remarkable was this accomplishment that reports in engineering journals doubted its occurrence.[Carter, Charles F. "When Railroads Were New" New York:Henry Holt & Co. (1909) pp. 128-133] Nine days later, the engine repeated the feat in a more formal trial with an even greater load.
In 1850, the state bought the West Philadelphia Railroad, which had been incorporated in 1835 to bypass the Belmont Plane and failed after completing only the section from 52nd Street west to the main line at Rosemont. The state built the rest from 52nd Street east to downtown, but on a different alignment than the one originally planned; the new line, put into operation October 15, 1850,[ ended at the west end of the Market Street Bridge, from which the City Railroad continued east. The old line, which ran from the Schuylkill River up the Belmont Plane to Ardmore along the route of present-day Montgomery Avenue in Lower Merion Township, was abandoned.
The Columbia Bridge and line east to Broad and Vine Streets were sold to the ]Philadelphia and Reading Railroad
The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail.
Commonly called ...
as part of its main line. The Reading acquired the Northern Liberties and Penn Township Railroad in 1870, giving it access to the Delaware River.
The section of the old Pennsylvania Railroad running from Philadelphia west through Chester County Chester County may refer to:
* Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States
* Chester County, South Carolina, United States
* Chester County, Tennessee, United States
* Cheshire or the County Palatine of Chester, a ceremonial county in the North Wes ...
and, by extension, the western suburbs of Philadelphia, is still known as the Main Line
Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to:
Transportation
Railway
* Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system
* Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...
.
The Columbia Plane, which lowered railway cars down to the Eastern Division Canal along the Susquehanna River, was bypassed in 1840 by a new track alignment.
Eastern Division Canal
The Pennsylvania Canal's Eastern Division, which opened in 1833, ran along the east side of the Susquehanna River between Columbia and Duncan's Island at the mouth of the Juniata River. The canal included 14 locks
Lock(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
*Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance
*Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lock ...
with an average lift of . The state originally planned a canal of running between the Union Canal
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
at Middletown to the Juniata. However, the plan changed in 1828, when the state opted to extend the Eastern Division further south to connect with the newly decided replacement of a canal by the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad
Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad (P&CR) (1834) was one of the earliest commercial railroads in the United States, running from Philadelphia to Columbia, Pennsylvania, it was built by the Pennsylvania Canal Commission in lieu of a canal from Col ...
at historic Wright's Ferry
Wright's Ferry was a Pennsylvania Colony settlement established by John Wright in 1726, that grew up around the site of an important Inn and Pub anchoring the eastern end of a popular animal powered ferry (1730–1901) and now a historic part of ...
.
Engineers faced complications at the northern end of the Eastern Division Canal, where it met the Juniata Division Canal and the Susquehanna Division Canal at Duncan's Island. Boats had to cross from one side of the Susquehanna River to the other between either the Susquehanna Division or the Juniata Division on the west side and the Eastern Division on the east side. They solved the problem by building a dam long and high between the lower end of Duncan's Island and the east bank of the Susquehanna. This formed a pool across which boats could be pulled from a wooden, two-tier towpath
A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport ...
bridge at Clark's Ferry. Two Duncan's Island lift locks raised or lowered the boats traveling between the dam pool and the other canals.
Juniata Division Canal
The Juniata Division Canal was approved in segments starting in 1827 with a canal from near Duncan's Island in the Susquehanna River to Lewistown, upstream. Subsequently, the state agreed to extend the canal to Hollidaysburg and the eastern end of the Allegheny Portage Railroad, from the Susquehanna. A total of 86 locks were required to overcome a change in elevation of over the full length of the canal, which opened in 1832.
From the canal basin, westbound boats began their journey by being elevated about by a lock that brought them to the level of a wooden aqueduct on which they were towed to the south side of the Juniata. At North's Island, from the Susquehanna, they were towed by a water powered continuous rope to the north side of the river across a slack water pool formed by a dam. From North's Island to Huntingdon, the river was dammed in three more places to feed water to the canal, and above Huntingdon, 14 more dams were needed to create of slack water navigation in the river to supplement of travel in segments of canal. In addition, the state built three reservoirs on Juniata tributaries to keep the upper parts of the canal filled with water.
Remnants
A canal section of has been restored near Locust Campground, west of Lewistown. At the western end of the canal, the Hollidaysburg Canal Basin Park has preserved two canal basins and a connecting lock; a museum at the park illustrates how canal boats transferred between the canal and the Allegheny Portage Railroad.
The Pennsylvania Main Line Canal, Juniata Division, Canal Section was added to the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 2002.[
]
Allegheny Portage Railroad
From 1834 until 1854, when the Pennsylvania Railroad Company finished a competing line, the Allegheny Portage Railroad made continuous boat traffic possible over the Allegheny Mountains
The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...
between the Juniata and Western Division Canals. It followed a route that included 11 levels, 10 inclined planes fitted with stationary engines that could raise and lower boats and cargo, a , viaduct
A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...
over the Little Conemaugh River
The Little Conemaugh River is a tributary of the Conemaugh River, approximately 30 mi (48 km) long, in western Pennsylvania in the United States.
The main branch rises in eastern Cambria County, along the western slope of the Appalachi ...
, and many bridges. Infrastructure included 153 drains and culvert
A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom ...
s. The railroad climbed from the eastern canal basin at Hollidaysburg and from the western basin at Johnstown. At its summit, the railroad reached an elevation of above sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...
.
Western Division Canal
In 1826, the state legislature authorized the first segment of the Western Division Canal, from Pittsburgh up the Allegheny River
The Allegheny River ( ) is a long headwater stream of the Ohio River in western Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York. The Allegheny River runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border northwesterly into ...
to its confluence with the Kiskiminetas River
The Kiskiminetas River (commonly referred to as the Kiski by locals) is a tributary of the Allegheny River, approximately long, in Western Pennsylvania in the United States. The region stretching from the northern side of Harmar Township, Penns ...
at Freeport. Pittsburgh residents favored a route that would follow the south bank of the Allegheny River and terminate in Pittsburgh, while residents of the borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
of Allegheny favored a north bank canal ending in the borough, across the river from Pittsburgh. Eventually, the canal was run along the physically more favorable north bank, but the state agreed to build the main terminal and turning basin in Pittsburgh and a secondary terminal and connecting canal, the Allegheny Outlet, in the borough. Getting the main canal across the Allegheny River into Pittsburgh required an aqueduct of , the longest on the Pennsylvania Main Line route. Linking to the Ohio River
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
at Pittsburgh, the Western Division Canal also linked, through a tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...
of under Grant's Hill in Pittsburgh, with the Monongahela River
The Monongahela River ( , )—often referred to locally as the Mon ()—is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in North Cen ...
.
Subsequent Western Division Canal extensions went from Freeport up the Kiskiminetas and Conemaugh Rivers to Blairsville and then to the western end of the Allegheny Portage Railroad at Johnstown. East of Tunnelton, the route went through a canal tunnel of built to avoid a long loop of the Conemaugh River. The first fully loaded freight boat traveled from Johnstown to Pittsburgh in 1831; the route through Grant's Hill opened in 1832. Over its length of , the canal employed 68 locks, 16 river dams, and 16 aqueducts. From Freeport, a separate extension, the Kittanning Feeder, ran up the Allegheny River to Kittanning.
Johnstown Flood
The 1889 Johnstown Flood
The Johnstown Flood (locally, the Great Flood of 1889) occurred on Friday, May 31, 1889, after the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam, located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River, upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylv ...
was caused by the failure of the South Fork Dam
The South Fork Dam was an earthenwork dam forming Lake Conemaugh (formerly Western Reservoir, also known as the Old Reservoir and Three Mile Dam, a misnomer), an artificial body of water near South Fork, Pennsylvania, United States. On May 31, 1 ...
, part of the Main Line of Public Works. The dam across the Little Conemaugh River in the hills above Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, Johnstown is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropol ...
, created a two-square-mile (5.2 km2) reservoir. Dubbed Lake Conemaugh
The South Fork Dam was an earthenwork dam forming Lake Conemaugh (formerly Western Reservoir, also known as the Old Reservoir and Three Mile Dam, a misnomer), an artificial body of water near South Fork, Pennsylvania, United States. On May 31, 1 ...
, it supplied water to the Western Division Canal. When canal traffic declined, the lake and dam were abandoned, then sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1857; the railroad in turn sold them to private interests. They were purchased by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club
The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was a Pennsylvania corporation which operated an exclusive and secretive retreat at a mountain lake near South Fork, Pennsylvania, for more than fifty extremely wealthy men and their families. The club was ...
in 1879, and a private resort was built surrounding the lake. On May 31, 1889, following heavy rains, the South Fork Dam failed, sending 20 million tons (18.2 million cubic meters) of water down the gorge toward Johnstown. More than 2,200 people were killed.[ According to the source, the article is a version of a May 1988 article in ''Civil Engineering'', pp. 63–66]
Remnants
The Tunnelview Historical Site shows where in 1830 a canal tunnel of was built through Bow Ridge to avoid a long bend on the Conemaugh River, west of Blairsville. Saltsburg Canal Park, where Loyalhanna Creek joins the Conemaugh River to form the Kiskiminetas River, recognizes the canal's economic contribution to Saltsburg.[
]
Points of interest
See also
* Allegheny Portage Railroad
The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania, United States; it operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Allegheny ...
* Delaware and Hudson Canal
The Delaware and Hudson Canal was the first venture of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, which would later build the Delaware and Hudson Railway. Between 1828 and 1899, the canal's barges carried anthracite coal from the mines of northeaster ...
* Delaware Canal
The Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, more commonly called the Delaware Canal, runs for parallel to the right bank of the Delaware River from the entry locks near the mouth of the Lehigh River and terminal end of the Lehigh Canal at E ...
, aka later: ''Pennsylvania Canal (Delaware Division)''
* List of canals in the United States
The following is a list of canals in the United States:
Transportation canals in operation
This list includes active canals and artificial waterways that are maintained for use by boats. While some abandoned canals and drainage canals have stret ...
* Lehigh Canal
The Lehigh Canal, or the Lehigh Navigation Canal, is a navigable canal that begins at the mouth of Nesquehoning Creek on the Lehigh River in eastern Pennsylvania. It was built in two sections over a span of twenty years, beginning in 1818. The low ...
* Pennsylvania Canal System
The Pennsylvania Canal (or sometimes Pennsylvania Canal system) was a complex system of transportation infrastructure improvements including canals, dams, locks, tow paths, aqueducts, and viaducts. The Canal and Works were constructed and assemb ...
:* Pennsylvania Canal
The Pennsylvania Canal (or sometimes Pennsylvania Canal system) was a complex system of transportation infrastructure improvements including canals, dams, locks, tow paths, aqueducts, and viaducts. The Canal and Works were constructed and assemb ...
, aka later: Pennsylvania Canal (Eastern Division)
:* Pennsylvania Canal (North Branch Division)
The North Branch Division of the Pennsylvania Canal was a historic waterway that ran along the North Branch Susquehanna River between southern New York and north-central Pennsylvania. At its southern end, the canal connected with the West Bran ...
:* Pennsylvania Canal (Susquehanna Division)
340px, alt=Map_of_Pennsylvania, Compare this map with its major roads of today and its terrains with the above canal system map.
The Susquehanna Canal of the Pennsylvania Canal System was funded and authorized as part of the 1826 Main Line of Pub ...
:* Pennsylvania Canal (West Branch Division)
The West Branch Division of the Pennsylvania Canal ran from the canal basin at Northumberland, Pennsylvania, at the confluence of the West Branch Susquehanna River with the main stem of the Susquehanna River, north through Muncy, then west throu ...
:*IPennsylvania Canal Guard Lock and Feeder Dam, Raystown Branch
Pennsylvania Canal Guard Lock and Feeder Dam, Raystown Branch, also known as the Raystown Branch Feeder Canal, is a historic canal structure located at Henderson Township in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. The property includes the remains of a ...
:* Pennsylvania Canal Tunnel
The Pennsylvania Canal Tunnel was the Pittsburgh terminus
of the Pennsylvania Main Line of Public Works, a transportation system that involved other early tunnels.
History
Construction was authorized February 8, 1827, and the tunnel was complete ...
:* Pennsylvania Canal and Limestone Run Aqueduct
The Pennsylvania Canal and Limestone Run Aqueduct is an historic, American Navigable aqueduct, aqueduct complex that is located in Milton, Pennsylvania, Milton, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.
It was added to the National Register of Historic ...
* Schuylkill Canal
Notes
References
Further reading
For more on the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad
Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad (P&CR) (1834) was one of the earliest commercial railroads in the United States, running from Philadelphia to Columbia, Pennsylvania, it was built by the Pennsylvania Canal Commission in lieu of a canal from Col ...
, see William Hasell Wilson, ''The Columbia-Philadelphia Railroad and Its Successor'' (1896). A reprint of this booklet was issued in 1985. See also John C. Trautwine, Jr., ''The Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad of 1834'', in ''Philadelphia History'', Vol. 2, No. 7 (Philadelphia, PA: City History Soc. of Philadelphia, 1925). This is a pamphlet written for The City History Society of Philadelphia and read at the meeting of March 15, 1921.
External links
Pennsylvania Canal Society
American Canal Society
{{US canals
Canals in Pennsylvania
Defunct Pennsylvania railroads
Predecessors of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Railway companies established in 1828
">Railway companies disestablished in 1857
1828 establishments in Pennsylvania
1857 disestablishments in Pennsylvania
Canals on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
National Register of Historic Places in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania
National Register of Historic Places in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
American companies established in 1828