| Pennsylvania Canal | |
|---|---|
 Map of the Pennsylvania Canal's connecting railroads inPennsylvania | |
| Specifications | |
| Status | Abandoned except for historic and recreational segments and navigable rivers |
| History | |
| Original owner | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania |
| Construction began | 1826 |
| Date completed | ~1840 |
| Date closed | ~1900 |
| Geography | |
| Start point | Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| End point | Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
ThePennsylvania Canal, sometimes known as thePennsylvania Canal system, was a complex system of transportation infrastructure improvements, includingcanals, dams,locks, tow paths,aqueducts, andviaducts. The canal was constructed and assembled over several decades beginning in 1824, the year of the firstenabling act and budget items.[notes 1]
Enacted whilerailroads were in their infancy, the Pennsylvania Canal was designed to create a canal system that was capable of carrying heavy ships carryingbulk goods, connecting the major metropolitan cities ofPhiladelphia andPittsburgh, and reaching the new growth markets in the developingNorthwest Territory over theOhio River, now known as theMidwestern United States.[notes 2]
The Pennsylvania Canal was updated in 1837 to reflect the experience of twelve years of toddler-railways,[notes 3] The term was also applied to railroads and new canals to be added to the state transportation system.[1] The Main Line of Public Works and the Pennsylvania Canal system topped 2,100 feet (640 m) in elevation by erecting theAllegheny Portage Railroad, which used a system of five inclines and five planes on each side of the Eastern Continental Divide at Cresson Pass inCambria County to actually haul wheeled flat cars, which had halved canal boats placed on them, up and over theAllegheny Front and connect Pittsburgh to theSusquehanna River. When finished in 1834, the trip from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh could be made in three to five days, weather conditions depending.
In the fifty years before 1830, the new west was settled and steadily growing as people poured westwards along the variousEmigrant Trails into theMidwest to destinations on a million new farms and towns throughout the watershed of theMississippi Valley towards the lands organized in theNorthwest Territory.
The goal of theenabling acts was to enhance commerce and lower transportation costs between east and west, better joining the trans-Allegheny region to the eastern seaboard; this was a commercially motivated act with an eye towards servicing the growing markets of the new fast growing western settlements (Midwest) to the manufactories of the East.
Provision was made in the later legislation to tie in and even extend privately built canals such as theLehigh Canal, not technically part of the Pennsylvania Canal system, and link them and the state's infant railroads to the public system and add to its value. The canal linkingPhiladelphia to theSusquehanna River, the proposed Pennsylvania Canal from Philadelphia to theWright's Ferry landing inColumbia, Pennsylvania, was overtaken by technological events. Instead of pouring money into building a ditch, permission was sought by the investors to use its 82-mile (132 km) right of way to replace it in the "main line of works" scheme by a railway, a new developing technology, which resulted in thePhiladelphia and Columbia Railroad (1834).
Since they were built above ground, railways were easier and cheaper to build, since no ditches needed to be dug with humanmuscle power, nor did they require feed waters to be located and aqueducts built to provide them. The plan also included a visionary scheme to build a ramp system which would roll canal boats over theAllegheny Mountains at an elevation over 2,100 feet (640 m) through the broad uneven saddle ofCresson Pass.
Though most of the canals no longer have any function, some segments retain value as historic and recreational sites. Both theDelaware Canal and the lowerLehigh Canal were kept busy into the tough financial years of theGreat Depression.
The right of way authorized for the Upper Lehigh Canal became an extension of theLehigh and Susquehanna Railroad (LH&S), which the 1837 revised act had established to connect theWyoming Valley to theDelaware River navigations; the railway would eventually parallel the entire Lehigh Canal operated by its parentLHC&N. The route from Philadelphia to Wilkes-Barre over the Lehigh and LH&S or eventual LH&S cut over 100 miles (160 km) off the trip, including a similar distance saving Philadelphia toPittsburgh viaPitston Landing's canal docks.
The first three tunnels of any kind in the US were built in support of the Allegheny Portage Railway,[2] and all of them were converted to railroad tunnels.
The canal era began inPennsylvania in 1797 with theConewago Canal, which carried riverboats around Conewago Falls on theSusquehanna River nearYork Haven.
Spurred by construction of theErie Canal (constructed between 1817 and 1825) and the perceived competitive advantage it would giveNew York state in moving people and materials to and from the interior of the continent, Pennsylvanians built hundreds of miles of canals during the early 19th century. These included the privately fundedLehigh Canal in 1818, which improvedwater transport on the lowerLehigh River fromJim Thorpe toEaston at the confluence with theDelaware River viaAllentown andBethlehem.
The Lehigh Canal enabled the first regular reliable supplies ofanthracite coal to reach eastern manufactories and two canals built later by Pennsylvania stock companies, theSchuylkill Canal, which started inPhiladelphia and ended inPort Carbon, and theUnion Canal, which started inReading and ended inMiddletown.[1]
By 1834, the Main Line of Public Works, a system of interlocking canals, railways, andinclined planes, was hauling passengers and freight up to 391 miles (629 km) between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Though not all in concurrent operation, the total length of the canals built in Pennsylvania eventually reached 1,243 miles (2,000 km).[3]
By 1840, work had been completed not only on the Main Line of Public Works but on many other lines, officially called "divisions". The Main Line consisted of the Eastern Division, the Juniata Division, the Western Division, thePhiladelphia and Columbia Railroad, and theAllegheny Portage Railroad. North–south divisions operated along theDelaware River in the east, the Susquehanna River in the middle of the state, and theBeaver River in the west.[1] A few additions were completed after 1840.
By 1850, steam engine technology had advanced to having the ability to produce locomotives with sufficient power to move freight, including bulk goods such as coal and grain, so railroads had already begun displacing canals as the preferred method of long-distance transportation, as they also offered speed.
In 1852, thePennsylvania Railroad (PRR) began offering rail service from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and in 1857, it bought the Main Line Canal from the state.
In 1859, all canals owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania were sold. The PRR formed the Pennsylvania Canal Company in 1867 and continued to use canals to haul freight. The canal business, however, declined steadily in the last quarter of the 19th century, and most Pennsylvania canals no longer functioned after 1900.[4]
The state funded the following canals in Pennsylvania. For interstate canals, the listed mileage is for the Pennsylvania portion only.[3]
Private entities, including foreign investors,[5] funded the following canals in Pennsylvania. For interstate canals, the listed mileage is for the Pennsylvania portion only.[3]
Several canal segments or other canal infrastructure in Pennsylvania are listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.[6] One complete canal, theDelaware Canal, is the main feature ofDelaware Canal State Park (formerly Theodore Roosevelt State Park) between Bristol and Easton. It is continuously intact for its full length of 60 miles (97 km).[7]
Other Pennsylvania canal infrastructure on the National Register includes the following:
Work began on November 21, 1831 and often occurred during inclement conditions. The men were paid $13 per month plus room and board for 12 hour days 6 days per week. Workers chipped and blasted 901 feet of solid rock to make the tunnel. Finished in June 1833, the Staple Bend tunnel was advertised as the first railroad tunnel in the United States. It was the third tunnel of any kind built in the US, the first tunnels were for other canals in Pennsylvania.They were also converted into railway tunnels in 1854 when thePennsylvania Railroad bought the Allegheny Portage Railway from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
