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National Geographic : 1919 May
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TIE- INDUSTRIAL TITAN OF AMERICA 0"," " Photograph courtesy Philadelphia Commercial Museum NAVIGATING THE PENNSYLVANIA IIILLS IN A BIFURCATED BARGE A view of the old canal-boat inclined railway across the Alleghenies between Hollidays burg and Johnstown. Over this route passed the traffic between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh a century ago. ing of a network of waterways. As time went on, these spread out over the State like the branches of a tree. The Schuylkill Navigation Company built a io8-mile canal up the Schuylkill River, and at one time had a thousand boats in operation. The Union Canal, from Middletown to Reading by way of Lebanon, was 77 miles long, with a 22 mile branch. It had more than a hun dred lift-locks. Sixteen of these were in a tunnel just west of Lebanon, carrying the canal to Swatara Creek. The Mo nongahela was canalized by the construc tion of sixteen dams in order to form slackwater navigation. The Main Line Canal, connecting Phil adelphia with Pittsburgh, was in reality half canal and half railway. The jour ney began at Broad and Vine streets, Philadelphia. From there to Columbia, on the Susquehanna, sectional canal-boats and railway cars were hauled on wheeled trucks. There the boats were pinned to gether and towed up the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers to Holiidaysburg. Here they were put on an inclined rail way, dragged up the mountain by steam winches, and let down by the same method to Johnstown. From there they proceeded to Pittsburgh through the Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas, and Allegheny rivers. S WAGING A LOSING BATTLE Inadequately constructed to meet the competition of the railroads, as the.,latter transportation facilities improved and ex panded, the canal system began to fail and now is practically in ruins. Every where one sees decaying locks and rot ting canal-boats, relict of ,a remarkable era. But recently the strain of the tre mendous volume of local and through
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