V. — The State Works of Pennsylvania. By Avard Longley 



Bishop, Ph.D. 



Introduction. 



What is kiiowu technically in the history of Pennsylvania as 

 the "state works" comprised a system of transportation which was 

 huilt, owned and operated by the commonwealth. "Public works" 

 and "internal improvements" are other names commonly applied to 

 the system. The writer has, therefore, used these three terms 

 interchangeably. 



The popular movement for the state itself to provide an adequate 

 means of transportation to the growing West may be said to have 

 commenced in Pennsylvania in 1823. The work of construction 

 was undertaken in 1826 and within a few years an extensive sys- 

 tem of canals and railways was built and in operation. By 1859, 

 however, there was not a single mile of public-owned canal or 

 raihvay in the commonwealth. It is thus seen that the present 

 study is limited to a definite field which furnishes an historical 

 example of public ownership and control of a transportation system. 



The material upon which this studj^ is based was obtained prin- 

 cipally from the state library of Pennsylvania at Harrisburg. 

 The writer was given free access to the acts of legislature, journals 

 of the house and senate, legislative and executive documents, 

 reports and journals of the canal boards, pamphlets, news- 

 papers, etc., — in a word to all of the published and unpublished 

 papers and documents which have any bearing upon the subject 

 under consideration. The information gained from these sources 

 was supplemented by other of a more general character, by visits 

 to several sections of the abandoned works, and by conversation 

 with a number of old residents of the state. 



The above does not apply, however, to the material obtained for 

 Chapter 1. This was taken largely from Hazard's "Register of 

 Pennsylvania," especially Volumes I and II; from Carey's "Brief 

 View of the System of Internal Improvements of the State of 

 Pennsylvania" (1831) ; and from "The Canals of Pennsylvania and 

 the System of Internal Improvements of the Commonwealth," by 

 Theodore B. Klein, published in Part IV of the Annual Report 

 of the Secretary of Internal Affairs of Pennsylvania for 1900. As 



Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XIIT. 12 Nov., 1907. 



