200 A. L. Bishop — The State Works of Pennsylvania. 



is greatly the gainer in a financial point of view, and it has been 

 equally demonstrated that the people at large have been as well if 

 not better accommodated by the change. It would in my judgment 

 be a public calamity if, by the happening of any contingency, the 

 commonwealth should be constrained to again become the owner 

 and resume the management of any portion of the public improve- 

 ments."* Again, the following year, the governor in referring to 

 the same subject commented upon the gratifying results already 

 shown after two years of separation from the management and 

 control of the canals and railways, and the consequent simplification 

 of governmental action. From these and other contemporary com- 

 ments it seems clear that the majority of the leading men of the 

 state united in commending the government for selling the public 

 works. 



There being no longer any cause for the existence of the board 

 of canal commissioners, it was formally abolished by an Act of Jan- 

 uary 25th, 1859. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the 

 books, papers, records and all other property belonging to the canal 

 board were handed over to the auditor general of the state. In 

 his custody they remained until, by authority of an Act of February 

 26th, 1885, they were transferred to the Department of Internal 

 Affairs, where they still remain. 



To-day the traveller, in going between Philadelphia and Pittsburg 

 via the Pennsylvania railroad, may see portions of the abandoned 

 state works. From the windows of the coaches gliding ■ along at 

 almost lightning speed, one may catch glimpses, here and there, of 

 the old canals and Portage railroad, which, at one time, were the 

 pride of the commonwealth. In the present age of wonderful mate- 

 rial advancement, rapid progress is made in the evolution of trans- 

 portation systems. Of these, one that is entirely adequate for its 

 purpose in any particular decade may be totally deficient in the 

 next. The public works of Pennsylvania, which at one time were 

 believed to be the highest development possible in the field of inland 

 transportation, had their day and. were practically abandoned in 

 scarcely more than twenty-five years.. These works now are rapidly 

 falling into decay. The Portage railroad is gradually becoming 

 overgrown with grasses and trees. Its wooden structures and 

 masonry are nothing but ruins. Along the canals the old boats may 



* Exec. Docs., 1858, p. 7. 



