A. L. Bishop — The State Works of Pennsylvania. 153 



expert who could demonstrate beyond doubt that that particular 

 port was in closest touch with Pittsburg and the West.* Agitators 

 were ever ready with schemes for improvements that would posi- 

 tively ensure the state in question a predominating influence in the 

 trade of the West. 



Of this movement the building of the Erie canal was the climax. 

 Its successful operation, and the consequent rapid fall in freight 

 rates, necessitated the commencement of similar works in other 

 states for the sake of their own self-preservation. The peculiar 

 physical features of l^ew York, making is unnecessary to over-top 

 the mountains to reach the West, gave that state a decided 

 advantage over all her competitors. It made defeat inevitable to 

 Pennsylvania from the beginning, in spite of her advantage over 

 New York in distance from the Ohio valley. 



The later success of the Erie canal eclipsed all similar trans- 

 portation achievements of other states. Their magnitude in Penn- 

 sylvania, though greater than in ]^ew York, failed to make an 

 equal impression upon the imagination. The building of the 

 state works not taking place until after the opening of the Erie 

 canal also led many to infer that little attention was given by 

 Pennsylvania to internal improvements until ISTew York led the 

 way. The error of such an inference will appear from the follow- 

 ing summary of the activities of the state and of private companies 

 in improvements in transportation before 1823, the date which 

 marks the commencement of the popular agitation resulting in the 

 building of the state works. 



The history of the movement for internal improvements in Penn- 

 sylvania reaches back into the early records of the colony. William 

 Penn, in 1690, recorded the practicability of artificially joining the 

 Susquehanna and the Schuylkill rivers by means of their branches. 

 This suggestion is found in a document entitled "Some proposals 



would be the best if not the only means of keeping the eastern and western 

 countries together. — Pickell, A Xevv Chapter in the Early Life of Washington, 

 p. 172. 



Many of the Washington documents regarding canals and internal 

 improvement projects are found in Reports of Committees, House of Rep., 

 Congress United States, 1st Session, 19th Congress; subject, "The Chesa- 

 peake and Ohio Canal," Xo. 228. 



* Hulbert, Historic Highways, xiii, p. 173. 



