164 A. L. Bishop — TJie State Works of Pennsylvania. 



The Union canal was seventy-seven miles long, exclusive of 

 various pools and navigable feeders. It extended from Middletown 

 on the Susquehanna to a point on the Schuylkill a short distance 

 below Reading. At Middletown it connected with the Pennsyl- 

 vania canal leading to Pittsburg and Erie, to Tioga in the north, 

 and to Bald Eagle creek on the Avest branch of the Susquehanna. 

 At Reading it connected with the Avorks of the Schuylkill Xaviga- 

 tion Company leading to Philadelphia. 



■ "Large quantities of iron ore from the Cornw^all banks of Lebanon 

 county were shipped to Danville and other points via the Union 

 canal, and coal Avas returned from the Wyoming region for use 

 in the furnaces at Lebanon and vicinity as back-loading." After its 

 enlargement, lumber from the west branch region of the Susque- 

 hanna came through it for a time in order to aA^oid towage charges 

 on Chesapeake Bay. "But the delays incident to the frequent lack 

 of sufficient Avater and the great amount of lockage were detrimental 

 to the shippers and carriers. At last, in 1885, the officials of the 

 company reported : 'The Union canal is non est, it having been 

 sold out, property and franchise, by the sheriff of Philadelphia.' 

 It had borne the brunt of flood and financial panic for almost 

 three-quarters of a century, having been in operation before the 

 canals of the commonwealth. The work Avas abandoned and sold 

 for a song, including the masonry of one hundred lift locks, three 

 guard locks, Avith buildings, machinery and pumps, all of which 

 had cost more than $6,000,000, which melted away from the 

 estates of Avidows, orphans and capitalists all OA^er the common- 

 wealth."* 



We haA^e now given a summary of AA^hat was done in Pennsyl- 

 vania in the line of internal improvements by canal and naA^gation 

 companies and by the state in improving water-ways previous to 

 the beginning of the popular movement resulting in the execution 

 of the state Avorks. In'' addition to the numerous improA^ements 

 made by canal and navigation companies, there remains yet to 

 mention what was done during this period in building turnpike 

 roads and bridges. Here the best information is furnished by a 

 report of the Committee of Roads, Bridges, and Inland Naviga- 

 tiont submitted to and read in the senate of Pennsylvania on 



* Klein, Canals of Pennsylvania, p. Ixxiv. 



f Report on Roads, Bridges and Canala, 1822. 



