A. L. Bishop — The State Woi^ls of Pennsylvania. 189 



Chapter III. — The Construction of the Public Works. 



In response to tiieir new duties detailed in the Act of February 

 25tli, 1826, the canal commissioners* immediately prepared for the 

 work of construction. On April 5th, ISTathan S. Roberts, an efficient 

 engineer formerly employed on the Erie canal, was sent to locate 

 the line between Pittsburg and the Kiskeminetas river. The deter- 

 mination of the other section between the Swatara and the Juniata 

 was entrusted to William Strickland, and on the 19th of June Gov- 

 ernor Shultze approved his location. Accordingly, on July 4th, 



1826, near the Capitol at Harrisburg, the ground was first brokenf 

 in the construction of the Pennsylvania canal. 



In their reports of December 11th, 1826, and of February 6th, 



1827, the commissioners stated that they had put under contract 

 22 1/^ miles of work along the Susquehanna river, and 24 along the 

 Allegheny. A large force of laborers^ had been engaged for both 

 sections, and construction was being pushed along rapidly. The 

 surveys made during the preceding year had convinced the board 



* The first acting commissioners appointed in accordance with section 2 of 

 the Act of February 25th, 1826, were General Abner Laycock and Charles 

 Mowry, for the eastern and western sections respectively. 



By Act of April 10th, 1826, the board of canal ccmmissioners was aug- 

 mented by the apjjointment of four new members, making a total of nine, 

 five of whom constituted a qiiorum. By Act of April 16th, 1829, the power 

 to appoint them was transferred from the governor to the legislature. Their 

 period of service was one year. By Act of April 6th, 1830, the number of the 

 commissioners was reduced to three, and the go\ernor was again authorized 

 to appoint them. Another change was made in the canal board in 1841 by 

 which each branch of the legislature appointed one member and the governor 

 the third. The appointments to this office were largely political. See Niles' 

 Reg., XXXVI, p. 268, and LIX, p. .359. 



t J. H. Rep., 1834-5, III, p. 3. 



X Tlie writer made a careful examination of the reports of the canal com- 

 missioners covering the whole period of construction of the public works, to 

 discover whether or not any 'delay was caused by a scarcity of laborers. The 

 conclusion reached was that at no time was there any serious interruption 

 of work due to this cause. The delays were most often due to the appro- 

 priations becoming exhausted, or to timber and other construction materials 

 running out. The workmen were frequently discharged at these times, and 

 made engagements elsewhere, so that wlien work was ready to be resumed it 

 required some time to get laborers. — See J. H. Rep., 1827-28, II, pp. 99, 138 and 

 216; 1828-29, II, p. 68; 1829-30 II, p. 239; 1830-31, II, p. 222; 1833-34, III, 

 pp. 16, 45, 46 and 63. Xumerous references in Canal Commissioners' Report 

 in J. H. Rep., 1831-32, II. 



