The quiet gliding of the boat along the valley of the 

 Susquehanna with its beautiful ever-changing scenery, 

 and the wilder valley of the Juniata was very enjoy- 

 able. In fair weather, and moonlight nights, the roof 

 or deck of the boat would be well covered with pas- 

 sengers, using their trunks for seats, but ever mindful 

 of the call of "low bridge" from the helmsman, (and 

 some of them went so low that the trunks on the roof 

 barely cleared them as the boat passed under) the 

 ducking and contortions of the passengers, sometimes 

 throwing themselves flat on the roof, was always a 

 source of amusement. On nearing the Portage all 

 was excitement, particularly among those crossing for 

 the first time; for the old portage or mountain crossing 

 was one of the greatest wonders of the world in its day. 



On the landing of the canal boat at Hollidaysburg, 

 passengers would rush for the cars to secure the most 

 favorable seats for seeing. Many of those crossing for 

 the first time, and all the timid ones, while the cars 

 were being fastened to the rope of the incline would 

 make for the side walk and go up on foot; some would 

 walk up the second incline, but by that time all would 

 gain sufficient confidence to trust themselves to ride. 

 On one occasion I was one of four to carry an invalid 

 lady in a chair to the top of the first incline, and then 

 to so surround her in the car that she had partly 

 ascended the second before discovering it; then she 

 was terror-stricken, and made a great effort to faint, 

 but failed in the attempt, the mountain air being too 

 exhilarating. She finally subsided, and I really be- 

 lieve enjoyed the rest of the passage, except the tunnel. 



The estimated capacity of the incline planes was 

 ten trains of four cars each way per hour. I have 

 timed them when pressed to their utmost; unavoid- 

 able delays at the top for the descending, and at the 

 bottom in making up the ascending trains, brought 

 the average number of trips not to exceed 7 per 

 hour. Mr. Miller thought that an excessive average 

 for a length of time: though with everything favorable 

 10 had been accomplished in a single hour. 



Several prominent engineers of England and France 

 came to America for the express purpose of witnessing 



the working of the American Mountain Railway. I 

 met with two of these, who both spoke of it as the 

 grandest conception that had ever been ultimated. ' " 

 Even Charles Dickens, who, on his first visit to 

 America, crossed the Portage before it was super- 

 seded by the Pennsylvania graded road, although he 

 was oblivious to the bevel-edged plate glass mirrors, 

 and gorgeously new furnished and upholstered 

 canal boats for his especial use, and that of his party, 

 an old friend of mine, long since departed, who was 

 one of the party, said that Dickens was, no doubt 

 bored by intruders on the route, but he showed more 

 interest and animation on the Portage than at any 

 time during his intercourse with him; that he could 

 not say enough in praise of the boldness of the design, 

 and the grandeur of the scenery, frequently recurring 

 to it; but he disgusted one who had been prominent 

 in embellishing the canal boats, and who lost no 

 opportunity of calling his attention to them by saying, 

 "Very nice, very nice, but rather stuffy-bluffy and 

 somewhat disagreeably odoriferous." Probably the 

 fumes from the kitchen and the wine bins did not 

 harmonize. 199 [58] 



198 xhe works of Stevenson, Chevalier, and Gerstner are cited 

 in note 177 above. W. Milnor Roberts (cited in note 177 

 above), p. 20411, mentioned also General Bernard. 



190 A special boat was not provided for Dickens, though he 

 was given choice sleeping accommodations: "a shelf in a 

 nook ... in some degree removed from the great body of 

 sleepers." The rest of the passengers slept on "three long tiers 

 of hanging book-shelves, designed apparently for volumes of 

 the small octavo size." Dickens's account of his American 

 journey in 1842 is focused upon people, sleeping and eating 

 accomodations, incessant spitting of tobacco juice, and jails 

 and public institutions, but his descriptions of travel by canal, 

 railroad, stagecoach, and steamboat are useful and always 

 thoroughly delightful. (Charles Dickens, American Notes for 

 General Circulation, ist ed., 2 vols. London, 1842. There have 

 been many reprints, and a paperback edition, Premier Ameri- 

 cana, di28, was published in 1961. The Eastern Division 

 Canal and the Portage Railroad are described in chapters 

 9 and 10.) 



159 



