Internal Improvements of the State of Pennsylvania. 85 



those improvements, and the difficulties which have been ah-eady sur- 

 mounted in their execution. The object of the present essay, is to 

 give a general idea of the character of these works, and in future 

 numbers, it may be in my power to describe with greater particular- 

 ity, those with which I am most familiar. 



To a cursory observer of the map of Pennsylvania, it would ap- 

 pear almost impracticable to form any satisfactory junction between 

 the eastern and western waters. The Allegany mountain, and the 

 numerous ridges which run parallel to it, from N. E. to S. W. ap- 

 pear to interpose insuperable barriers. Fortunately, however, nature 

 has done what man must have failed to accomplish. The headlong 

 Juniata has burst through a score of mountain ridges, and, now flows 

 placidly to the Susquehannah, as if rejoicing in its triumph over the 

 difficulties, which at some former day had been heaped in its path. 

 The West branch of the Susquehannah also rivals the Juniata, and in 

 fact rises still farther west, (beyond even the Allegany mountains,) 

 and there are swamps in the highlands of Cambria county which, in 

 time of rain, pour their waters at once towards the Chesapeake and 

 Gulf of Mexico.* 



The course of the West Branch is however too circuitous to afford 

 an eligible route between Philadelphia and the head of the Ohio, 

 and the valley of the Juniata was chosen, although it involved the ne- 

 necessity of crossing the Alleghany, at a point 2327 feet above tide 

 water in the Adantic. 



The only mountain ridges, west of the Alleghany, are the Laurel 

 Hill, and Chesnut Ridge, both of which are rent to afford a passage 

 for the Conemaugh, which rises in the Allegany mountains nearly op- 

 posite to the Juniata, and flows toward the Ohio. 



Previously to the commencement of the state improvements, char- 

 ters had been granted to the Schuylkill and Union Canal Companies, 

 for opening a canal communication between the Delaware and Sus- 

 quehannah, and as no canal route was found more eligible than that 

 adopted by the companies, a rail-road between those rivers was cho- 

 sen by the state. 



* Potter county, in Pennsylvania, is celebrated for only one thing, that I am ac- 

 quainted with : viz. that heads of the Susquehannah, Alleghany, and Genessee ri- 

 vers, rise almost together, VFithin its boundaries; flowing into such distant points, as 

 the Chesapeake bay, Gulf of Mexico, and Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



