THE INDUSTRIAL TITAN OF AMERICA 



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Photograph courtesy Philadelphia Commen 



NAVIGATING THE) PENNSYLVANIA HILLS IN A BIFURCATED BARGE 



A view of the old canal-boat inclined railway across the Alleghenies between Hollidays- 

 burg and Johnstown. Over this route passed the traffic between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh 

 a century ago. 



ing of a network of waterways. As time 

 went on, these spread out over the State 

 like the branches of a tree. 



The Schuylkill Navigation Company 

 built a 108-mile canal up the Schuylkill 

 River, and at one time had a thousand 

 boats in operation. The Union Canal, 

 from Middletown to Reading by way of 

 Lebanon, was yy miles long, with a 22- 

 mile branch. It had more than a hun- 

 dred lift-locks. Sixteen of these were in 

 a tunnel just west of Lebanon, carrying 

 the canal to Swatara Creek. The Mo- 

 nongahela was canalized by the construc- 

 tion of sixteen dams in order to form 

 slackwater navigation. 



The Main Line Canal, connecting Phil- 

 adelphia with Pittsburgh, was in reality 

 half canal and half railway. The jour- 

 ney began at Broad and Vine streets, 

 Philadelphia. From there to Columbia, 

 on the Susquehanna, sectional canal-boats 



and railway cars were hauled on wheeled 

 trucks. There the boats were pinned to- 

 gether and towed up the Susquehanna 

 and Juniata rivers to Hollidaysburg. 

 Here they were put on an inclined rail- 

 way, dragged up the mountain by steam 

 winches, and let down by the same 

 method to Johnstown. From there they 

 proceeded to Pittsburgh through the 

 Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas, and Allegheny 

 rivers. 



WAGING A LOSING BATTLE 



Inadequately constructed to meet the 

 competition of the railroads, as the latter 

 transportation facilities improved and ex- 

 panded, the canal system began to fail 

 and now is practically in ruins. Every- 

 where one sees decaying locks and rot- 

 ting canal-boats, relics of a remarkable 

 era. But recently the strain of the tre- 

 mendous volume of local and through 



