the north branch; from Taylor's ferry to Easton, on the Delaware; and from Blairsville to Johnstown on the Conemaugh, were authorised. The Alleghany Portage railroad; the Philadelphia and Columbia railroad was ordered; and preliminary surveys of other lines of proposed improvements were authorised to be executed.

These works were commenced and carried forward with great speed. The credit of the state was then in a highly honourable condition, no one suspected its integrity; money was abundant, and the legislature found no difficulty in borrowing from the capitalists of all countries: especially from England.

Mr. Frego, in an excellent little work on Pennsylvania, observes,—

"If the system of public works undertaken had been less extensive in the beginning, and had been confined at first to the main line between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, with the addition of the Delaware division; and these had been constructed with a strict regard to the public interest alone, and managed afterwards with prudence and economy, the favourable anticipations of the people would doubtless have been realised. But, in order to obtain votes in the legislature for the commencement of the main lines, it was deemed expedient to push the improvements into every practicable part of the state, that as many as possible should partake of the expected benefit. The consequence has been the lavish expenditure of millions on lines as yet unproductive; while a system of management directed by party politics, and the employment of countless swarms of public agents, as a reward for political services, without due regard to their character or qualifications, have not only absorbed the whole revenue derived from the finished lines, but have brought the state annually in debt for their maintenance.

"This career of lavish expenditure and continual extension was at length checked. The alarming increase of the state debt, the enormous excess in the cost of completing many of the works above the estimates of the engineers, and the failure of the finished lines to support by their tolls the annual charges on them for repairs and expenses, became subjects for serious consideration. Those who had from the first doubted the expediency of undertaking such a gigantic scale of improvement, became decidedly hostile to the further extension of the system, while its warmest advocates were discouraged at the prospect before them. The public voice called for a retrenchment of expenditures, and the operations were prosecuted on a reduced scale. The work on some of the lines was suspended, and was only continued on those which were necessary to complete certain connexions, or those which were deemed likely to afford immediate advantage from completion.

"The present deranged condition of the state finances, and the utter prostration of the credit of the commonwealth, have now put a stop to the further prosecution of the public works. The time has come for serious consideration upon the means of extricating Pennsylvania from her present embarrassed condition. No remedy can be devised but that of taxing the people; and even taxation, so long as the public improvements are so managed as not to sustain themselves, will be ineffectual, unless increased from year to year. A more economical superintendence of our canals and railroads, or their transfer from the state to individuals or companies, seems to be imperatively demanded by the public interest. By such a transfer, on fair terms and under proper regulations, the state would be at once relieved from a heavy burden, while the people would still have the use and advantage of the public improvements as fully as at present.

"But notwithstanding the present gloomy prospect of our financial affairs, and the heavy debt incurred by the commonwealth in the construction of her railroads and canals, it should not be forgotten that the advantages to the people, in the increased value of their property, and the creation of facilities for trade and transportation, together with the expenditure, among them, of large sums of public money, have far more than counterbalanced the burden of moderate taxation. Without the means of transportation on the public works, our agricultural, commercial, manufacturing, and mineral resources would never have been developed as they now are; and the countless millions gained by the people, through the establishment of the public improvements, would cause the public

debt to sink into insignificance, if compared with the value of the advantages resulting from them.

"In order to contrast the former times and facilities with the present, it may be mentioned, that before turnpikes were constructed, it required a good team of five or six horses, from eighteen to twenty-five days, to transport from 2500 to 3500 lbs. of goods from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. On the completion of the turnpike across the mountains, the load of a waggon was increased to 6000 or 8000 pounds, and the trip was made in twelve or fifteen days. The price of carriage varied from three or four to thirteen cents per pound, the latter being paid for several loads soon after the peace with Great Britain. Since the construction of our railroads and canals, any quantity of merchandise and produce can be transported between Pittsburg and Philadelphia, Baltimore or New York in six or seven days, at an average price, each way, of less than one dollar per 100 pounds, or one cent per pound; and the passage for travellers by canal and railroads between Pittsburg and these cities is now made in two, three, or four days, at less than half the former expense by the stage.

"It is not, however, in the construction of canals and railroads alone that the funds of of the state have been invested. Extensive appropriations have been made towards improving the navigable channels of many of our rivers and large streams; to the making of roads and the building of bridges; while subscriptions have been liberally made on the part of the commonwealth to the stock of railroad, navigation, turnpike, and bridge companies. From many of these little or no dividend is received, but still the people have the benefit of their use."-pp. 149–151.

STATE CANALS.-The Delaware Section of the Pennsylvania canal, at Bristol, on the River Delaware, twenty miles above Philadelphia, and thence extends up the course of that river to Easton, at the mouth of the Lehigh, where it joins the navigation of the Lehigh company. It is forty feet wide, five feet deep, and has twenty-three locks, ninety feet long by eleven feet wide, from six to ten feet in height; total lockage, 164 feet. Length of canal, sixty miles; cost, 1,374,744 dollars.

The Eastern section commences at Columbia, the western termination of the Philadelphia and Columbia railroad, and extends along the eastern bank of the Susquehanna river to Middletown, where the Union canal joins it, where there are locks connecting with the Susquehanna. It then continues along the eastern banks of the Susquehanna, passes through Harrisburg to Duncan's island, near the mouth of the Juniata, where it joins the Juniata section, and also with the Susquehanna division of the state canals. It is forty feet wide at top, twenty-eight at bottom, and has locks ninety feet long, and seventeen feet wide; the total rise is ninety-five feet. Length, forty-three miles.

Juniata section.-At Duncan's island, a dam across the Susquehanna gives the water for the Eastern section. The Juniata section follows the valley of the Juniata to Hollidaysburg, in Huntingdon county, where it joins the eastern termination of the Alleghany Portage railroad. There are seventeen dams on this section, and about sixteen miles of slack water navigation. The canal is of the same dimensions as the Eastern section; the locks are of the same length, and fifteen feet wide. Ascent of lockage, 576 feet; distance, 130 miles.

The Susquehanna section.—This canal joins the Juniata section at Duncan's island, and winds along the western bank of the Susquehanna, up that river to

Northumberland, at the junction of the north and west branches, where it unites with the north and west branch divisions. Ascent, eighty-six and a half feet; length, thirty-nine miles.

The North Branch section opens at Northumberland, and follows the north branch of the Susquehanna to the mouth of Lackawana, in Luzerne county, above Wilkesbarre. There is a dam across the river at Nanticoke, and the upper end of the canal is supplied with water from the Lackawana. Locks, seventeen feet by ninety feet; total lockage, 112 feet; length, seventy-three miles.

The North Branch extension is unfinished; it was intended to communicate with the New York state, by joining the Chenango canal, as a northern outlet for the coal and iron of Pennsylvania, and to obtain back freights of salt and gypsum. From Lackawana, it follows the north branch to Athens, in Bradford county, near the northern line of the state. The cost of work done on this extension up to December 1, 1841, amounted to 2,348,276 dollars; estimated cost of work remaining to be done, 1,298,416 dollars; total estimated cost, 3,646,692 dollars. Length of canal, ninety miles; lockage, 193 feet.

The West Branch section is a lateral canal from the Susquehanna section, beginning at Northumberland, and extending up the west branch of the Susquehanna, by Milton, Williamsport, and other places, to the bituminous coal region in the vicinity of Farrandsville.

Two lateral branches from the West Branch section extend, one to Lewisburg, about half a mile, and the other to Bald Eagle creek, near Lock Haven, three miles and a half in length.

The Sinnemahoning extension is a continuation of the West Branch canal to the mouth of Sinnemahoning creek, a distance of about thirty-six miles above Farrandsville. It is unfinished, the work being suspended in 1839.

The Wiconisco canal is also unfinished. It extends along the east bank of the Susquehanna, from the dam at Clark's ferry, near Duncan's island, to Millersburg, at the mouth of Wiconisco creek, a distance of twelve miles; ascent, thirty-five feet. By the act of July 13, 1842, this canal was transferred to an incorporated company, "reserving the right to the state to reclaim it after twenty years, upon paying to the company the amount expended by them in its completion."

The Western section, near Johnstone, the western termination of the Alleghany Portage railroad, the Western section of the canal, opens and continues down the Conemaugh and Kiskiminetas to the River Alleghany; crossing which, near the mouth of Kiskiminetas, this canal winds along the western bank of the river to Alleghany city, opposite Pittsburg, where it crosses an aqueduct, and thence runs through Pittsburg to the Monongahela river: There are ten dams on the route, and upwards of twenty miles of slack water, navigable on

their pools. Below Blairsville, the canal passes through a tunnel 817 feet in length. Descent by lockage, 471 feet; distance, 105 miles.

The Beaver section extends from a town of the same name, on the Ohio, up Beaver river to the Shenango, and thence up that stream to the head of slack water navigation, about six miles above Newcastle. Length, thirty-one miles; ascent, 132 feet.

A little below Newcastle, at the mouth of Mahoning creek, this section is crossed by the Mahoning canal, which extends into Ohio, and at Akron it intersects the Ohio and Erie canal. The Beaver section is only a part of a canal, intended to connect the Ohio river, by way of Conneaut lake, with Lake Erie.

The Erie extension is unfinished, it is divided into the Shenango section, commences at the head of the Beaver section, above Newcastle, and extends northward to the town of Erie. The ascent from the Shenango pool to the summit at Conneaut lake, is 287 feet; the descent thence to Lake Erie, 510 feet. The level of Conneaut lake is 419 feet above low water in the Ohio, at Beaver, and the surface of Lake Erie, ninety-one feet lower than the Ohio. Length of the Erie extension, 105 miles.

The French Creek feeder, is a navigable canal, twenty-seven miles in length, from French creek above Meadville to the Erie extension at Conneaut lake.

The Franklin line joins it at the aqueduct, seven miles below Meadville, where the water in the feeder is on a level with Conneaut lake, and gives it an extension to Franklin on the Alleghany river. Descent of lockage, 128 feet; length twenty-two miles.

PENNSYLVANIA STATE RAILROADS.-The Philadelphia and Columbia railroad commences at Philadelphia, crosses the Schuylkill by a viaduct about two miles from the city, and follows a western course by Downingtown and Lancaster, to Columbia on the Susquehanna, a distance of eighty-two miles. Here it joins the eastern section of the Pennsylvania canal.

The Schuylkill viaduct for the rails is 984 feet in length, it has also a way for carriages and foot passengers. Immediately west of this, the road ascends by an inclined plain, 2805 feet in length, with a rise of 187 feet, on which cars ascend and descend at the same time, by being attached to an endless rope, moved by a stationary engine of sixty-horse power. The railroad then ascends gradually to near the West Chester railroad, about twenty-two miles from Philadelphia, where its height is 543 feet above tide-water. The railroad then descends 293 feet, at a grade of twenty-nine feet to the mile, to the Brandywine viaduct near Downingtown; from thence it again ascends, after crossing the West Brandywine near Coatesville, over the North Valley hill, at Mine Ridge gap, by a grade increased for about three-quarters of a mile, to forty-five feet per mile. From this

height the road descends 250 feet into the Lancaster valley, by the city of Lancaster, and descends but twenty-five feet, by a route of six miles, to the Susquehanna river, Columbia.

There are several viaducts over the streams crossed by this railroad, particularly those over Valley creek and West Brandywine; the latter is 835 feet in length, and seventy-two feet above the water. Those over the Big and Little Conestoga creeks are 1412 feet and 804 feet long. The highest embankment is eighty feet, and the deepest cuttings from thirty to forty feet. The locomotive engines for the transportation of freight, are capable of drawing upwards of 100 tons each, exclusive of the weight of cars, engine, &c., or nearly 200 tons in all, at an average speed of ten or twelve miles per hour.

The Alleghany Portage railroad commences at Hollidaysburg, at the western termination of the Juniata canal, and crosses the Alleghany ridge at Blair's gap; thence it descends to the valley of the Conemaugh, to Johnstown, at the western division of the Pennsylvania canal. There are ten inclined planes on this railroad from Johnstown eastward, and eleven "levels," or graded lines of road, the inclination of which is from ten feet to fifteen feet to the mile, except that between Johnstown and the first plane, which has a grade of about twenty-four feet, between the eastern plane and Hollidaysburg, where the maximum grade is fifty-two feet. Blair's gap is 2325 feet above the level of mean high water of the tide on the Susquehanna; the ascent from Hollidaysburg to the summit, is 1398 feet in ten miles, and the descent to Johnstown 1171 feet in twenty-six miles and a half. There are five inclined planes on each side of the summit; the longest being the third one west of Hollidaysburg, which is 3117 feet in length, with a rise of 307 feet; and the shortest, the third east of Johnstown, 1480 feet in length, rising 130 feet. At the head of each inclined plane, there are two stationary engines of about thirty-five horse power each, which draw up and let down, by the endless rope, the cars attached. Four cars, each loaded with a burden of 7000 pounds, can be drawn up at once, and as many let down at the same time, from six to ten times in an hour. On the short levels between the planes, horses are used for drawing the cars.

A viaduct over the Conemaugh, consists of a single arch of eighty feet span, at a height of seventy feet above the water of the stream. Through a ridge near the head of the first plane, east of Johnstown, there is a tunnel, 901 feet in length, twenty feet wide, and nineteen feet high. This railroad is thirty miles and a half long.

The Gettysburg railroad, intended to communicate between the Pennsylvania improvements and those of Maryland, from the Baltimore to the Ohio railroad, and also with the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. After expending more than 700,000 dollars, on the eastern end between Gettysburg and the summit of the south mountain, the work was suspended.