Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal

The Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal between Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, and Havre de Grace, Maryland, at the head of Chesapeake Bay, provided an interstate shipping alternative to 19th century arks, rafts, and boats plying the difficult waters of the lower Susquehanna River. Built between 1836 and 1840, it ran convert|43|mi|km|0| along the west bank of the river and rendered obsolete an older, shorter canal along the east bank. Of its total length, convert|30|mi|km|0 were in Pennsylvania and convert|13|mi|km|0 in Maryland. cite book | last = Shank | first = William H. | title = The Amazing Pennsylvania Canals, 150th Anniversary Edition | publisher = American Canal and Transportation Center | date = 1986 | location = York, Pennsylvania | pages= 69–72 |isbn=0-933788-37-1] Though rivalry between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland, delayed its construction, the finished canal brought increased shipments of coal and other raw materials to both cities from Pennsylvania's interior. Competition from railroads was a large factor in the canal's decline after 1855. Canal remnants, including a lock keeper's house, have been preserved in Maryland, and a lock has been preserved in Pennsylvania.

History

Competition

In the 1820s, seeking raw materials from and trade with Pennsylvania's interior counties, residents of the large port city of Baltimore favored building a canal along the lower Susquehanna linking Chesapeake Bay to Pennsylvania's Main Line of Public Works at Columbia, Pennsylvania, across the river from Wrightsville. Residents of the rival port city of Philadelphia, fearing loss of trade to Baltimore, argued against the proposal. In 1829, completion of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal across an isthmus south of Philadelphia, resolved the impasse by shortening the water link between Havre de Grace and Philadelphia to convert|74|mi|km|0. Since this was only convert|20|mi|km|0 further by water than from Havre de Grace to Baltimore, the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal stood to benefit both cities. cite book | last = Livingood | first = James Weston | title = The Philadelphia-Baltimore Trade Rivalry, 1780-1860 | publisher = Ayer Publishing | date = 1970 | location = Philadelphia | pages= 74-78 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=SNVzO-P-gpAC&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=chesapeake+tidewater+canal&source=web&ots=wVvBSeh3Bi&sig=bwNQB-L7s6LCp6Gzi5WPg2ezxxE#PPA78,M1|isbn= 0405024630] In 1835, the Susquehanna Canal Company of Pennsylvania joined the Tidewater Canal Company of Maryland in privately funding and building the canal. Construction began in 1836 and was finished in 1840. cite book | last = Shank | first = William H. | title = The Amazing Pennsylvania Canals, 150th Anniversary Edition | publisher = American Canal and Transportation Center | date = 1986 | location = York, Pennsylvania | pages= 69–72 |isbn=0-933788-37-1]

Debt

Despite toll collections rising from $42,000 in its first year to about four times that amount by 1850, the canal company faced money problems. Construction costs had totaled $3.5 million; with only $1.25 million in start-up capital, the company had borrowed heavily, and it struggled to pay its debts. After 1855, toll revenue fell; flood damage, railroad competition, and the disruptions of the Civil War hastened the decline. cite book | last = Livingood | first = James Weston | title = The Philadelphia-Baltimore Trade Rivalry, 1780-1860 | publisher = Ayer Publishing | date = 1970 | location = Philadelphia | pages= 74-78 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=SNVzO-P-gpAC&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=chesapeake+tidewater+canal&source=web&ots=wVvBSeh3Bi&sig=bwNQB-L7s6LCp6Gzi5WPg2ezxxE#PPA78,M1|isbn= 0405024630] In 1872, the company sold its assets to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, which used the canal to haul coal to Baltimore until 1894, cite book | last = Shank | first = William H. | title = The Amazing Pennsylvania Canals, 150th Anniversary Edition | publisher = American Canal and Transportation Center | date = 1986 | location = York, Pennsylvania | pages= 69–72 |isbn=0-933788-37-1] during the Reading's first receivership (caused by the Panic of 1893). [Edward Gross Campbell, Columbia University Press, The Reorganization of the American Railroad System, 1893-1900, 1938, OCLC 2995375] The Pennsylvania Railroad opened the Columbia and Port Deposit Railroad across the river in 1877. [Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society, [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1877%20Jun%2006.pdf PRR Chronology: 1877] , June 2006 edition]

Infrastructure, cargo

The canal had 29 locks overcoming convert|231|ft|m|0 of elevation. At Wrightsville and the Columbia canal basin, it connected with the Pennsylvania Canal's Eastern Division, part of the Main Line of Public Works. Cargo included coal, lumber, grain, and iron, much of it bound for Baltimore or Philadelphia. Boats passed through a weigh lock at York Furnace, where tolls were paid. Teams of mules walked on towpaths beside the canal and pulled the boats. At the upper terminus, across the river from Columbia, a wooden bridge with a two-tier tow path allowed mules going in opposite directions to cross the Susquehanna River simultaneously without colliding. From the canal outlet at Havre de Grace, tugs pulled the boats to Baltimore or other destinations. Mules on the Baltimore boats waited in Havre de Grace for the return journey, while boats bound for Philadelphia took their mules with them to use on the next towpath canal. cite book | last = Shank | first = William H. | title = The Amazing Pennsylvania Canals, 150th Anniversary Edition | publisher = American Canal and Transportation Center | date = 1986 | location = York, Pennsylvania | pages= 69–72 |isbn=0-933788-37-1]

Earlier canal

Long before the opening of the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal, the Maryland legislature of 1783, hoping to open a reliable trade route along the lower Susquehanna River, had granted a charter to a company of 40 men, mostly from Baltimore, to build a canal called the "Susquehanna Canal". The Proprietors of the Susquehanna Canal, as the company was called, succeeded by 1802 in completing a canal of convert|9|mi|km|0 along the east bank of the river from Chesapeake Bay to the Pennsylvania state line. The Proprietors hoped the Pennsylvania legislature would allow an extension on the other side of the state line; however, no canal below Columbia, Pennsylvania, was approved by Pennsylvania until after the opening in 1829 of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. It cut across the northern isthmus of the Delmarva Peninsula and made a lower Susquehanna canal more appealing to Philadelphia. A combination of high costs, faulty construction, and low revenues led the Proprietors to sell the Susquehanna Canal at a loss in 1817, and it was abandoned entirely in 1840 when the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal opened on the opposite side of the river. [ cite book | last = Livingood | first = James Weston | title = The Philadelphia-Baltimore Trade Rivalry, 1780-1860 | publisher = Ayer Publishing | date = 1970 | location = Philadelphia | pages= 33-36 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=SNVzO-P-gpAC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=proprietors+of+the+susquehanna+canal&source=web&ots=wVvBTcl6Hk&sig=UzdkCFxwcvux3yHc4scQy2jpIx4#PPA33,M1|isbn= 0405024630] The Susquehanna Canal was also known as the "Port Deposit Canal" or the "Conowingo Canal", not to be confused with the Conewago Canal upstream near York Haven. [cite book | last = Kapsch | first = Robert J. | title = Canals | publisher = W.W. Norton and Company | date = 2004 | location = New York | pages = 16-17 |isbn = 0393730883 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=8b4u5JvyJKIC&pg=PA16&lpg=PA16&dq=conowingo+canal&source=web&ots=wXp3aBtKlh&sig=YiGXiOwf0hMk4xqy5ogPVR-mDdI#PPA17,M1]

Remnants

Remnants of the canal can be seen at Susquehanna State Park in Harford County, Maryland, convert|3|mi|km|1 miles northwest of Havre de Grace. [cite web | title = Susquehanna State Park | publisher = Maryland Department of Natural Resources | date = 2007 | url = http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/central/susquehanna.html | | accessdate = 2007-11-16 ] The Susquehanna Museum in Havre de Grace has restored the lock house and other infrastructure at the southern terminus of the canal. [cite web | title = Susquehanna Museum of Havre de Grace | publisher = Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network | date = 2007 | url = http://www.baygateways.net/general.cfm?id=69 | | accessdate = 2007-11-16] On the Pennsylvania side, Lock #12 has been preserved by the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company along Pennsylvania Route 372 at the south end of the Norman Wood Bridge across the Susquehanna River. [cite web | title = Introduction to Pennsylvania's Historic Canals | publisher = Pennsylvania Canal Society | date = 2007 | url = http://pacanalsociety.org/sites.htm#25 | | accessdate = 2007-11-26]

References