Posts Tagged ‘sandy and beaver canal’

PA Canals

Wednesday, April 27th, 2016

The Amazing Pennsylvania Canals by William H Shank, PE, is true to its title.  I was astonished to learn that the canal boom of the early 1800’s was so extensive.  This map scanned from the book displays all 1,243 miles of public and private canals operated in PA.  Not all the systems worked  concurrently.  The Sandy and Beaver Canal which starts across the river from Georgetown is shown branching into Ohio along a former Indian trail leading to the Moravian villages. 

 

Map of the Connecting Canal Systems in PA (The Amazing Pennsylvania Canals by William H Shank, PE)

 

The connecting canal systems opened an avenue of transportation between the East and Ohio River Valley before the contrivance of railroads.  In 1837 Capt Jacob Poe commanded the  str Beaver No 2 in the Allegheny River trade transporting passengers and freight between Pittsburgh and various canal stops. Many of the “ports” along the canal system routes developed into sizable thriving communities: Freeport, Johnstown, Hollidaysburg, and Middletown in PA and  Fredericktown and Hanoverton in OH.

 

Railroads signaled the demise of the canal systems and the bustling towns along the canal routes beginning in the 1850′s.  Today virtually all that remains of this grand past are ruins of various canal locks and National Historic Trust homes and taverns that have been saved such as the Spread Eagle Tavern in Hanoverton, OH and Union Canal House near Hershey, PA.

The first edition of The Amazing Pennsylvania Canals was published in 1960.  My booklet is the third edition printed in Oct 1973.

 

 

  

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Ohio River Dangers

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
Towboat Sunk The Review 12 Dec 2009 (Courtesy of Frances Finley)

Towboat Sunk The Review 12 Dec 2009 (Courtesy of Frances Finley)

The Ohio River has never been entirely tamed by the numerous flood control dams erected in the 1960’s.  On Fri, 11 Dec 2009, the Ohio took a modern towboat to its bottom at Georgetown, PA.  Two men on the sinking tug were rescued by another boat that fortunately happened to be working in the area.   No injuries were reported.

 

According to local Georgetown reports, high winds created seven foot waves that swamped the towboat. 

 

Severe weather often approaches Georgetown down the Little Beaver Creek gorge which empties into the Ohio River opposite Georgetown.  The Little Beaver Creek is a protected wild and scenic area listed in the National Scenic River Registry.  It is an exceptionally clean water system that supports a number of endangered amphibians. The Sandy and Beaver Canal, which was designed in 1828 to connect the Ohio River to Lake Erie and completed in 1848, followed the creek up the gorge.   Winds flow through the gorge intensifying their strength.   That power unleashed on Georgetown has been the source of many fierce storms causing power outages and much damage.

 

The dangers of the Ohio during the Golden Age of Steamboating long before the first dams had been built I can only imagine.