Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal
Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal | |
---|---|
Specifications | |
Locks | 29 |
Status | Abandoned except for recreation and historic interest |
History | |
Original owner | Susquehanna Canal Company and Tidewater Canal Company |
Construction began | 1836 |
Date completed | 1840 |
Date closed | 1894 |
Geography | |
Start point | Wrightsville, Pennsylvania |
End point | Havre de Grace, Maryland |
Branch(es) | Conestoga Navigation, Codorus Navigation |
Connects to | Eastern Division Canal, Chesapeake Bay |
The Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal between
A copy of a detailed survey blueprint of the entire canal system including structures and property ownership details was donated (date unknown) by the Safe Harbor Water Power Corporation to Millersville University (assessed on 10/06/2016 in the MU Archives at Sp. Coll. Map 386.409748 S128 Folio). The survey consists of 67 pages, 98 x 30 cm. and is undated but the assumption is the original was created while the canal was in use. The assumed final page (68) which would be a survey of the final lock in Havre de Grace, MD is missing. An original copy (undated) of the survey is located in the Archives of Safe Harbor Dam as of 2022 (Brookfield Renewable). That document is also missing the final page 68.
The survey was completed in 1875 after the January 1, 1872 lease of the Canal to the Reading Railroad. Support for a date of the survey having been completed in 1875 include the fact that the John Bair Warehouse (now Tucquan Club) completed in 1879 (date stone in surviving building) was not on the survey (see map page 23). However, the York Furnace Bridge ruins are indicated. The bridge was destroyed in 1856. This suggests a date between 1856 and 1879.
The confirmation comes from the biography of William H. Dechant of Reading. See Reading and Berks County, Pennsylvania: A History, Volume 3, page 198, Lewis Historical Pub. Co., New York, 1925, by Cyrus T. Fox. Therein it specifically confirms that Mr Dechant, a young surveyor for Reading Railroad, completed the survey in 1875 from Columbia, PA to Havre de Grace, MD. Also see, The_Aegis_and_Intelligencer_Fri__Jul_30__1875, page where it states Mr Dechant finished a complete map of the canal to Havre de Grace in 1875.
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
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
Infrastructure, cargo
The canal had 29
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.James Brindley (1745-1820) was the Chief Engineer for the project until it was suspended in 1786 for lack of funds.[5] The Proprietors of the Susquehanna Canal, as the company was called, succeeded by 1802 in completing a canal of 9 miles (14 km) along the east bank of the river from the 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.[6] 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.[7]
Remnants
Remnants of the canal can be seen at
Corporate successor
As a corporate entity, the corporation known as The Proprietors of the Susquehanna Canal still exists, having been purchased by the Philadelphia Electric Company, and now owned by its successor, Exelon.[13] Its rights as a Maryland corporation, dating to 1783, allowed the construction of the Conowingo Dam.[14]
Points of interest
Feature | Coordinates | Description |
---|---|---|
Columbia | 40°02′01″N 76°30′16″W / 40.03361°N 76.50444°W[15] | Borough at the western terminus of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad and the southern terminus of the Eastern Division Canal |
Peach Bottom | 39°45′03″N 76°13′33″W / 39.75083°N 76.22583°W[16] | Village near the midpoint of the canal |
Havre de Grace | 39°32′57″N 76°05′30″W / 39.54917°N 76.09167°W[17] | City at the southern terminus |
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 0-933788-37-1.
- ^ ISBN 0-405-02463-0. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
- ^ Edward Gross Campbell, Columbia University Press, The Reorganization of the American Railroad System, 1893–1900, 1938, OCLC 2995375
- ^ Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society, PRR Chronology: 1877, June 2006 edition
- ^ Robert J Kapsch & Yvonne E Long (2011) James Brindley, American Canal Engineer, The International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology, 81:1, 22-59, DOI:10.1179/175812110X12869022260114
- ISBN 0-405-02463-0. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
- ISBN 0-393-73088-3. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
- ^ Maryland Historical Trust: Listing for Southern Terminal, Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal
- ^ "Susquehanna State Park". Maryland Department of Natural Resources. 2007. Archived from the original on November 6, 2007. Retrieved November 16, 2007.
- ^ "Susquehanna Museum of Havre de Grace". Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network. 2007. Retrieved November 16, 2007.
- ^ "Introduction to Pennsylvania's Historic Canals". Pennsylvania Canal Society. 2007. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
- ^ List of Subsidiaries of Exelon Generation
- ^ PECO Org Chart Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Columbia". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. August 2, 1979. Retrieved March 22, 2009.
- ^ "Peach Bottom". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. August 2, 1979. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
- ^ "Havre de Grace". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. September 12, 1979. Retrieved March 27, 2009.