Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1896-11-19
A FAMOUS CANAL IN ITS DAY.
Handsome Craft Carried on tho Old
Pennsylvania Waterway.

Pennsylvania Waterway.
And what primitive transportation
they did have in those old days of 'io,
to be sure! Railroads there were in
the east and had been for full 90 years,
but not here. Pittsburgh was far
western town then of but 10000 inhab-
itants. The patient, plodding, tow-path
mule was good enough for the Pitts
burghers of '46, who peacefully and con-
tentedly wended his way to Johnstown
in 30 hours and was well satisfied II he
landed in Philadelphia in something
less than week. To us Of the post-bel-
lum generation this is hard to realize.
The canal boat and the mule seem relics
of the misty past almost as unreal as
the Indian with his tomahawk and
birch canoe. And yet there is many a
hale and hearty citizen, still IN his
prime, to whom they are vivid and well
remembered realities.
Practically all the commerce of Pitts
burgh so years ago was carried over the
western branch of that famous water
way called the Pennsylvania canal. Its
western terminus was Pittsburgh, It's
eastern, Johustown, the route between
the two places being as follows: Cross
ing the Allegheny river by an aqueduct
nj the foot of what is now Eleventh
street, then mp the west bank Of the AL
leghehy to Freeport, then across the
river again by an ncqueduct, up the
Kishiminetas river to Salisbury, thence
Up the Conemaugh to Johnstown.
The route of the canal in this city can
be traced, though not q vestige of it
now remains. The basin, where most of
the loading was done, was practically
the end of the canal, though a tunnel
which passed under the city almost in
the line of the present Panhandle tun-
mel, carried the canal through to the
Monongahela.
There were many small canal boats,
which were used to bring in the prod
ucts of numerous market gardeners,
whose farms were scattered along the
fertile lowlands beside the Allegheny
river. These market boats were called
"Fannies"-just why, is not apparent.
Possibly, in earlier times, when the
first of these boats came into use, some
charming, smiling Fanny used to sit at
the tiller and guide her fathers load OF
pumpkins and potatoes into the city on
market day. The "Fannies' were
hauled by one horse.
But the pride of the old canal was Its
packet boats. These handsome craft
would not cut much Of q figure beside
the fine ones of to-day, but they were
looked upon as something elegant in
the '4Os. This was one of the two great
highways to the east, this canal and
much Travelled highway Il was, tose, co-.
sidering the scanty population west Of
the mountains in those days. People
coming up the Ohio from Cincinnati oi
elsewhere, usually preferred to keep the
river and continued up the Mononga
hela to Brownsville, and theretook the
famous old national pike toGumber
land. Cumberland had a railroad then
and so the jotrney to the seaboard wa
easy from that point.
But to return to the packet boats
They were 20 to so feet long and wer,
drawn by four horses. They were no
unlike the canal boats we see to-day
when we see them at all, but nea.er ant
more pretentious, as was fitting for tn
frst-class patronage they enjoyed
Many blusliing bride and groom ther'
was that took that journey to the east
And what journey it was! On, u
through the hills, by and over many
stream, to the foot Of the Alleghen.
mountains; then across that formid
able barrier, down into the pleasan
eastern valleys, and again by the pic
turesque canal on to the brim of tn
mighty Susquehanna. Here one scenes
to be getting into some sort of pei
manent civilization; from here the iro
hore made the rest Of the route easy
and at last one was actually landed i
the famous city of Brotherly Love, ia
away at the other end Of the state,
400-mile journey-a journey, like matr
mony, not to be entered into lightly O
unadvisedly, but after mature consk
Grafton. 1t was truly great eveI
that voyage to the east.-Pittsburg
Dispatch.