The Penn's Grove record., 1919-07-18
PENIS NECK CANAL
Rebeeca 4. summerilD

In order to understand lHe liONN
canal. il is necessary to know SOME.
thing about the early history OF ina
section of the country, known as Up
uer Penns Neck Township.
This township was settled about TWO
hundred years ago, and because n
land was rich. many valuable farms
were surveyed and owned, first, along
the river, then later, along the oalell
creek. in Upper Penns Neck n Man
nington. ,uoods
This was years before railroads
were dreamed of, and river ana
streams were the important ways Ior
Transporting farm products to marke.,
so Salem river became a water WI
for the farmers. Vessels loaded WIN
wood. grain and farm crops were
poled down the stream with the tide
past Salem City into the Delaware
River. and then they sailed up 10
Wilmington, Chester and Philadelphia
Sometimes these products would pc
reloaded in ocean going vessels at ga
lem. which was then a port OF entry
and sent to New York.
The trip down the creek was a tedi-
Gus one, as the stream hall us us
lance was too narrow for sailing. Be
sides it took a lot of time and labor.
Because of these conditions, as early
as 1910, the farmers began to think OF
digging a canal to the Delaware
about midway between Courses Land,
ing and Salem, where the creek turned
within two miles of the Delaware
River. The canal was intended 10
carry off the waters that flowed down
the upper branches of Salem creek IN
to the river instead of a c~irculatory
route of more than twenty miles to
the Delaware River. 1t also enabled
owners of land in this township and
a large part of Warrington and Piles
grove townships, as well as the owners
of extensive meadow and lowlands,
that lie below the dam, to send the
products from their farms to market
in less time and less cost. In that
year a petition was presented to n
Legislature, asking that a law be
passed to allow any persons interest
ed, to dig a canal from Salem creek
to the Delaware River. If this had
been done thousands of acres of land
then comparatively worthless would
have been made valuable. This plan
failed and nothing was done until
eight years later.
In 1778 another plan was introduced.
The Legislature of New Jersey passed
q law authorizing the owners of
meadow and swamp lands to form
themselves into companies, for the
purpose of banking and draining these
lands. Under this law there were
se~venty-one companies organized. But
nothing was done after this until 1900,
when a charter was granted by the
Legislature to the Penns Neck Canal
Company. All the necessary powers
were conferred but a sufficient amount
of stock was not taken and again
nothing was started. Several supple
ments to the charter were at different
times passed but no attempt at con-
~struction was made until some years
later when the work was begun and
the canal was dug, but proved a
failure.
Finally the State Legislature passed
a law taxing all the owners of low
lands and meadows that lay above
John Dennis canal to the head of tide
water, for the purpose of paying the
expense of digging a canal large
enough for navigation.
In September, 1870, work was be-
gun on the canal. 1t had been decid-
ed to cut thru in the line of the old
canal about one-half mile below
Hawks Bridge.
This time a dredge was used, but it
was found insufficient in strength to
perform the work, so a new and
stronger one was built and named
the "Salem." With this the canal was
finished in 1872.
1t was originally two rods wide, but
the erosion of the water soon widened
and deepened it. 1t is the oldest and
only free tidewater canal in the United
States. 1t has no locks and is free to
all traffic. AS soon as it was finished
a freight and passenger line of steam
boats began to trade thru the canal
with great profit to themselves and
much convenience to the farmers. 1t
can well be imagined what a sensa-
ton was created when the first steam
boat, the dolly Warden" steamed
IIlIu Lie CdHdl anu pdSSeu up W
Courses Landing, the head of navi-
cation. The small boy could not re-
sist the temptation of neglecting his
herd of cows or his blowing to view
this wonderful boat, just as at the
present time, he stops everything
when he hears the whir of an aer-
oplane engine, and with neck craned
and eyes on the sky above, he sees
the great bird-like machine go flying
over.
The entrance of this canal was of
enough importance for the United
States government to build a light
house at its mouth in 1876 and name
it the Deep Water Point range front
light.
This public work has proven of
great benefit to owners of land in
Upper Penns Neck, in a large part of
Warrington and Pilesgrove townships,
as we'll as owner of extensive
meadows that lie below the dam, be-
they can send their products to
market with less cost and labor. A
dam below the creek end of the canal
binders the water from flowing down
the creek and over the meadows. This
made the meadows more profitable.
Steam barges go through bringing