LOCAL HISTORY: STOREY, Henry Wilson. HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY PA. Vol. 1 The Lewis Publishing Co., 1907. Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Martha Humenik. There is an HTML version of this book, with page images, on the county web site: http://www.camgenpa.com/books/Storey/v1/ Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm _______________________________________________ CHAPTER XV. THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL. Do the residents of Johnstown know that portions of the Third, Ninth and Tenth wards of the city from 1832 to 1857 formed one of the important points of the great transportation system of our country; that this territory was covered with water from four to six feet in depth, and scores of boats floated over the space now occupied by the Gautier Steel Department of the Cambria Iron Company, the electric street cars, stores,shops, mills, churches and houses? The Acts of the General Assembly for the State of Pennsylvania passed March 27, 1824, and April 11, 1825, authorized surveys to be made to ascertain the most practicable route to connect the effete East with the wild and woolly West, wherein the Allegheny mountains were the division line. The Act of April 11, 1825, authorized surveys to be made for the Pennsylvania Canal, directing that the following routes be examined: First. From Philadelphia, through Chester and Lancaster counties, and thence by the west branch of the Susquehanna, and the waters thereof, to the Allegheny and Pittsburg; also, from the Allegheny to Lake Erie. Second. From Philadelphia, by the Juniata, to Pittsburg, and from thence to Lake Erie. Third. From Philadelphia to the northern boundary of the State, toward the Seneca or Cayuga Lake. Fourth. And one other, through Cumberland and Franklin counties, to the Potomac river. Fifth. And one other, by the Conococheague, or Monocacy, and Conewago to the Susquehanna. Sixth. And one other, through the county of Bedford, to connect the route of the proposed Chesapeake & Ohio canal with the Juniata route, as aforesaid. The Board of Canal Commissioners made their report, after an examination of the aforementioned routes had been made and adopted the one through Johnstown, and they were authorized to build the line by Act of Assembly of February 25, 1826. 331 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. This action of the General Assembly determined the question of the natural advantages which we possessed over all others. The first systematic method of transportation after the pack mules were the turnpikes. The Federal Government built the National Pike in 1822, under the Monroe Administration. It began at Cumberland, Maryland, and terminated at Wheeling, West Virginia, but was subsequently extended to Illinois. The Somerset and Bedford pike had been authorized in 1816, and the Northern pike, passing through Ebensburg, and other turnpikes were in operation on the Alleghenies. In competition with these methods the State of Pennsylvania attempted the experiment of crossing the mountains by a railroad, and built the Pennsylvania canal, and the Allegheny Portage Railroad. The former was ready for business in the spring of 1832, and the latter in the spring of 1834. The Erie canal between Albany and Buffalo had been opened in 1825. The Pennsylvania system of improvements contemplated and constructed consisted of a canal, with locks and dams, from Pittsburg to Johnstown; a railroad on which the cars were to be drawn by horses, afterward by locomotives, between Johnstown and Hollidaysburg; a canal from Hollidaysburg to Columbia, through the Juniata Valley and along the Susquehanna river, and a railroad from Columbia to the Schuylkill river, in Philadelphia. It was a combination of steam and water. When this system was completed Andrew Jackson was serving his second term as President of the Union of States, and, considering the progress made in the arts and sciences, and the better means men and women have of gaining a livelihood, the nineteenth century bids fair to stand as a chief epoch in the history of the world, and when it is thus truthfully recorded, Johnstown will be one of the landmarks in the methods of transportation. To operate the canal system it was as essential to have a basin for the loading and unloading of boats and transferring goods in bulk from the railroad on land to the boats on water and vice versa, as it is now for railroads to have transfer depots and great yards for the shifting of cars and making up trains. There were two basins on the Pennsylvania canal-one at Pittsburg and the other in Johnstown-the latter, with its appurtenances, occupying that part of the Third, Ninth, and Tenth wards between Clinton and Railroad streets on the west and 332 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. south and the "Five Points" and Portage street on the east and north. That portion of land lying between the Basin and the Little [Drawing] The Canal Basin at Johnstown Conemaugh river, from the "Five Points" to the waste weir, at the Overhead Bridge, was known as Long Island, but commonly received only the name of "The Island." The waste weir 333 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. at the entrance of the basin and under the bridge, was one hundred feet in width, and from the waste weir to the aqueduct, in the rear of the Cambria Iron Company's office, all the land lying between the canal and the river was known as “Goose Island." The widest point on "The Island" was about three hundred feet, while "Goose Island" was a little less. The "Five Points" was so called on account of the converging of five thoroughfares at that place, namely: Portage, Railroad, Church, and Depot (also known as Fenlon) streets, and the Old Portage railroad, coming in from the east. This was the connecting link of the land and water system of transportation of that day. The Overhead Bridge, built in 1835, "was a wooden structure, extending from Canal street, below Clinton, across the canal and waste weir, and a point of "Goose Island" to "The Island." It was three hundred feet long and sufficiently wide to allow teams to pass; it rested on an abutment and pier on the Canal side, and had a gradual grade to the level of Portage street, on the Island. The roadway on the Canal-street side was rather steep, with steps on the lower side for foot travelers. The bridge was, not taken away until after the war. William Flattery was a justice of the peace, whose office was on the "Goose Island" side and midway on the bridge. Here justice was administered in an able manner for many years. The 'Squire was elected one of the associate judge's in the old district court when it was established in this city in 1869. The water for the basin and canal was let into the former through a sluice from the Little Conemaugh river at the "Five Points" also in another way, through a forty-foot feeder, from Suppes' Dam, in the Stony creek, down along the present line of the Baltimore & Ohio road, through Sharpsburg (named thus in honor of Thomas Sharp, and a part of the present Fourth ward, between Green Hill and the Stonycreek river, from the corner of Bedford and Baumer streets, up to the Horner line), thence across, in a straight line with Feeder street, to the Basin. The Feeder was the division line between the boroughs of Johnstown and Conemaugh, and is now the line separating the Third and Ninth wards of the city. The Feeder was finished in 1833, a year after the opening of the canal. The canal proper, which was about sixty feet wide on the top line and intended to contain at least four feet of "water, began at the Overhead bridge, situated about fifty feet below 334 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. the mouth of Clinton street, and followed the present line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the continuation of the tracks of the Cambria Steel Company to the blast furnaces. For the purpose of controlling the quantity of water necessary to float the crafts, or to draw off the water to make repairs, a waste weir was run from the Basin to the Little Conemaugh river, dividing "Goose Island" and "The Island" commencing at the upper side of the Weighlock. It also formed an outlet from the weighscales which were immediately west of the bridge connected with the waste weir. Within a short time after the canal was put in operation it was discovered necessary to have a reserve body of water to fill the canal during the dry season, and in 1835 the State began to construct the South Fork Reservoir, which was situated about sixteen miles from Johnstown, at an altitude of four hundred feet above the town. It was an immense affair, having a basin of thirty-two acres, its extreme length being three miles, from one-fourth to a mile in width, and at the breast about seventy-two feet in height. The State exhausted its finances, and did not have money enough to finish the dam, which was abandoned for a few years. In 1845 it was completed, and water was stored therein. In 1847 it broke and caused considerable damage to the canal and basin in Johnstown. One boat was taken through a break in the canal and passed under the aqueduct, in the rear of the Cambria Iron Company's office. In July, 1862, two small breaks occurred but no serious damage followed and the dam was again practically abandoned until about 1880, when it was rebuilt by the South Fork Fishing Club. On the 31st of May, 1889, the dam broke the second time, with terrible results to human life. The Weighlock was on the north side of the canal, at the entrance to the basin, about a hundred and fifty feet below Clinton street, and immediately below the bridge which connected "The Island" with the town. From the beginning of the operation of the canal up to 1835, when the bridge was erected, the only way to get a team to town from that portion of "The Island," or "Goose Island," was to cross under the aqueduct on the bed of the river, which became impassable during high water, or go up around the "Five Points." Until 1835, when a weighlock was built here, all the boats, with their lading, were weighed in Pittsburg. The manner of weighing a boat was a very interesting proceeding. After it had been run into the lock 335 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. at either end, the water gates were raised, and the lock being made as water tight as possible was drained through a rape leading to the waste weir. Thus the boat was left resting on the cradle, or frame of the scales, when it was as accurately weighed as if on land. Then the gates were lowered and the water let in until it became level with the body of the canal. The position of collector was one of great prominence and importance, and paid a salary of $1,000 per year, with house rent. The office of collector, as well as that of weighmaster, was sought after by politicians from every part of the State. The [Photo] Weighlock at Johnstown, Near the Corner of Clinton and Washington Streets. collectors were: John Mathews, of Johnstown, 1833-36; Frederick Sharretts, of Johnstown, 1836-39; James Potts of Butler, 1839-44; W. A. Wasson, of Erie, 1844- 47; Obed Edson, of Warren, 1847-50; David Fullwood, of Greensburg, 1850-53; Albert Marchand, of Greensburg, 1853-57, and Frank W. Hay, for the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1857-1860. The collector's office was opposite the Weighlock, on the ground now owned by the George Ludwig estate. After the weight of the boat and its lading had been ascertained, the captain of the "Cambria," the "Transit," or the "Philadelphia," as it might be, at the Collector's office, paid 336 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. his toll and received his "clearance" papers, which were in effect, authority to use the canal. At several points between Johnstown and Pittsburg the captain would have to produce his clearance for indorsement by the State officials to guard against an increase of lading. The basin was semi-circular in shape, commencing at the packet slip, at Canal (now Washington) and Clinton streets, and following Railroad street around to Depot street (or which became more familiar, Fenlon street) at the "Five Points," thence to Portage street, and thence in a straight line to the bridge at the waste weir and the weighlock. It was six hundred yards in length, and at Singer street, which was the widest point, two hundred yards in width. The first slip off Clinton and Canal streets was used by the line of packet boats which carried passengers during the years 1832 and 1833. In 1834 it was moved to the first dock above the bridge on "The Island,'' and remained there until the flood of 1847, when it was damaged; again it was taken back to the corner of Clinton and Canal streets, where it remained until the system was abandoned. Richard M. Johnson, vice president under Van Buren, was one of the prominent passengers sailing on the packet from "The Island." In 1832, Henry Clay, the great leader of the "National Republicans," had been defeated for the Presidency by Andrew Jackson, and in the fall of 1835 he came to Johnstown on the Pioneer line of packets, on his way to assume his duties as United States Senator at the opening session of Congress. The packet, slip was the centre of attraction for the public, and at times that portion of the town was thronged with many hundreds of travelers waiting at the wharf for the arrival and departure of boats to and from the West, and for passenger trains to and from the East. On both sides of the Basin were warehouses and docks, or slips; on each side of the warehouse was a slip, fifteen by eighty feet, so that two boats could be loaded or unloaded at one time. A warehouse occupied a strip of land about, seventy-five feet, in width, and extended into the Basin from either Railroad or Portage streets (or, as the latter was also known, Broad street) about one hundred feet, with one or two sidings from the road to the rear end of the dock. The slip where the boat ran along-side of the warehouse, was from sixty to seventy-five feet in 337 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. width. The tracks of the Portage road ran on State ground, to Clinton street, between Railroad street and the Basin. When the big cars which were eight feet in width and from sixteen to twenty in length were introduced, some difficulty was experienced in getting them from the main tracks to some of the sidings. At this time, about 1851, the Pennsylvania Railroad commenced hauling through freight, before its line was connected between Johnstown and Pittsburg, and the Canan brothers-William, Robert and S. Dean Canan-were its agents at this place. Quite frequently the late Thomas A. Scott, president of the company, who was assistant, secretary of war under Lincoln, took a hand as an ordinary laborer in carrying or trucking goods between the warehouses and the big cars. The tracks of the railroad also ran down Portage street from the "Five Points" to the packet slip on "The Island" for the same purposes. Prior to the flood of 1889, Portage street was about ninety feet in width, the widest thoroughfare in this vicinity, and many inquiries were suggested by this feature. Its original width had been three rods or from the Basin to the tracks of the Portage railroad, which occupied forty feet, leaving sufficient room for hauling the traffic between the warehouses and road. When the Canal was abandoned, Messrs. Sylvester Welch and Samuel Jones, who owned "The Island," donated the forty-foot strip to the public. Thus it became Broad street. The first warehouse on Railroad street was the "Brick Warehouse" next the packet slip, which was used for a short time by the Reliance line of boats, for which George W. Swank was agent, but subsequently for commercial purposes by Mr. Swank and Henry Sutton, a son-in-law of Peter Levergood, who were partner's in the merchandise business. Afterward the Canan Brothers occupied it for the flour trade. The site is now used by Love, Sunshine Co. The second warehouse was used by the Dispatch line, of which Thomas Bingham was the agent, and the third was on the site of Barnes' blacksmith shop at the time of the Flood, near the mouth of Jackson street. It had been used by John Royer for a short time for the Pennsylvania & Ohio Line. The third warehouse was also occupied by John O'Neill, agent for the Ohio & Kentucky line, and for a short time by the Merchants' line and Kiers'. Evan Roberts was agent for the Western line, Messrs. Walsh & Johnston for the Reliance line, Vol. 1-22 338 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. Jesse Patterson also was agent for the Mechanics' line, Frederick Leidy for the Pilot line and Henry Keatzer for the Union line. Others were occupied by the Perseverance line, whose agent was John Harrold, about 1837; also the Independent line, with Jesse Patterson as its agent. Samuel Leidy used the first warehouse west of the Feeder for a short time, and, in 1854, White & Plitt the warehouse above the Feeder. This was after the opening of the Pennsylvania road. For many years before that time the Pennsylvania & Ohio Transportation line occupied the latter, and the Union line of which John Royer was agent used the warehouse and space between that of the Pennsylvania & Ohio and Singer street. Above the Union line slip was the warehouse of John Pickworth, who conducted a line of boats for way traffic. Next to it was Speer's yellow warehouse, near to Singer-street entrance occupied by the Canan brothers while agents for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Next to it was the warehouse of Peter Levergood. Above Haynes street (Conemaugh Borough) and toward the "Five Points" was the boatyard of Captain Thomas Young, who did a large business, and who erected the palatial "American House," on Church street, about 1832, and owned "Young's field," above that famous hostelry. The "Five Points" was the workshop of the Pennsylvania improvements, for here were located the shops, locomotives, woodyard, boatyard, railroad, weigh- scales; the tracks running into the Basin for section boats; the "Y" for turning engines, which run from Railroad street across Fenlon street to State depot, then out the upper leg to the Portage road. A short distance above the "Y" there was also a turn-table, built in the tracks, and to let the water into the Basin through a sluice the little Conemaugh river was dammed near the head of Portage street, or about two hundred feet north of the present intersection of Railroad and Centre streets. "The Island" was the strip of ground between the Basin and the Little Conemaugh river, extending from the dam to the waste wier. It was about one hundred yards in width, and on the north side of Portage street was used for the State depot and shops, for a distance of about three hundred feet below the breast of the dam; below that a parcel of ground about the same size was vacant. It was owned by Welch & Jones, as all the land on the Island was in their possession. Below the vacant strip was a square used by the Johnstown 339 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. Foundry, subsequently occupied by Pringle, Rose, and Edson, a firm of contractors and builders, composed of John P. Pringle, Wesley J. Rose, and Walter S. Edson. From this point down to the waste wier was one of the busy places of Johnstown, with its stores, offices, hotels and some residences. Headrick's Hotel, with its town pump on the sidewalk, was one of the leading inns of the village. On the basin, or the southerly side of Portage street, Welch & Jones erected a series of docks, similar to those on the other side of the basin. The first slip above the overhead bridge, at the waste weir, was used for the packets for about thirteen years. The packet lines for hauling passengers were the Express, Good Intent, Pioneer, and Leech boats. At times emigrants and other passengers flocked across the bridge from "The Island," the former with their blankets, buckets and baggage. On the basin side of Portage street, and above the packet slip, the first warehouse was Binghams', for their line of boats; next to it was the Leech warehouse, for their boats; above it was Jenkin Jones' boatyard, and just beyond it a wharf, occupied by Taff & O'Connor for their line of car-boats. They did not need a warehouse, as their boxes, or car-boats, as they were termed, were lifted from a barge to a truck, by a crane and vice versa. Above the breast of the dam, at the "Five Points," the water was about five feet deep, and extended from Prospect Hill to the Portage road, a breadth of over five hundred feet. In those days the business center of Johnstown was on Canal street (now Washington), Clinton, Railroad and Portage streets. The Foster House on the northeast corner of Clinton and Locust streets, where the St. John's Catholic church is erected, was one of the handsomest and most popular hotels on the whole system of transportation. On the southerly side of Railroad street were stores, hotels and residences, some of which were owned by Mrs. Catherine Curran, hotel; John Barnes; John Kingston, hotel; J. Flattery, R. H. Canan, Dr. Shoenberger, John Stormer, John Berlin, John Farrel, R. Brown, and Judge Murray, residences. Probably the most popular and interesting resident on "The Island" was "Kaiser," with his inseparable companion-a dog. A few persons knew his name, Jacob Gasehnidley, but to the public he was always "Kaiser." He was a quaint character, and a favorite with every one on account of his pleasant dis- 340 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. position, and especially with the boys and girls, who would greet him with the refrain: "Mister Kaiser, do you vant to py a dog? Hes only got dree feet, Und a leedle stumby tail. Say, Kaiser! do you vant to py a dog?" Or this: "Say, Kaiser, will your dog bite?" Washington street was then known as Canal street, and had a water frontage from Clinton street to the Cement mill, at the east end of the aqueduct, which was built by Robert Sutton and James P. White, in 1828, but was subsequently operated by the late Major John Linton and George Merriman. The first aqueduct was a wooden structure, with a roof like those of the covered bridges formerly in use, and had a towing path on either side with no windows or openings, except one the width of a strip of weather-boarding under the eaves. The towing path on the south side of the aqueduct and canal was used for hauling the boats until the weighlock was constructed in 1835, when a bridge was thrown across the canal near the crossing at the Pennsylvania Railroad Station, and the north side of the canal was used thereafter for that purpose. The first aqueduct was swept, away by a flood in 1855, and was rebuilt by Wesley J. Rose, of the firm of Pringle, Rose & Edson. It was not covered, like its predecessor. It is probable that "The Island," which, prior to the construction of the canal and basin, included what was afterward known as "Goose Island," was created by natural law. There was always a run, or a little race, from a point in the Little Conemaugh river, above the "Five Points," down through the territory afterward used for the basin and canal to the aqueduct. The best proof of this is Buckwalter's grist-mill, which was erected about 1800 when Joseph Johns laid out the plan of the town, and which stood on the "Goose Island" side of the race, just below Franklin street. The house used by the late David Creed, as a dwelling and store, on the southwest corner of Washington and Franklin streets, and torn down by him a few years before the flood, was the house occupied by the Buckwalter family in connection with the running of the grist-mill. Frequently there were from twenty to forty boats lying in 341 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. the basin, and, when some unusual demand was made, transportation facilities were as difficult to procure as now with the scarcity of freight cars. The section boat was the invention of Captain John Dougherty, of Hollidaysburg, who held a patent for it. As originally designed, it was in three sections, which when coupled together made it about the size of a regular line boat of seventy-five feet in length, sixteen feet in width and eight feet in depth. When brought to Young's boatyard the sections were detached and each run on a truck and hauled over the Portage Railroad to [Photo] Aqueduct Across Little Conemaugh River, 1845. George W. Storm, Artist. Hollidaysburg, where the three parts were placed in the canal, coupled together, and taken on East. Captain Dougherty sold his interest in the three-section plan to Peter Shoenberger for a good price, but immediately thereafter he placed a four- section boat on the market, which being a great improvement, as the carrying capacity was largely increased at a very small expense, completely supplanted the three-section plan. The former were introduced about 1834 and the latter in 1842. 342 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. The size of the locks was the only disadvantage in the use of the four- section boats. They had been constructed for boats about seventy-five feet in length, and the four-section class being longer, encountered some difficulty in getting into a lock. But by running the boat into the lock diagonally and swinging the rudder at right angles, the feat was performed. The section in the bow of the boat was used for the mules' feed and harness, the two middle sections for merchandise, and the last one for the living quarters of the crew. It was a room eight by ten feet and served as kitchen, dining room, parlor and chamber, with a row of bunks on either side, and lockers on the floor. The section boat was the consummation of the projectors of the great state improvements to transfer goods from Pittsburg to Philadelphia and vice versa, without breaking bulk. These section boats were the forerunners of the idea of bulkheads, now considered so necessary in the great liners between New York and London, altho for an entirely different purpose. The former was for a rapid and economical method of transferring goods, while the latter is regarded as the one great method of saving life. If one part of the vessel is stoved in, the closed bulkheads, put up in sections in the hold of the ocean liners, will prevent a ship sinking. The regular line canal boats were of one piece and were loaded and unloaded by hand and cranes, at the various slips; but there was another class of boats known as barges or car-boats. These were about seven and a-half feet square. A. car-boat was loaded with through freight at Pittsburg or Philadelphia, and brought to the basin by their respective methods-on the canal by loading several of these boxes on a barge, and on the railroad by having a single box put on a truck. At the upper end of the basin a crane lifted the box from a barge to a truck, or vice versa without breaking bulk, and thus the car-boat passed on, either by land or water. A barge on the canal could haul ten car-boats by placing them in two rows, each five car-boats in length. These boats were operated by Messrs. Taff & O'Connor. A regular line freight boat was constructed to carry about forty tons of freight or three hundred and fifty barrel's of flour. Human muscle and skill moved the boats from one place to another in the basin, and to or from the basin to the weighlock. With the aid of a twenty-foot pole, a man on each side of the boat could shift the craft from place to place. 343 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. During the operation of the canal the Laurel Hill Gap was a lively and interesting place; Johnstown was the eastern terminus, and Blairsville, four miles beyond the gap, and thirty-three miles from here was two hundred and twenty-three feet lower, therefore it was necessary to have locks and dams through the gap for the safe and proper movement of boats. Between these points where were thirty-five locks, five dams, and two aqueducts across the Conemaugh river, and a small one across Tub-Mill run at Bolivar. The old boatmen who blew the horn and snubbed the boat for and at these locks will remember Patch's, which was the first one going west, and was located near the blast furnaces of the Cambria Iron Works. The old lock house built in 1833, was torn down April 28, 1894. Then they followed in this order: Ellis' Lock, at Prosser's run; Perkins' at Coopersdale; Bolton's lock, nearly opposite Domick Point; Stokes', Nos. 1 and 2, which were in dam No. 1; locks Nos. 1 and 2, at the One-mile dam, below Sang Hollow; Louther's lock, at Conemaugh Furnace, at Guard-lock dam, No. 2; Steel's lock, one mile west; Lawson's, at Nineveh; Logan's, one mile-west; two at Abnerville-Reilley's and Mills'; Centreville locks, Nos. 1 and 2, at Centreville; Liggett's, opposite Lacolle; Lockport, Nos. 1 and 2, at Lockport; Bolivar locks, Nos. 1 and 2, at Bolivar. From this point, to Blairsville, a distance of eight miles through the ridge, the fall was about sixty feet, and required thirteen locks, which were: McAbee's lock, one mile west; Marron's or O'Connor's, one-fourth mile west; Brantlinger's, one-fourth mile west; Walkinshaw's, one-fourth mile west; Sims', one-fourth mile west; Henderson's, one and a half miles west, at Guard-lock dam, No. 3; Nixon's lock, at the tail of the Ridge dam. No. 4, and Donnelly's, at its head; Doty's, near Blairsville Intersection; Lowry's, three-fourths of a mile west; Grays, at Cokeville; Wolf's locks, Nos. 1 and 2, one-half mile west, and one in the slackwater of Guard-lock dam No. 5, at Blairsville. The dams were the One-mile dam, below Sang Hollow; the Three-mile dam, at Conemaugh Furnace; Ridge dam, between Sims' and Henderson's locks, and Pack-Saddle dam, in the Ridge, between Nixon's and Donnelly's locks. While no serious accidents ever occurred to the line of passenger boats or cars, yet they did happen to freight boats, as will probably always occur when the movement of persons or goods is heavy. In the spring of 1853, the "Cambria," of the Clark & Thaw line of boats, of this city, was captain, was sunk 344 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. at the warehouse in the basin in Pittsburg. A large quantity of flour had been placed on the second floor of the warehouse, and the big brick building collapsed while the "Cambria" was being unloaded and the debris fell on the boat, sinking it and injuring some of the crew. The first boat to use the canal was a flatboat, commanded by Captain John Pickworth who brought it into town in December, 1831. But it was the only one that year, and it "grounded" in the aqueduct, for the want of sufficient water to float it. However the citizens were so enthused over the fact that a boat had come, that hundreds turned out to help the captain get his boat through, and by means of ropes fastened to the vessel the men and boys pulled her through in safety. It must be remembered that the Pennsylvania system of traveling and transporting freight was the most expeditious method known at that time. The average time required for a section boat to make a round trip between Pittsburg and Philadelphia was three weeks. This, of course, included the time for loading and unloading, laying up on Sundays, detention on account of a break in the canal or for the want of sufficient water, or probably, a tie-up to let some of the crew go to a country dance. Seven days was a very quick return trip for a passenger between these points. In this day the trip can be made in fifteen hours. The passenger on a packet paid $3.50 for his fare and $1.50 for his meals, and had the privilege of spending thirty hours en route to Pittsburg. Probably the last boat to bring a load of merchandise to this city was the "Monongahela," commanded by Captain George Rutledge, of Napoleon street, who brought a cargo of salt and grain from Livermore about December 1, 1860. At that date the canal system was practically abandoned, as no repairs had been made and there were no lock-tenders. Mr. Rutledge had spent from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening coming that far east, twelve hours being necessary to make the trip from Nineveh Lock to Johnstown. On August 29, 1851, there appeared in the newspaper two items-"The Last of the Packets" and "The First Train"-containing an account of the departure of the last of the packet boats on Sunday previous, which thereafter for a short time were run from Lockport, and the passing through the town on Monday, August 25th, of the first Pennsylvania railroad train 345 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. to Lockport. On April 18, 1855, a steamboat made her appearance in the basin. It was nothing more nor less than one of the Pennsylvania & Ohio line canal boats that had been made into a steamboat by placing an old Portage engine on her. She was intended to tow stone boats on the Monongahela. This was not the first steamboat that appeared on the canal. In 1834, according to the Ebensburg Sky, a steam canal boat called the "Adaline" made a trip from Allegheny to Johnstown. She was moved by a propeller in a compartment in her stem, notwithstanding which she washed the bank of the canal to such an extent that her use on the canal had to be discontinued. Ephraim Stitt, of Blairsville, was probably the last captain to carry through freight from Pittsburg. He brought pig metal and iron to the Cambria Iron Company in 1859. Mr. George Knowlton, of Walnut Grove, one of the oldest practical boatmen on the canal, ran a flatboat between Johnstown and Conemaugh furnace in 1860. The flood of 1889 swept "Goose Island," "The Island," and the basin clear and clean. In that year the council of Conemaugh borough abandoned the popular and wide thoroughfare of Portage street, with all other highways north of Centre street. That street is about midway between Portage and Railroad streets, and lengthwise across the basin from Clinton street to the "Five Points," and, as will be observed from the accompanying diagram, which was copied from a survey made in 1854, Portage street began three hundred feet north of Washington street and extended up to the "Five Points." The boats ran day and night, and laid up invariably on Saturday night not later than 11:59 o'clock until Monday, with one or two exceptions. The motive power was six mules or four horses, to each boat, three mules or two horses whichever were used, in service hauling the craft and the others in the bow of the boat, resting until their turn came; but in some way, boats that were not in a hurry got along with either one horse or one mule. They were changed, every six hours, the term of service being called a "trick," and at the same time the steersmen and drivers exchanged places. The boating season was usually from March 10th to December, sometimes extending to Christmas. The Laurel Hill Gap was, therefore, a very important piece of topography in a commercial sense during the operation of the canal, and it is the best opening in the mountains for a steam 346 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. road. The nearest gap on the north is the Blacklick, and on the south the Castleman river, a tributary of the Youghiogheny, neither of which makes so direct and practical a route between the east and west as the Laurel Hill Gap. Since 1851 the Pennsylvania railroad has occupied the south side of the gap for its main lines, and since 1887 has used a portion of the north side for its through freight traffic by way of Allegheny City. The average grade between Johnstown and Blairsville Intersection is about two and a half feet to the mile. In traveling one passes through the beautiful and romantic Pack Saddle in the Chestnut Ridge, where there is a roadway for two tracks, and no more, blasted from the rocks. At one place the tracks are about one hundred feet, almost perpendicular from the Conemaugh river; an unobserving traveler would likely believe he was crossing a bridge. On Chestnut Ridge it is from six hundred to eight hundred feet from river to peak. The land is covered with forest and rock, and the only use that has been made of these two great features is as a thoroughfare and a place from which to quarry stone. There is mountainous scenery and little else, and at the narrowest point the pass is about three hundred feet at water line. May 1, 1863, the Pennsylvania Railroad abandoned the canal between Johnstown and Blairsville, and to-day the Canal system of transportation in the state has almost entirely ceased to be a factor. The only ocular proof that it ever did exist in this town is the house in which the lock-keeper resided, at Ellis Lock, which is still standing at the lower end of the Fourteenth ward, and some spots of the old Feeder along the Sandyvale cemetery. The Basin has been gradually filled since its abandonment, but it was entirely so in 1878, when stone piers were built in the bed for the erection of the Gautier Steel Department. The building now occupied by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad for a passenger station, on the corner of Franklin & Washington streets, was built in the bed of the canal in 1866. Johnstown has lost its importance as one of the leading features of the canal system, but the canal's successors-the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroads-have done more for it, and, with the unlimited quantity of cheap fuel and other natural advantages, it remains one of the leading steel manufacturing cities of the world.