The Anthracite-Tidewater Canals
Chester Lloyd Jones
1908
The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
The coal-carrying canals were constructed during the period' of great national interest in the opening of water routes to the West. Unlike the larger projects, they were intended to supply transportation to a special interest, and upon the development of that interest-the coal trade-depended their whole prosperity. Theirconstruction took place at a time when public interest in waterways was at its height. Into the history of each enters much of the speculative element which attended the
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... tion of all the early projects for furnishing .cheap outlets for the undeveloped national resources. With the advent of the railroad as a transporter of coal their operation was found less and less profitable, and they have gradually dropped out of importance as industrial agents. It is the object of this paper to review the history of these waterways and to summarize the conditions which determine whether or not they may again become available under the new economic conditions which have developed or seem likely to develop. The Delaware and Hudson Canal The construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal was authorized by the joint action of the legislatures of Pennsylvania and New York in the sessions of 1822-3. The company became a banking concern and a large landholder-the latter through the desire to control tonnage for its waterway. The period in which the project was launched was cne of great speculation in public improvements, and the stock was subscribed to the full amount by two o'clock of the first day on which the books were opened. The original plan had been for a canal and slackwater navigation, but an improvement, to consist of a canal alone, and finally of a canal and a railroad was substituted. The first through shipments of coal took place early in 1829. The 1 The historical material used in this article is summanized from a monograph preface for the Carnegie Institution of Washington by the author.
doi:10.1177/000271620803100109
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