Traveling on the Pennsylvania
Main Line Canal
What was it like to travel on a canal boat? A
small house occupiedmuch of the deck of a canal
boat. The house was divided into three sections – a
kitchen and separate housing for men and women.
Themen’s section also served as a dining room.
Mules or horses pulled a canal boat by a long rope.
The animals walked on a path beside the canal. For
exercise, some passengers would walk along the tow
path with the animals. Aman at the back of the boat
guided it with a stick-like rudder. In good weather,
passengers could sit on top of the house. But they
had to look ahead for low-lying bridges!
Meals cost between 25 to 37 cents. Small
tables were put together to formone long table. At
6:00pm, you were expected to eat your dinner. You
might have your choice of bread, butter, salmon,
liver, ham, steak, sausage, potatoes, pickles,
pudding, tea, or coffee.
At 9:00pm, cots were hung in rows from the
walls. They were six feet long and two feet wide.
Heavier people slept on cots closest to the floor. If
there were not enough cots for the 25-40
passengers, men slept on the floor. Early in the
morning, passengers went out on deck to wash. They
scooped water out of the canal with dippers. How
would you like to travel under these conditions?
Constructing a Canal
Building a canal was not an easy job. Large and
long ditches carved the earth. Tunnels had to be dug
through hills. Special water bridges, called
aqueducts
, were built to direct the canal across
rivers and creeks. Dams were built on rivers to
supply the canals with a steady amount of water.
Locks
with gates were built at different sections of
the waterway to control the raising or lowering of
boats as needed.
Many canals were opened around Pennsylvania.
More farmproducts raised in the western part of the
state could be sent to eastern cities, and goods
produced in the east could be sent westward. Coal
and lumber could be transportedmore easily from
the rural regions to the cities. This was very good for
business. However, the Canal Era did not last too
long. As soon as theMain Line Canal was completed
in 1834, it was outdated.
Houses oftenwere built on the deck of canal boats used for
travel. There were three sections, separate housing formen
and women, and also a kitchen. Themen’s housing doubled
as the dining area. In this picture, a family waits for a
water leak that drained the canal to be repaired.
66
Understanding Pennsylvania
