Saturday, December 03, 2005

On the Susquehanna River--1839


I found this reproduction at a flea market of an 1839 engraving of men working the canal boats on the Susquehanna Division of the Pennsylvania Canal. After it was completed about 1830, the Pennsylvania Canal prompted the initial growth of Pennsylvania's anthracite coal mining region, but in the mid 1800s the state's canal system was swallowed by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The engraving is a steel engraving, hand-colored, drawn by the English illustrator William Henry Bartlett and engraved by H. Griffiths for an 1839 publication entitled American Scenery. The caption says this is a view at Liverpool. Liverpool is a small picturesque town on the west bank between Sunbury and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The river here is still very wide, but small mountains jut up on each shore. Liverpool is now separated from the the river by Route 15 and a railroad line. Remnants of the old canal and its tow path still parallel the bank.

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