Canals, rails helped build area

By Marcia Moore mmoore@dailyitem.com

The now-obsolete canals and still-thriving railroad were instrumental in shaping Central Pennsylvania in the decades after the nation’s founding.

Beginning about five decades after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Northumberland grew into a major traffic hub for 19th-century travel thanks to its location at the confluence of the North and West branches of the Susquehanna River.

The Pennsylvania Canal was built between 1826 and 1835 largely by Irish immigrants who were paid “pennies a day and a cup of whiskey every hour,” said Mike McWilliams, vice president of the Northumberland County Historical Society.

Since the Susquehanna River was shallow and unnavigable, the canals, dams, locks and towpaths were built to allow transportation on the water of lumber, coal and other goods throughout the commonwealth.

The 41-mile-long Susquehanna Division stretched from the Juniata River near Duncannon to Northumberland; the 73-mile West Branch Division went from Northumberland to Farrandsville in Clinton County and the 169-mile North Branch Division went from Northumberland to the New York state border.

See BUILD, Page A2

Above: North Shore Railroad marketing director Todd Hunter at the company’s 356 Priestley Ave. office in Northumberland. The building originally served as a passenger train station and later as a local freight office. Top: A boat moves through the canal in Milton.

Above photo by Marcia Moore/The Daily Item, top photo provided

BUILD, from Page A1 The artificial waterways were the first major engineering feat in the United States carried out without involvement from the English, McWilliams said.

“It was a big deal. The canals opened our area to the cities,” he said. “Without them, they’d still be using pack horses and wagons.”

Coal, lumber and agriculture were the main goods moved along the canal, including whiskey produced by many local farmers who operated distilleries and were able to ship their product to more customers. In addition to providing a delivery source for needed goods, the canals carried people on packet boats to and from the area.

The Bank of Northumberland was established in 1831 as a direct result of the economic boom.

The canals served communities in other ways. On May 14, 1880, the waterway acted as a fire break and safety from the flames of a rapidly spreading fire that destroyed more than 600 homes in Milton.

“People threw furniture in the canal to save it,” McWilliams said By the mid-1800s, flooding and the Pennsylvania Railroad were hastening the demise of the canal system in the state.

“The canals cost a lot to maintain and they wanted to get rid of it,” McWilliams said of state leaders who found an interested buyer in the operators of the Pennsylvania Railroad who needed right-of-ways to build train tracks. It was also a way for rail operators to stifle competition.

In 1857, Pennsylvania Railroad purchased the Main Line Canal for $7.5 million and less than 50 years later, nearly all of the state’s canals were closed and the Valley was served by three railroads, the Delaware Lackawanna, Philadelphia Reading and Northern Central.

Coal, lumber and agriculture continued to be the main commodities being transported “The railroads were a lifeline. To mine coal, you need timber, and people need to eat,” said Todd Hunter, marketing director at North Shore Railroad Company. Rail cars traveling from Sunbury to Bellefonte “were filled with milk every day.”

The expansion of the railroad led to significant growth for anthracite companies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and Northumberland was an essential transit point for the railroads.

Beyond the Valley, the railroad helped maintain the Union during the Civil War by providing transportation for soldiers, weapons and coal used by naval ships.

The railway continues to be an integral part of the U.S. economy for moving goods throughout the country.

North Shore Railroad Company and Affiliates, comprised of six short-line railroads in Central Pennsylvania that operate on 256 miles of tracks owned by the SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority, was established in 1984.

Hunter works at North Shore Railroad’s main office building at 356 Priestley Ave. in Northumberland, which served as a main hub during the railroad’s heyday.

“Before UPS, FedEx and Amazon, packages were moved by rail and this building back in the day is where people would pick up their packages,” he said, pointing to the original counter where customers were served. “People depended on the railroad for day-to-day stuff until the 1960s.”

In the Valley, there are many plastics companies and other manufacturers, such as Weis in Sunbury and Chef Boyardee in Milton, which continue to depend on the railway daily to move bulk goods, Hunter said.

“We’re still relevant today. (Rail) is an industry at the forefront of people’s lives, he said. “Every car we handle holds four truckloads of material. Those are trucks we are keeping off the road, and that lowers costs to the consumer.

“If you have a viable local rail system, you have a solid local economy.”

A canal boat in a 90-foot by 17-foot lock.

Photo provided