The West Branch of the Pennsylvania Canal System

The West Branch of the Pennsylvania Canal System. Limestone Run, also, The Founding of Milton. , In March 1828, the state legislature authorized the construction of the "canal system" so that the products of Pennsylvania could be transported effectively. The West Branch Division of the Pennsylvania Canal System started at Muncy, went through Milton to Northumberland and on to the Chesapeake Bay. The canal ran north-south and parallel to the west side of the present day railroad tracks, between Filbert and Arch Streets. , With the canal completed on Oct. 2, 1830, John Deeter ran his new Milton-made boat, the "West Branch," through town. , The early canals were ditches 3 to 5 feet deep and 15 to 40 feet wide. The ditches were lined with clay and crushed rock to reduce leakage and prevent erosion. There were paths along the sides of the canal for mule teams, hitched by towline, to pull the boats and barges. In order to compensate for elevation changes in the terrain, canal locks were constructed to raise or lower the boats. The stone-lined lock chambers, with wooden watertight gates at each end, would accommodate one canal boat at a time. With both gates closed and sealed, water would be either removed to lower the boat or added to raise the boat. The water would flow in or out of the lock by gravity through a reservoir. , There were three locks in the Milton vicinity, including one slightly south of Watsontown and another one four miles south of Milton. The third lock was in Milton near Cameron Avenue, where W.C. Fortney, better known as "Cappy," manned the lock tender's house. Fortney, who became lock tender a few years before the canal was abandoned, had been boating on the canal from the time he was eight years old and later became a well-known Captain on the West Branch Canal. , Wharves, docks, and warehouses lined both sides of the canal through Milton. Two of the biggest warehouses were Sweeney's, near Broadway and Nagle's Wharf, located at the rear of the current site of the Standard Journal. , A round trip to Baltimore could be made in twelve days, if a boat had a day and a night crew and kept moving continually. A complete crew of this kind usually consisted of two drivers, two steersmen and the captain. Also, there were three mules on each shift. , In addition to the large cargo boats, "packet boats" were operated to carry passengers on the West Branch Canal. These boats were elaborately equipped and upholstered. Divided into compartments to insure the privacy and comfort of the passengers, they were considerably speedier than the freight barges. Relays of mules were changed at intervals so that speed could be maintained. , On July 4, 1834, Capt. John M, Huff loaded his packet boat, the "George Washington," with more than one hundred Miltonians for a grand excursion on the canal. , The West Branch Canal was closed in 1901. The era of the canal boat came to an end because canal transportation was not able to compete with the railroads.