Talk:Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal
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A fact from Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 20 November 2007. |
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It is requested that a photograph or photographs be included in this article to improve its quality, if possible. Wikipedians in Pennsylvania may be able to help! |
[edit] Page rationale
I've been working on the whole system of Pennsylvania canals, of which the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal is one. I created a Pennsylvania Canal page a week or so ago; it has a complete list of the public and private canals in the state. My goal is to write articles for each of the missing pieces. Some of the bigger pieces such as the Main Line of Public Works and the Pennsylvania Canal (Delaware Division) were already done by others, and I've done a couple of the missing bigger pieces like the Beaver and Erie Canal. I'm being careful to cite sources for any data that I include in these articles. Please add more details if you have reliable sources. Finetooth (talk) 01:04, 17 November 2007 (UTC)
- Canals are cool; keep up the good work. Do you happen to have any sources linking the 1877 opening of the Columbia and Port Deposit Railroad with a decline in usage? --NE2 10:11, 20 November 2007 (UTC)
- I'll see if I can find anything. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/ppet/canals/page4.asp?secid=31) says the canal was "hopelessly damaged" by a flood in 1894, which matches Shank's date for the end of the canal's usefulness. I suspect the canal's business was going down before that, but I don't have numbers. I'll see if I can find some. Thanks for your input and kind words. Finetooth (talk) 21:04, 20 November 2007 (UTC)
- Me again. I've found a site that says, "The maximum tonnage of 528,000 was in 1864, and since that time the railroad competition caused steady decrease in tonnage till the canal was abandoned in 1895." A table with a lot of specific data, including a sampling of tonnages and gross receipts, accompanies this statement. The data doesn't seem to show an unusual drop on or around 1877; it just shows the canal business going down and down and down after the peak year. You can see the details at http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bib/whitford/old1906/vol2/Part4-1-1.htm by scrolling about halfway down to Canal entry 55. Finetooth (talk) 00:27, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
- I'll see if I can find anything. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/ppet/canals/page4.asp?secid=31) says the canal was "hopelessly damaged" by a flood in 1894, which matches Shank's date for the end of the canal's usefulness. I suspect the canal's business was going down before that, but I don't have numbers. I'll see if I can find some. Thanks for your input and kind words. Finetooth (talk) 21:04, 20 November 2007 (UTC)
