"Union Canal Company" Samuel Mifflin Hand Written Letter Dated 1815

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Seller: historicsellsmemorabilia ✉️ (6,894) 99.5%, Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 156139361477 "Union Canal Company" Samuel Mifflin Hand Written Letter Dated 1815.

Up for auction a RARE! "Union Canal Company" Samuel Mifflin Hand Written Letter Dated 1815. 


ES-183A


  • Proposed by
  • William Penn in 1690 to tap the agricultural wealth of the Commonwealth
  • and give access to a second settlement on the Susquehanna River, the Union
  • Canal was the first ever surveyed in the United States. This was done by
  • David Rittenhouse and William Smith in 1762 and 1770. First chartered as
  • the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Canal Co., work was begun in 1792 under the
  • direction of William Weston, an English engineer. Several miles of the
  • Canal were dug and 5 locks were built between Myerstown and Lebanon before
  • financial difficulties caused the work to cease. It was this area that
  • President George Washington visited in 1793. The State Legislature granted
  • permission to raise $400,000 by lottery in 1795. In two decades and fifty
  • drawings, $33 million was awarded in prize money, but only $270,000
  • reached the coffers of the Canal Company. This was the largest canal
  • lottery in the nation’s history.Reorganized in 1811 as the Union Canal
  • Company of Pennsylvania with Samuel Mifflin as President, work began in
  • 1821 and the Canal was completed for the opening in 1828. A Branch canal
  • was finished in 1830 reaching from the Water Works north to Pine Grove to
  • tap the coal fields and supply much needed water for the Summit Level. The
  • Canal required an elaborate pumping system to keep the Summit Level from
  • going dry. Canvass White, of Erie Canal fame, was the chief engineer with
  • Simeon Guilford as his assistant. The cost was in excess of six million
  • dollars.  In 1832, the Union Canal Railroad leading to Lorberry
  • Junction below Tremont was opened. The 102 locks of the Canal were built
  • too small (8 ½ ’ x 75 ′ ) and could not accommodate the larger boats from the
  • Pennsylvania Canal and the Schuylkill Canal. Enlargement took place in the
  • 1850s, increasing lock size to 17 ′ x 90 ′ . A flood in June of 1862
  • devastated the Canal from Pine Grove to Middletown. Costly repairs,
  • continual water problems and the completion of the Lebanon Valley Railroad
  • in 1857 from Reading to Harrisburg reduced the revenues and caused the
  • closing of the Union Canal in 1885. (Plaque erected in 1988 by the Lebanon
  • County Historical Society.) The Lebanon County Historical Society owns and
  • maintains the  U nion Canal Tunnel..


  • Condition: Used
  • Signed: Yes

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