Johnstown High School - Spectator Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

Page 20 text:

The Weighlock At Johnstown This weighlock was on the north side of the canal at the entrance to the Basin about one hun- dred and fifty feet below Clinton Street, and Immediately below the bridge that connected the Island with the town Conemaugh River, Suppes Dam on the Stonycrcek, and the South Fork Dam. It was the South Fork Dam which was the cause of the great tragedy in 1889, the flood which cost more than 2,200 lives and destroyed the city. The basin at Johnstown was semi-circular. It commenced at the packet slip at Canal (now Washington) and Clinton Streets. It covered portions of what are now Third, Ninth and Tenth wards, between Clinton and Railroad Streets on the west and south, and Five Points, and Portage Street on the east and north. The portion of land between the Rasin and the Little Conemaugh River from Five Points to the waste weir at the overhead bridge was known as “The Island.” The waste weir at the entrance of the basin and under the bridge was 100 feet in width, and from the waste weir to the aqueduct in the rear of what is now Penn Traffic Store was known as Goose Island. The weighlock was on the north side of the canal at the entrance to the Basin about 150 feet below Clinton Street and below the bridge which connected the “Island” with the town. Here all the boats were weighed. The boats were pushed THE SPECTATOR , 1'6]

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V H THE SPECTATOR ME JOHNSTOWN IN THE DAYS OF THE CANAL James Dravis The construction of the Pennsylvania Canal changed the City of Johnstown from an agricultural community to an important business center. The canal system, completed about 1832, included a canal with locks and dams from Pittsburgh to Johnstown; a portage railroad from Johnstown to Hollidaysburg; a canal from Holli- daysburg along the Susquehanna to Columbia, and a railroad from Columbia to Philadelphia. The canal was started and controlled by the State, and later sold to the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company. It was built with a width of twenty-four feet and a depth of five feet. On each side was an eight foot runway for the horses or mules. To keep the standard depth of five feet, there were locks to lower or raise the boats from one level to another. West of the mountains there were two important basins on the canal, one at Pittsburgh, and the other at Johnstown. The water for the basin and section of the canal near Johnstown was furnished by the dam on the Little The Aqueduct At Johnstown This aqueduct crossed the Little Coneinaugh at the rear of the Wood, Morrell and Company (now the Penn Traffic) store [15]

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SP EC TAT OR The Old Portage Tunnel The tuniu‘1 was ut through the rock at the top of Plane No. 1. about four miles above Johusfown. It is nine hundred feet lonjr and is only a few hundred yards south of Hridjre No. ( on the Pennsylvania Railroad into the lock and the water gates opened to drain the lock. The boat then rested on the frame of the scales where it was weighed. After the weighing was finished, the water gates were lowered and the water was let into the lock until it again became level with the canal. There were two types of boats on the canal, the section boats and boats of one piece. The boats of one piece were unloaded and the cargo was carried up the Por- tage Railroad in flat cars; the other boats were taken up in sections. The Allegheny Portage Railroad which commenced at Five Points at the upper end of the Basin was thirty-six miles long and had ten levels and eleven inclines. The boats were carried to the top of each incline by a stationary engine. From there they were pulled to the next incline by mules or horses. About 1835 the horses or mules on the Portage were supplanted by locomotives, the first of which was the “Boston.” This engine could pull ten cars up the steepest grade. The introduction of the locomotive even- tually meant the abandoning of the canal. The average time for the round trip of a section boat between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia was about three weeks. This included time of loading, unloading, tie-up [17]