Matches in DBpedia 2014 for { ?s ?p The Main Line of Public Works was a state funded and built railroad and canal system across southern Pennsylvania between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh that included the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, the Allegheny Portage Railroad and the Pennsylvania Canal system created in response to the advent and success of the Lehigh Navigations and the Erie Canals. The rail portions of the system were authorized in 1828 by an act of the Pennsylvania General Assembly entitled An act relative to the Pennsylvania Canal, and to provide for the commencement of a Railroad to be constructed at the expense of the state and to be styled "The Pennsylvania Railroad" (Act of March 24, 1828, Pamph. Laws, p. 221).Built by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during a time when America's main coastal cities were vying to become the most important and influential port from the mid-1820s, it was an attempt by business interests to position their own port city to be the principal supplier and beneficiary of the economic boom expected from the new markets and resources, all resulting from the great wave of post revolutionary war immigration taking place westwards to the Ohio Country and Northwest Territory regions in the 19th century. It was also a plan to enable the newly opened Coal Region and the initial mines in the Wyoming Valley to provide clean burning Anthracite to eastern cities that were increasingly having trouble finding heating fuels as eastern forests had become scarce and logged over.Begun with Navigations construction along the Susquehanna and the West Fork of the Susquehanna with surveys for the best route over the barrier of the northern Allegheny Mountains, the system in time ran from Philadelphia on the Delaware estuary westwards across the great plain of southern Pennsylvania (goal of connecting the Susquehanna to New York City via canals) through Harrisburg and across the state to Pittsburgh and connected with other divisions of the Pennsylvania Canal. It consisted of the following principal sections, moving from east to west:Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad: 82 miles (132 km) from Philadelphia to Columbia near the former ferry site known as Wright's Ferry, in Lancaster County. Originally expected to be a bona fide canal in the 1820s conception, the easternmost leg of the Pennsylvania Canal was to be a continuation of the first funded and more difficult to construct engineering navigations and construction farther west in less populated rural regions. The canal joining the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers was to run across the most populated expanse of Pennsylvania's Great Valley region (and so was delayed politically in part) but its planning was overtaken by the growth of railroad technology, which by the mid-1830s had demonstrated sufficient promise to adopt the new technology for the leg of the capability and funding and construction was shifted to a railroad—it was faster and cheaper to build above ground and make bridges than it was to dig a deep ditch and provide it with reliable water supplies to enable two way barge traffic. Eastern Division Canal: 43 miles (69 km) from Columbia to Duncan's Island at the mouth of the Juniata River.Juniata Division Canal: 127 miles (204 km) from Duncan's Island to HollidaysburgAllegheny Portage Railroad: 36 miles (58 km) from Hollidaysburg to JohnstownWestern Division Canal: 103 miles (166 km) from Johnstown to the terminus in Pittsburgh.The canals reduced travel time between Philadelphia to Pittsburgh from at least 23 days to just four.The Main Line of Public Works was completed in 1834 and was sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad on June 25, 1857 for $7,500,000 which within a year had replaced the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh route with an entirely rail based system.. }
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- Main_Line_of_Public_Works abstract "The Main Line of Public Works was a state funded and built railroad and canal system across southern Pennsylvania between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh that included the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, the Allegheny Portage Railroad and the Pennsylvania Canal system created in response to the advent and success of the Lehigh Navigations and the Erie Canals. The rail portions of the system were authorized in 1828 by an act of the Pennsylvania General Assembly entitled An act relative to the Pennsylvania Canal, and to provide for the commencement of a Railroad to be constructed at the expense of the state and to be styled "The Pennsylvania Railroad" (Act of March 24, 1828, Pamph. Laws, p. 221).Built by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during a time when America's main coastal cities were vying to become the most important and influential port from the mid-1820s, it was an attempt by business interests to position their own port city to be the principal supplier and beneficiary of the economic boom expected from the new markets and resources, all resulting from the great wave of post revolutionary war immigration taking place westwards to the Ohio Country and Northwest Territory regions in the 19th century. It was also a plan to enable the newly opened Coal Region and the initial mines in the Wyoming Valley to provide clean burning Anthracite to eastern cities that were increasingly having trouble finding heating fuels as eastern forests had become scarce and logged over.Begun with Navigations construction along the Susquehanna and the West Fork of the Susquehanna with surveys for the best route over the barrier of the northern Allegheny Mountains, the system in time ran from Philadelphia on the Delaware estuary westwards across the great plain of southern Pennsylvania (goal of connecting the Susquehanna to New York City via canals) through Harrisburg and across the state to Pittsburgh and connected with other divisions of the Pennsylvania Canal. It consisted of the following principal sections, moving from east to west:Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad: 82 miles (132 km) from Philadelphia to Columbia near the former ferry site known as Wright's Ferry, in Lancaster County. Originally expected to be a bona fide canal in the 1820s conception, the easternmost leg of the Pennsylvania Canal was to be a continuation of the first funded and more difficult to construct engineering navigations and construction farther west in less populated rural regions. The canal joining the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers was to run across the most populated expanse of Pennsylvania's Great Valley region (and so was delayed politically in part) but its planning was overtaken by the growth of railroad technology, which by the mid-1830s had demonstrated sufficient promise to adopt the new technology for the leg of the capability and funding and construction was shifted to a railroad—it was faster and cheaper to build above ground and make bridges than it was to dig a deep ditch and provide it with reliable water supplies to enable two way barge traffic. Eastern Division Canal: 43 miles (69 km) from Columbia to Duncan's Island at the mouth of the Juniata River.Juniata Division Canal: 127 miles (204 km) from Duncan's Island to HollidaysburgAllegheny Portage Railroad: 36 miles (58 km) from Hollidaysburg to JohnstownWestern Division Canal: 103 miles (166 km) from Johnstown to the terminus in Pittsburgh.The canals reduced travel time between Philadelphia to Pittsburgh from at least 23 days to just four.The Main Line of Public Works was completed in 1834 and was sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad on June 25, 1857 for $7,500,000 which within a year had replaced the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh route with an entirely rail based system.".