PENNSYLVANIA MAIN LINE CANAL

Partly in response to the federally funded National Road project, which began at Cumberland, Maryland, in 1806 and continued westward to eventually reach Illinois, the state of Pennsylvania launched its own program of transportation improvements in 1826 to link East with West. Philadelphia leaders initiated the program because they did not want their city to be eclipsed by Baltimore (which prospered at least in part because of the National Road) or New York City (which flourished after the completion of the Erie Canal in 1832). Pennsylvania developed the Main Line of Public Works—a comprehensive network of canals and railroads to connect Philadelphia with Pittsburgh. The project was approved by the state legislature in February 1826 and work began at Harrisburg in July of that year. In 1837, the project, whose centerpiece was the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal, was completed. Unlike New York's highly successful Erie Canal, the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal was never profitable. The project, built at an enormous cost to the state, never even broke even. One source described it as a "curious and cumbersome combination of railroads and canals." The Main Line Canal did connect the state's major cities, which emerged as thriving commercial centers by the end of the century. Pittsburgh, home to the iron and glass industries, became known as the Gateway to the West.