Entry 8 The Allegheny Portage Railroad

The Allegheny Portage Railroad

The Allegheny Portage Railroad moved people and materials over the western Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania so they could go west into the undeveloped territory of Ohio and the Louisiana Territory.   The Pennsylvania Legislature moved to construct a series of canals to connect the eastern, populated part of the state to the resource rich western part of the state.  This was in response to the opening of the Erie Canal which diverted needed trade away from Pennsylvania.  Before the Portage Railroad was constructed, people had to travel by wagon or horseback to reach the wilderness of western PA.  People or materials could be floated on rivers part of the way, but had to be carried across land.  Since things had settled down after the American Revolution and President Jefferson had made the Louisiana Purchase, people began to move west at an increasing rate.  This westward expansion into the new territory was slowed by the fact that people were limited to walking, riding horses, or riding in wagons.  When they reached the large mountain range in western Pennsylvania, the travel slowed even more.  Horses and wagons were very difficult to maneuver through the narrow paths in the forests up and over the mountain.  Also the grade or incline of the mountain was too steep to go straight over.  Travelers had to go up the mountain at an angle, often moving up the mountain in a zigzag manner to be able to climb the grade.  Traveling over the mountain in this manner add a lot of time to the already exhausting trip.  It made it difficult to get needed supplies to the frontier and to get resources such as farm products and lumber back to the east.  It took more than 30 days to travel from Philadelphia in the east to Pittsburgh and the Ohio border in the west.  The Allegheny Portage as part of the ambitious canal system, reduced that travel time to five or six days to go the same distance.  The Allegheny Portage Railroad ways in operation for over twenty years and helped open the west to settlers.  This great feat of engineering was an important step between wagons and the modern railroad system that provided the most effective mode of transportation for the time.   (Content)

Using a modern highway map of PA, a canal map from the period before the Portage Railroad, and a canal map that includes the Portage Railroad, students will map a trip across PA from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.  Then using average speeds for each method of travel (foot/wagon, canal & railroad, car) students will estimate the travel times for each mode of travel.  (Creative Activity)

In whole group we will discuss the importance of a reliable transportation system for an economy to get people and materials from one place to another.  We discuss ways we travel today. (DOK1) We discuss how transportation has changed over time.  (DOK2)We talk about how long it took to travel from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh before the Allegheny Portage Railroad and what all could have happened or changed in three weeks.  (DOK3) We talk about how travel may change in the.  How might we be trave8.ling in your lifetime? (DOK4)

(Standard-5.3.2.A, 7.1.2.B, 7.3.2.A, 8.2.2.C, 8.3.2.B)

Domain 1a, 1b, 1d, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 3c