Canal Basin
Hollidaysburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Here at Hollidaysburg the 127-mile Juniata Division of the Pennsylvania Canal met the Allegheny Portage Railroad, which extended 36 miles west over the mountain to Johnstown. The Juniata Division was opened in 1832, the railroad in March 1834. Regarded as an engineering marvel, the railroad climbed 1398 feet in ten miles.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
At Hollidaysburg, the 127-mile Juniata Division of the Pennsylvania Canal met the Allegheny Portage Railroad, an ingenious system that hauled canal boats over the mountains toward Johnstown, 36 miles west. The canal opened in 1832 and the railroad in 1834, together forming a continuous route across the formidable Allegheny barrier. Engineers marveled at the portage line, which climbed nearly 1,400 feet in just ten miles using inclined planes.
Why it matters
This meeting point was a triumph of early American engineering, briefly making Pennsylvania's Main Line of Public Works one of the wonders of the transportation age.
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Related events
- · Allegheny Portage Railroad
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Staple Bend Tunnel
East Taylor Township, PA · est. 1947
The Staple Bend Tunnel, built as part of the Allegheny Portage Railroad, was the first railroad tunnel constructed in the United States. Its finely cut masonry, still intact, was regarded as a remarkable engineering feat in an age when boring through solid rock for a railway was nearly unheard of. Reachable a few miles east via Mineral Point, it endures as a monument to early American ingenuity.
Blair County
Hollidaysburg, PA · est. 1982
Formed in 1846 and named for the prominent citizen John Blair, this county sits in the Allegheny highlands with Hollidaysburg as its seat. Its fortunes were transformed by the coming of the railroad: the city of Altoona, founded in 1849, grew into one of the great railroad centers of America. There the Pennsylvania Railroad built vast shops that employed generations of workers.
Leap-The-Dips Roller Coaster
Logan Township, PA · est. 2000
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Altoona
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