ports; but this has been guarded against in the construction of the boat-cars on the Morris Canal by introducing two axles . . on which the whole weight of the crib and boat are supported, and on which the waggons turn as a centre. The cars run on plate rails laid on the inclined planes, and are raised and lowered by means of machinery driven by water wheels. . . The railway, on which the car runs, extends along the bottom of the canal for a short distance from the lower extremity of the plane; when a boat is to be raised, the car is lowered into the water, and the boat being floated over it, is made fast to the part of the framework which projects above the gunwale. . . The machinery is then put in motion; and the car bearing the boat, is drawn by a chain to the top of the inclined plane, at which there is a lock for its reception."[1]
The building of such inclined planes on the Allegheny Portage Railway from Hollidaysburg to Johnstown marks the first conquest of that thousand mile summit
- ↑ Sketch of the Civil Engineering of North America, pp. 128–129.
