There has recently been some interest in restoring the remains, as most of the channel is still intact, and a group has been formed, which is now part of the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland, to raise public awareness of the canal and investigate options for the future.
Thomas Knox, a colliery owner, petitioned the Irish Parliament with a plan for a canal from Knock Bridge, near Gifford, to Fathom Point, near Newry.
In the same year, Francis Seymour, who owned a colliery at Brackaville, near Coalisland, published a pamphlet in Belfast, entitled Remarks on a Scheme for supplying Dublin with Coals.
A company was created in 1749, led by the Archbishops of Armagh and Tuam, among others, which asked the government for assistance with the construction of 3 miles (4.8 km) of roadway to link Drumglass to the canal.
It was estimated that once the road and canal were finished, the coal could be sold in Dublin for six shillings (30 pence) per ton, around one third of the cost before construction started.
The river carried quantities of stones, clay and silt, which clogged the basin, locks and levels once the water entered the canal.
Oversight of the project passed from Omer to Christopher Myers in June 1762, who completed 0.5 miles (0.80 km) of the canal and part of a lock, which was 125 by 22 feet (38.1 by 6.7 m).
£5,000 was granted towards the initial construction, but a second opinion on the engineering aspects was sought, and a French-Italian called Daviso de Arcort, also known as Davis Dukart, suggested a radical alternative, using two level sections of canal, largely in tunnel.
[7] The inclined planes were to have had rollers fitted on the ramps, but problems were experienced, and following advice from the civil engineers William Jessop and John Smeaton in 1773, various changes were made, including counterbalancing the boats.
The same year saw the demise of Dukart's extension, when it was conceded that the planes were too steep to allow counterbalancing to work, and there were serious problems with water leakage on the upper section.
Central control of the inland waterways was abolished in 1787, and the responsibility for the Coalisland canal was shared between the colliery owners, the Primate, the Governors and roll keepers of Tyrone.
[9] The volumes of coal transported along the canal were lower than had been predicted, hampered by the lack of a proper link from Coalisland to the collieries, but trade in flaxseed, grain, rock salt, timber, fish and coarse hardware gradually built up.
Since the passing of the Act of Union in 1800, and the consequent free movement of trade between Ireland and England, Dublin had obtained all of its coal by import, which although slightly more expensive, was of much higher quality.
Distribution of these products was however hampered by the narrower locks and shallower depth of the Ulster Canal, which connected the River Blackwater to Lough Erne.
After that date, the railways started to have a serious impact on trade, and although the canal was maintained in good order, the costs of doing so exceeded the receipts from tolls and rents.
Despite competition, traffic in building sand, grain and coal continued to increase through the 1920s, reaching 57,000 tons in 1931, when tolls raised £1,634, and the company made a profit of £650.