The Main Line of Public Works was a package of legislation passed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1826[a] to establish a means of transporting freight[b] between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Following the war, the British government made several agreements, primarily with the Iroquois, which resulted in official policies to curb the expansion of settlement in the colonial West (today's Midwest).

After the 1779 Sullivan Expedition broke the power of the Five Civilized Nations of the Iroquois towards the end of the American Revolutionary War, settlement became viable from the lower Susquehanna Valley to Upstate New York as far as Lake Erie.

Regional transport hubs were established in Brownsville, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Detroit, and New Orleans (and later in the 1840s St. Louis, Chicago, and St. Joseph, Missouri would develop similarly).

The War of 1812 exacerbated a difficult energy crisis,[4] and bituminous coal imports from Liverpool, England, ground to a halt under an 1812 embargo.

By mid-decade canal projects and some railroads were being proposed, organized, chartered, and built in Pennsylvania and other northeast seaboard states.

White's ventures firmly established anthracite as a reliable inexpensive fuel and proved that once-treacherous inland Pennsylvania waterways could be engineered into profitable industrial shipping routes.

LC&N was unquestionably one of the most innovative companies of the era, driving the mining, transportation and industrial development of Pennsylvania by example, implementation, and by funding quite a few projects, as well.

LC&N had started coal flowing to Philadelphia using short squared-off blocky barges it called coal arks, but in 1822-23 was already re-doing the upper four locks on the Lehigh Canal to support a steam powered tug pulling boats over 120 feet (37 m) built to support two way traffic with full locks.

[6] The extra expenses of the lack of a tow path canal for the sixty miles Easton-Philadelphia was very costly to LC&N,[6] and the state's Delaware Canal attempt when opened in 1832 was five years later than promised and didn't work; the State had to hire Josiah White to repair its major deficiencies, then needed LC&N's expertise to operate it.

The system would also not only open better access to the newly opened Southeastern Coal Region and the initial mines in the Panther Creek Valley but authorized an extension of the Lehigh Canal up to White Haven, and a railroad connecting that upper canal with the coal sources in the Wyoming Valley.

It consisted of the following principal sections, moving from east to west:[11][12] The canals reduced travel time between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh from at least 23 days to just four.

The old line, which ran from the Schuylkill River up the Belmont Plane to Ardmore along the route of present-day Montgomery Avenue in Lower Merion Township, was abandoned.

The Reading acquired the Northern Liberties and Penn Township Railroad in 1870, giving it access to the Delaware River.

The Columbia Plane, which lowered railway cars down to the Eastern Division Canal along the Susquehanna River, was bypassed in 1840 by a new track alignment.

However, the plan changed in 1828, when the state opted to extend the Eastern Division 19 miles (31 km) further south to connect with the newly decided replacement of a canal by the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad at historic Wright's Ferry.

Subsequently, the state agreed to extend the canal to Hollidaysburg and the eastern end of the Allegheny Portage Railroad, 127 miles (204 km) from the Susquehanna.

From North's Island to Huntingdon, the river was dammed in three more places to feed water to the canal, and above Huntingdon, 14 more dams were needed to create 16 miles (26 km) of slack water navigation in the river to supplement 22 miles (35 km) of travel in segments of canal.

It followed a 36-mile (58 km) route that included 11 levels, 10 inclined planes fitted with stationary engines that could raise and lower boats and cargo, a 900-foot (270 m), viaduct over the Little Conemaugh River, and many bridges.

East of Tunnelton, the route went through a canal tunnel of 817 feet (249 m) built to avoid a long loop of the Conemaugh River.

The first fully loaded freight boat traveled from Johnstown to Pittsburgh in 1831; the route through Grant's Hill opened in 1832.

[18] The 1889 Johnstown Flood was caused by the failure of the South Fork Dam, part of the Main Line of Public Works.

They were purchased by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club in 1879, and a private resort was built surrounding the lake.

[23] The Tunnelview Historical Site shows where in 1830 a canal tunnel of 817 feet (249 m) was built through Bow Ridge to avoid a long bend on the Conemaugh River, 10 miles (16 km) west of Blairsville.