Constructed early on in America's brief canal age,[a] it formed an integral segment of the water focused transportation system which cut Philadelphia-Pittsburgh (pre-railroad) travel time from nearly a month to just four days.

One of the system's navigations, the Susquehanna Canal/Division, created a mule-towed navigable channel 41 miles (66 km) along the west bank of the main stem of the Susquehanna River between a lock terminus near the mouth of the Juniata Tributary River and the canal basin at Northumberland.

The Susquehanna Division Canal employed 12 locks overcoming a total of just 86 feet (26 m) in its 41 miles (66 km)s length[b] It was begun in 1827 and finished in 1831 in time to connect to traffic between the Union Canal and the Allegheny Portage Railroad, which lifted wheeled canal barges up one of the gaps of the Allegheny and over the Allegheny Plateau into the Allegheny-Ohio valleys.

This formed a pool across which boats could be pulled from a wooden, two-tier towpath bridge at Clark's Ferry.

Two Duncan's Island lift locks raised or lowered the boats traveling between the dam pool and the other canals.