Canal age
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The Canal Age is a term of art used by science, technology, and industry historians. Various parts of the world have had various canal ages; the main ones belong to Egypt, Ancient Babylon, and the his
Mohawk Valley, running east and west, cuts a natural pathway between the Catskill Mountains to the south and the Adirondack Mountains to the north
The aqueduct over the Mohawk River in Rexford, New York, one of 32 navigable aqueducts on the Erie Canal
Loading coal at the Mauch Chunk chutes in 1873
Weigh lock with scales to determine tolls in 1873
Gaps of the Allegheny
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The gaps of the Allegheny, meaning gaps in the Allegheny Ridge in west-central Pennsylvania, is a series of escarpment eroding water gaps along the saddle between two higher barrier ridge-lines in the
USGS - Appalachians Mountain chain showing the lines of the barrier ridges in central, western, and northwestern Pennsylvania. Counting the Hudson Valley north of the Catskills in New York and the southern end of the chain on the Georgian plains, there are exactly three narrow areas where water gaps allowed climbing up to mountain passes allowing passage across the mountains was possible to animal pulled transport vehicles.
This profile of the Allegheny Portage Railroad crossing the Allegheny Front gives valuable perspective at how the escarpment of the front and steepness of the gaps of the Allegheny created the final barrier range preventing easy settlement of the colonial and post-revolutionary-war west (today's Mid-west). It also illustrates the upland nature of the western side of the Front, the Allegheny Plateau but less clearly demonstrates the general barrier range nature of the other