West Branch Pennsylvania Canal, Lock No. 34, South of State Route 664 along North bank of West Branch of Susquehanna River, 2,000 feet East of Jay Street Bridge, Lock Haven, Clinton County, PA
Summary
Significance: Lock No. 34 of the Lycoming Line of the West Branch Pennsylvania Canal (see HAER No. PA-188) is a historically significant remnant of the Pennsylvania state-built canal system. This c. 1834 structure was one element of a transportation system that did much to economically develop the valley of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River form 1834 to 1889 and that served to catapult Lock Haven and neighboring Lockport to a lesser extent into a center for transporting, processing, and distributing agricultural products, iron and coal, and lumber. Lock No. 34 is a good example of 1830s and 1870s lock construction along the West Branch Pennsylvania Canal and possesses many of its original features, such as dressed stone walls, flared ends, pockets for the gates, and notches in the wall masonry for wooden cribbing and planking. One of nineteen locks constructed for the West Branch system in the 1830s and 1840s, the lock is typical of West Branch locks due to its standard dimensions and use of standardized construction materials. Expanded and reworked in the 1870s, Lock No. 34 operated until 1889, when the great flood of that year destroyed every man-made waterway in the region. To this day, much of Lock No. 34 is visible above ground and appears to have survived in relatively good condition.
Survey number: HAER PA-188-A
Building/structure dates: ca. 1834 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1873- 1874 Subsequent Work
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