Bald Eagle and Spring Creek Navigation - Charter and Construction

Charter and Construction

The company was incorporated to build a canal from Flemington, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Lock Haven, to Bellefonte on April 14, 1834. Lock Haven was the terminus of the West Branch Canal, part of Pennsylvania's state-owned canal system following the West Branch Susquehanna River. The canal was planned to follow Bald Eagle Creek southwest through its valley as far as Milesburg, and then turn south to follow Spring Creek through its water gap in Bald Eagle Mountain to Bellefonte, center of the local iron industry. In theory, this entire route was navigable—residents of Bellefonte were said to have dragged a flatboat up Spring Creek in order to prove the town the head of navigation and beat out Milesburg as the county seat of Centre County in 1800—but in practice, improvements were necessary to facilitate the heavy traffic in iron from the furnaces.

In preparation for the building of the Bald Eagle & Spring Creek, the Bald Eagle Cut, a 4-mile (6.4 km) waterway, was built from the West Branch Canal through Lock Haven to the Bald Eagle Creek and the foot of the new canal. The 12.5 miles (20.1 km) Lower Division of the Bald Eagle & Spring Creek was opened from Flemington to Howard, site of an iron furnace, in the fall of 1837. However, the Panic of 1837 led to straitened economic conditions throughout the country, and delayed further construction for a decade. The next segment, from Howard to Milesburg, was opened on September 3, 1837. The final segment along Spring Creek into Bellefonte, completing the 12.5 miles (20.1 km) Upper Division, was opened on September 1, 1848. The first canal boat to arrive from Philadelphia was the Jane Curtin, carrying supplies for the Valentine & Thomas ironworks.