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CHAPTER XVI. OLD AND NEW PORTAGE RAILROADS.      In the whole range of the Allegheny mountains, extending from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Alabama, no county has been more generously favored with sublime scenery than Cambria. Lying as it does on the crest and western slope of these mountains, with Johnstown at the western base, nature had given it glorious views to reward the traveler wearied with his journey.      It will be observed in all the surveys made by the direction of the Assembly of this commonwealth, that the route from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, to connect the East with the great West by way of Johnstown, was deemed the most available and practicable. This was so determined in 1826, when the commissioners appointed to locate the line, reported that it was feasible and practicable for the state to own a canal from Pittsburg to Philadelphia, so that a boat with its lading could start at the western end and deliver its cargo in bulk on the wharf at Philadelphia.      To read the brief report of the commissioners, which did not go into details, it suggests the inquiry: How could the state build a canal across the Allegheny mountains from Johnstown to Hollidaysburg, with Johnstown 1,183 feet above sea level, and Hollidaysburg 953 feet, between which rose the summit of the mountains--2,341 feet? It did not mean a canal water way, but a canal railroad between these points.      Notwithstanding the Act of 1826, authorizing the construction of the Pennsylvania public works, there seems to have been some doubt as to the best means of crossing the Allegheny mountains. On the 9th of April, 1827, Governor Shulze approved of a supplement for the extension of the canal system, in which it authorized the canal commissioners to locate and contract for "a canal, locks, and other works necessary thereto, up the Kiskiminetas and the Conemaugh from the western section of the Pennsylvania Canal to a point at or near Blairsville. * * * And the said Board shall proceed to make, or cause to be made, such examinations and surveys from Frankstown, on the Juniata, to Johnstown, on the Conemaugh, across the Allegheny moun-

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