Premier of Codorus Navigation Works presentation
My presentation Codorus Navigation Works premiered earlier this week at the monthly meeting of the Manchester Township Historical Society. I’ll draw upon that talk, plus further research, as I continue the series of posts exploring the history of the Codorus Navigation Works. Completed in November of 1833, this canal allowed navigating 70-foot long canal boats between downtown York and the Susquehanna River.
Part eight explores the July 4, 1832 opening of the initial phase of the Codorus Navigation Works to Barnitz’s Spring. I use the Canal Towage Company photo in my presentation, to provide a visualization of the appearance of slackwater navigation, as opposed to canal operation. Codorus Navigation utilized both slackwater and traditional canal operation.
Click on this LINK for a yorkblog.com Full View of the two original photos/illustrations in this post if details are cut off in the cropping of images, or if they have been removed from the ydr.com site.
The 1830 to 1836 diary of Dr. Alexander Small records the celebration associated with the opening of the initial phase of the Codorus Navigation Works on July 4, 1832: “July—4. The canal was opened for the first time between York and Barnitz’s Spring. About five hundred persons went from this place [York] on the two canal boats [company boat “Codorus” and private boat “Pioneer”] to the spring, where dinner was provided for them by Mr. Hantz. The Orphean society performed in a handsome manned on board of the company’s boat.”
Additional details are provided following an index to the first seven parts of this series.
The links to the other posts in this series follow:
- Part 1. In Search of the Codorus Canal.
- Part 2. Codorus Navigarion canal design details.
- Part 3. Loucks Mill key to Codorus Canal.
- Part 4. Codorus Navigation canal cut north of York.
- Part 5. Navigating the Codorus via canal locks.
- Part 6. Small’s Codorus Mill at Canal Lock No. 3
- Part 7. Myers Mill and Codorus Navigation Lock No. 4
- Part 9. Mundis Mill at midpoint of Codorus Navigation
- Part 10. Codorus Navigation illustrated
- Part 11. Triplet Locks on Codorus Navigation Works
- Part 12. Codorus Navigation stonework at Dee Run
- Part 13. Codorus Navigation video and those Canal Bridges
Introductory post provides general Codorus Canal history from 1907 and 1886 histories of York County, PA.
Post provides design details of the Codorus Navigation canal gleaned from old newspapers.
Post explores pertinent history of Loucks Mill.
Post explores the nine-tenths of a mile long canal cut; located just north of York.
Post provides a visualization of the area surrounding Locks 1 & 2 of the Codorus Navigation Company.
Post explores Small’s Codorus Mill; built concurrently with Dam No. 3 and Lock No. 3 of the Codorus Navigation Company.
Post explores Myers Mill; enlarged soon after nearby Dam No. 4 was raised in conjunction with building Lock No. 4 on the Codorus Navigation Canal.
Post explores Mundis Mill and Lock 5 constructed at the dam utilized by this grist mill when known as Brillinger’s Mill.
Post features an illustration highlighting the location of the principle features of the Codorus Navigation Works between York and the Susquehanna River.
Post explores the 3-Rise Staircase Locks 6, 7 & 8; required to travel by the highest dam on the Codorus Navigation Works.
Post explores Dam 7 and Lock 9; located near the canal bridge spanning Dee Run on the Codorus Navigation Works.
Post provides link to a YouTube presentation about the Codorus Navigation Works and explains how it crossed paths with intersecting waterways; such as Mill Creek and Dee Run.
Newspaper articles indicate Barnitz’s Spring is 3-miles north of the Borough of York. Which is 0.4-miles south of Myers Dam; written about in Part 7 of this series. The location of Barnitz’s Spring would thus be either in Manchester Township south of the present Emig Road or in Springettsbury Township, south of the present Mundis Mill Road; in 1832 that area being Spring Garden Township on the east side of the creek. The exact location of Barnitz’s Spring has always been a mystery to those who have previously written about the Codorus Navigation Company; as it is to me, although I still have some ideas for further research.
The 500 attending the July 4, 1832 celebration to Barnitz’s Spring would have traveled through Locks 1 & 2 at Loucks Mill and Lock 3 at Small’s Dam. This must have been a feature that continued to draw the curious to either pay 25-cents or hire a boat for private excursions to Barnitz’s Spring the remainder of the summer; as advertised in the following 1832 ad:
Links to related posts include:
- Story of the Last Covered Bridge in Springettsbury Township.
- York Haven mural of first working canal in PA
- First Working Canal in Pennsylvania was in York Haven
- Codorus Tow Path Railroad to Chickies
- York-built Codorus as a passenger ferry in 1829
