Codorus Navigation stonework at Dee Run
YorksPast continues the series of posts exploring the history of the Codorus Navigation Works. Completed in November of 1833, the 11-miles of canal and slackwater, via the Codorus Creek, allowed navigating 70-foot long canal boats between downtown York and the Susquehanna River.
Part twelve explores Dam 7 and Lock 9; located near the canal bridge spanning Dee Run on the Codorus Navigation Works.
Recall in part 2 of this series, canal engineer Simeon Guilford’s design for the lower half of the Codorus Navigation Works was quoted in the newspapers of late 1829, as: “In the Narrows, between Brillinger’s mill and Codorus forge, four dams will have to be erected.” In part 11, the first of those dams was explored. Guilford noted, “The next three dams will overcome a fall of thirty-six feet, six inches.”
After the Codorus Creek passes Brillinger’s Mill (i.e. at Route 24) and heads downstream through the Narrows, the creek bed drops much steeper than upstream. The drop of the creek bed plus surrounding features, where the next three dams would have been located, suggests they were all approximately equal height.
The research for this post was extensive; including everything from the study of several similar early 1800s slackwater navigation works, to more recent Army Corps flood plain data on the Codorus, to very recent Lidar data. Dam 7 and Lock 9 placement, while utilizing a canal bridge over Dee Run, are the culmination of that research.
This 2013 photo shows an abandoned bridge over Dee Run, where it flows into Codorus Creek. The foundation stonework may have supported the elevated canal section between Dam 7 and Lock 9. Click on this LINK for a yorkblog.com Full View of the three original illustrations in this post if details are cut off in the cropping of the illustrations, or if any have been removed from the ydr.com site.
Within that yorkblog.com site, the York Daily Record is presently experiencing gremlins, which, on some platforms, results in a new window opening at findbetterresults.com; a site no longer used by the York Daily Record. While the York Daily Record works on correcting this problem, simply close that window; the linked blog page, within yorkblog.com, that you were intending to reach should appear.
The gremlin also appears on the other yorkblog.com sites: Cannonball site of Scott Mingus, Only in York County site of Joan Concilio, Universal York site of June Lloyd, and York Town Square site of Jim McClure, where you can continue to access Jim’s older posts prior to October 30, 2015. As with all the yorkblog.com sites, the “Search this blog” within the page continues to be a fantastic search tool within each individual site.
Aerial visualizations detailing the placement of Dam 7 and Lock 9 are provided following the links and index to the first eleven parts of this series:
- 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 8. Premier of Codorus Navigation Works presentation
- Part 9. Mundis Mill at midpoint of Codorus Navigation
- Part 10. Codorus Navigation illustrated
- Part 11. Triplet Locks on Codorus Navigation Works
- 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 the July 4, 1832 opening of the initial phase of the Codorus Navigation Works to Barnitz’s Spring.
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 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.
Lock 9, in the 1833 illustration, permits a canal boat to be lowered, or raised, a height of 12-feet. A canal section, extending downstream by Dam 7, is at the higher, 301-feet elevation, until reaching the lock which allows navigating between water elevations of 301-feet and 289-feet; the elevations of the slackwater pools on either side of Dam 7. That dam is located 7.8-miles, via the Codorus Creek, from the West Market Street landing of the Codorus Navigation Company, and located 3.2-miles from the Susquehanna River.
Dee Run flows into the Codorus Creek at a deep cut in the hillside. In fact, on earlier maps, it is labeled Deep Run; for example, see the 1876 map of Hellam Township. A canal, in the manner drawn, often bridges such a waterway. The supports for canal bridges are overly massive, due to the weight of the large volume of water on the bridge; which leads one to suspect the foundation stonework in the abandoned bridge at the mouth of Dee Run may have originally been built for the Codorus Navigation Works.
I’ve used a 2015 aerial photo for a wider aerial view of this remote area along the Codorus Creek; on which the location of the 1833 Visualization is noted. East Manchester Township is west of the Codorus Creek at this location. Hellam and Springettsbury Townships are on the east side of the creek at this location; with their township boundary about 300-feet south of Dee Run. The nearest road is indicated; Trout Run Road being 1/4 mile east of the Codorus Creek at this location.
Links to related posts include:
- First Working Canal in Pennsylvania was in York Haven
- York Haven mural of first working canal in PA
- Codorus Tow Path Railroad to Chickies
