James Brindley (1745-1820), nephew of the celebrated English canal engineer of the same name, worked on a number of canal projects in the United States in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. After serving an apprenticeship with his uncle (James Brindley, "Father of English Canals"), the younger Brindley emigrated from England to the American Colonies in 1774 and settled in Wilmington, Delaware. Brindley took the Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity in 1778 and fought in the Revolutionary War on the side of the Americans. George Washington was acquainted with Brindley and noted his skill at canal building.

After the war, Brindley assisted in the construction of a number of canals in the newly independent nation. The Conewago Canal, financed by Robert Morris, facilitated transportation up and down the Susquehanna River by providing an effective bypass of the Conewago Falls. Linked with the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, it greatly improved access to markets in Philadelphia from central and western Pennsylvania. Brindley served as chief engineer of the project. His diary on the Conewago Canal dates from September 1794 to January 1795. The Canal was completed in 1797.

The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal was first proposed by APS member Thomas Gilpin in the 1760s. A major effort was made in 1788 by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush, among others, to fund the canal, linking the Delaware River with the Chesapeake Bay. It was not until 1802 that state governments provided funds. Work on the route did not start until 1803. Brindley's diary dates from this early period in the construction of the canal, January to June 1803.

Financial problems halted work on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal for a time. It was not until the 1820s, after the death of Brindley, that state and federal govenments resumed the project. The canal was finished in 1829. With many improvements and some later rerouting, it is still in valuable service today, carrying 40% of the cargo leaving the port of Baltimore.

In addition to the Conewago Canal and Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, Brindley worked on the Potomac Canal in Maryland and the James River Canal in Virginia.

This collection is comprised of two manuscript diaries of engineer James Brindley (1745-1820). The two diaries cover part of the time Brindley worked on the Susquehanna and Conewago Canal (1794-1795), which bypassed the Conewago Falls on the Susquehanna River, and the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (1803), which linked Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River. Both of these canals were of great interest to members of the APS.

Brindley's diaries are full of engineering information, problems with financing and labor (pay could be infrequent and led to trouble), and many other details. The diary of the Susquehanna and Conewago Canal contains highly detailed entries, full of technical information, including Brindley's instructions and orders to the men working under him concerning the construction of dams, walls, locks, and other features of the canal; clearing of brush and wood; cutting of stone; digging and excavating; erecting of buildings; and hiring and payment of workers, carpenters, masons, and brick makers. Interspersing the technical details is a narrative in which Brindley remarks upon the considerable problems and difficulties he encountered on the project. Brindley had to advance money to purchase tools, the Canal Board failed to provide wages for the workers, etc. He notes the tensions caused by the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania and that a disgruntled laborer committed vandalism on one of the locks. The diary also includes drafts of letters to Willam Smith and Robert Morris, among others, as well as two drawings.

The second diary details Brindley's involvement in the early days of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. While a notion of such a canal dates to the 1760s, the actual digging of the work did not begin until 1803. Halted a few years later due to funding problems, the project was not completed until 1829. Brindley's diary dates from 1803, when digging of the canal was just beginning. His entries discuss some of the initial surveys, legal and financial problems, as well as personal accounts and business notations.

An exceptional pair of manuscripts detailing engineering projects which improved the young nation's infrastructure, Brindley's canal diaries are of considerable interest to scholars and historians for their look at the commerical, economic life, conditions, and climate of the early republic.

Provenance

Accession M2012-01. Purchased from Michael Brown Rare Books, Philadelphia, with funds provided by Friends of the APS Library, February 6, 2012.

Preferred citation

Cite as: James Brindley Diaries, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Processed by Michael Miller, June 2014

• Diaries.

• Susquehanna River.

• Canals.
• Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
• Conewago Canal
• Technology -- History.