11. The puffer engines
Animal power for moving cars and eventually canal boats along the levels gave way to steam in the early days of operation. Small locomotives arrived in 1835 to take their place. Though locomotives were not them capable of the power and traction necessary to make it up the grades they were suitable for the more level sections (which weren’t entirely level, most had a slight grade). The locomotives created a requirement for water towers and cranes to replenish their sources of steam. They also added to the bustle and aura of excitement along the 36-mile portage. At first, they used wood as their fuel source, later supplanted by coal. Both were plentiful in the area.
The engines proved their worth when the portage began hauling canal boats out of the water for their journey across the mountain. Flatbed rail cars, backed into the canal on-ramps, received the boats, and the locomotives hauled them up, across the first level, to the hitching sheds at the base of the inclines. They returned to the canal hauling boats which were refloated in a reverse of the previous operation. Articulated railcars allowed for two or more boats hauled at the same time, an operation which improved locomotives eventually expanded into several boats moving at once. Wire ropes allowed multiple boats hauled up the inclines, connected to each other, their weight countered by boats simultaneously descending.