In 1829 the Virginia General Assembly hired a public engineer to determine the possibility and cost of connecting the upper Appomattox River to the Roanoke River at the Mouth of the Staunton from the Appomattox past Farmville by canal or rail.
 However, that canal connection was never built.

The Upper Appomattox Canal, in Petersburg, was rebuilt by John Couty as a lock and dam system with a total of 17 locks and 8 miles.
 It was still designed for bateau.
Tolls were paid by shippers to support the cost of maintaining the locks and dams.
 In fiscal year, 1831, boatmen shipped around 20,000 barrels of flour and 20,000 barrels of wheat; 5,000 hogsheads of tobacco leaf, and some tobacco stems; half a million pounds of manufactured goods, barrel staves, cotton, corn, salt, lime and iron.
 By 1836, Petersburg was connected to docks at City Point by the City Point Railroad rather than carriage.
 Petersburg was also connected to the north by rail on the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad and the South on the Petersburg Railroad in the 1830s.
In 1829 the Virginia General Assembly hired a public engineer to determine the possibility and cost of connecting the upper Appomattox River to the Roanoke River at the Mouth of the Staunton from the Appomattox past Farmville by canal or rail.  However, that canal connection was never built.
The Upper Appomattox Canal, in Petersburg, was rebuilt by John Couty as a lock and dam system with a total of 17 locks and 8 miles.  It was still designed for bateau. Tolls were paid by shippers to support the cost of maintaining the locks and dams.  In fiscal year, 1831, boatmen shipped around 20,000 barrels of flour and 20,000 barrels of wheat; 5,000 hogsheads of tobacco leaf, and some tobacco stems; half a million pounds of manufactured goods, barrel staves, cotton, corn, salt, lime and iron.  By 1836, Petersburg was connected to docks at City Point by the City Point Railroad rather than carriage.  Petersburg was also connected to the north by rail on the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad and the South on the Petersburg Railroad in the 1830s.
Upper Appomattox Canal Navigation System