Which did construction start on first, the Delaware and Raritan Canal or the Pennsylvania Canal?
Delaware and Raritan Canal The Delaware and Raritan Canal (D&R Canal) is a canal in central New Jersey, United States, built in the 1830s, that served to connect the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was intended as an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelphia and New York City, especially coal from the anthracite fields in eastern Pennsylvania. Before the advent of the railroads, the canal allowed shippers to cut many miles off the route from the Pennsylvania coal fields, down the Delaware, around Cape May, and up along the (occasionally treacherous) Atlantic Ocean coast to New York City.
Newichawannock Canal The Newichawannock Canal is a man-made canal which drains Great East Lake into Horn Pond at the border between Wakefield, New Hampshire, and Acton, Maine, in the northeastern United States. It is at the head of the Salmon Falls River, which the Abenaki called "Newichawannock", meaning "river with many falls". Begun in 1850 by the Great Falls Company to increase the water available for its mills in Somersworth, New Hampshire, the 0.75 mi canal is unusual as it was built for strictly industrial purposes in an area remote from the actual industrial site. The canal forms the boundary between the states of New Hampshire and Maine, and is spanned by a stone bridge built at the same time. The canal and bridge, along with related artifacts, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.