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 Mules pulling cargo boat on a Pennsylvania canal, circa 1920.
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A large wooden cargo boat is being pulled through a man-made waterway by two mules. A man driving the mules walks alongside.

Credit: Courtesy Pennsylvania State Archive

A great feat of engineering at the time, travel on the Pennsylvania canal system was slow. Averaging only four miles per hour. boats towed by mules or horses had to pass through liftlocks, aqueducts, feeders, and the incline.

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