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1802 South-Hadley Canal Early Mass. Lottery Ticket

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:200.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 400.00 USD
1802 South-Hadley Canal Early Mass. Lottery Ticket
Colonial Lottery
1802 “South-Hadley Canal” Mass. Lottery Ticket
February 25, 1802, South Hadley, MA, Fifth Class, Signed by “Jona(than) Dwight,” as Manager, Choice Extremely Fine.
This Lottery Ticket was to help raise funds for the building of the South-Hadley Canal, the first navigation canal constructed in the United States. It remains in quite extraordinary, crisp and clean condition, with a nice crisp brown signature. Also a remarkable ticket in that it is a winner, shared by two co-owners, a significant rarity among early Lotteries and well documented on the blank reverse which reads: “April 21, 1804 - This Ticket is the property of Wm. Green & Silas Guile Equally”. The very first such “shared” winning Colonial Era ticket we have seen! Printed on the ticket is a statement that the winnings are subject to a 12-1/2 per cent deduction, apparently a tax on the winnings!
The South Hadley Canal was the first navigation canal constructed in the United States of America. It opened for business in 1794, enabling traffic on the Connecticut River to move without interruption, bypassing the rapids at South Hadley. Boat cargoes no longer had to be transferred to wagons to be transported around the rapids of the river. This canal was not only the first built in this country, but it used a unique method of transporting the loaded boats from the river below the rapids up to the navigation canal. It was an outstanding engineering accomplishment based upon the inclined plane and was a structure built of solid stone, 30 feet wide and 275 feet long, covered with strong wood planks, and having a slope of 13.5 degrees. A specially-designed car with three pairs of wheels, capable of carrying a loaded flatboat, was lowered into the river at the bottom of the incline. A boat was then floated onto the car which was hauled up the inclined plane to the navigation canal. It then entered the canal and moved onwards upstream. The first boat went through the canal in April of 1795. The inclined plane continued in use until 1805, when it was necessary to deepen the canal. At that time it was replaced by a series of locks. During its ten years of operation, the inclined plane attracted many spectators. A local historian wrote: "It was the lion of this section and was the first attraction that drew crowds of spectators." This inclined plane was the forerunner of others, later constructed in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.