Under the articles of incorporation this company was authorized to construct, equip, and operate a line of steam railroad to connect with the then known Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy and Lancaster Railroad, and to run to Pittsburgh or to any point in Allegheny County, or to Erie, in Erie County, as its management might deem expedient. This charter was not obtained without opposition, as it was understood that the operation of this new railroad would draw from the revenues upon which the State system of public works largely depended for support. This was undoubtedly true, but the charter was granted and the work of construction was carried forward with such vigor that in 1850 portions of the line were completed and ready for operation. The Erie Canal, devised by DeWitt Clinton, and constructed by David Thomas, a Pennsylvanian, had deflected the trade of the Great Lakes and the West from Philadelphia to New York, and made the latter the leading city of the nation. It was expected that a railroad over the mountains would bring this trade back to Philadelphia and restore the supremacy of that city. In order to make sure that no outside influence should get control, the charter provided that all of the directors “shall be citizens and residents of this Commonwealth.” This part of the plan failed, but the leading capitalists of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and elsewhere in the State, subscribed liberally to the stock of the company and from the beginning the enterprise was well backed with ample funds and equally valuable influence. Hardly had the original road been opened for traffic before the company began to extend its lines and enlarge the field of its operations. The movement which proved of the greatest benefit to the public, and to the company itself, was in 1857, when the Legislature passed an act, May 16, directing the line of public works between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to be sold, and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company became the purchaser. The purchase price was seven and one-half millions, and ownership was obtained for the combined State canal and railroad. The State was relieved of a burdensome property, and at the same time these public works were placed under the control of a corporation whose methods of management must result in great benefit to the people of the State. Governor James Pollock caused the sale to be made, June 25, and on July 31 following the actual transfer was consummated. This transaction fixes the date from which the progressive history of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company begins. The canals on the Susquehanna and its branches above the mouth of the Juniata, together with the Delaware division, were sold the following year to the Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company, now a part of the great Pennsylvania system, and the work of extension did not cease.