In the mid-1800s, canals transformed travel across Pennsylvania. Before the Juniata branch of the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal was finished in 1831, the only wagon route linking Philadelphia and Pittsburgh took 23 days, weather permitting; afterward, travel time was cut to 3-4 days. Hundreds of primarily Irish immigrants built the canals by hand using picks, shovels, wheelbarrows, black powder, and horse-drawn wagons. They cleared stumps and trees, dug the canal path, lined the bed with a gravel-and-clay mixture called puddle to prevent leakage, and filled the canal with water from nearby rivers. Canal boats operated from March to December, and passenger boats traveled about 90 miles each day. Most boats were pulled by teams of horses or mules that could be exchanged at rest stations. On some parts of the Main Line Canal, designers used the Juniata River itself where water levels and speeds were suitable. The system also used locks to raise and lower boats, and at Hollidaysburg the canal ended and boats were pulled over the mountains. Canal boats crossed the mountains on the Allegheny Portage Road, where they were loaded onto rail cars and moved up and down by a system of ten inclined planes between Hollidaysburg and Johnstown. Canal workers lived and worked on their boats, and crews varied from a captain, one steersman, and a driver on a day boat to a captain, two steersmen, two drivers, and possibly a cook on a boat running day and night, with monthly wages ranging from about $5.00 to $60.00.