The first Clarks Ferry Bridge was part of the Main Line Pennsylvania Canal built in 1828, with mules walking on a cantilevered walkway outside the structure to tow canal boats across the river, aided by a dam below the bridge that created a calm surface. At Duncan's Island, the Eastern Division Canal ended at the western end of the bridge, while the Susquehanna Division Canal began there and continued along the western side of the Susquehanna River to Northumberland. Farther north on Duncan's Island by Amity Hall, the Juniata Division began, crossed the Juniata River by aqueduct, and continued west to Hollidaysburg. Across the Susquehanna from the eastern edge of the bridge, the Wiconisco Branch followed the river's eastern shore through Halifax to Wiconisco Creek at Millersburg. Within a three mile stretch, four branches of the canal system met, and the Canal Foreman headquartered at Clarks Ferry oversaw operations on the Juniata, Susquehanna, and Wiconisco divisions. Locks were added to the Duncan's Island outlet basin in 1838 to alleviate a water flow problem, bringing the canal complex to its final form. In 1857, the outlet basin, towing path bridge, and dam were sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the bridge remained in use until a heavy storm blew it down in the spring of 1859. Engineers had solved the problem of boats crossing between canals on opposite sides of the Susquehanna by building a 1,998-foot dam between the lower end of Duncan's Island and the east bank of the river, forming a pool across which boats could be pulled from a wooden, two-tier towpath bridge, while two Duncan's Island lift locks raised or lowered boats between the dam pool and the other canals. The Wiconisco Canal, a 19th century transportation waterway about 12 miles long in Dauphin County, ran along the east bank of the Susquehanna between Millersburg and Duncan's Island at Clarks Ferry, descending about 42 feet through seven locks, and remnants of its guard lock and canal chute still remain on the eastern shore.