During the 1700's, the Conestoga wagon supported westward expansion by carrying 8 tons of material about 15 miles per day with 4-8 oxen, but poor roads often became impassable in winter and spring, making rivers more useful for long-distance transport. Although the Schuylkill reached deeply into developing areas, many sections were not navigable because of waterflow and shallow areas, so farmers increasingly sent products and goods to Baltimore by way of the placid Susquehanna River. In the early 1800's, Philadelphia businessmen secured legislative approval in 1815 for the Schuylkill Navigation Company to build canals, locks, and slackwater dams from Pottsville through Reading to Philadelphia, and Irish work crews completed the initial construction in 1825. The 108-mile route was divided into sections, including the 22-mile Girard canal section from the Vincent Dam in Spring City to Reading, which included the section at Towpath Park. After only a few years, traffic exceeded expectations as anthracite coal from newly discovered deposits was shipped to furnaces near Philadelphia for smelting ore into needed metals. To meet demand, the canal system was widened and deepened in 1834 and 1846. A canal boat and its string of barges could carry more than a steam locomotive while using only a few mules and maintaining a steady speed of 4 miles per hour. In 1859, the canal carried almost 1.4 million tons of coal and a corresponding amount of merchandise, a 60-fold increase over original expectations, while maintenance crews regularly inspected canal sides, strengthened them, and repaired breaches.