ridge was shortened to 600 ft (180 m). The widening of the canal allowed for a brief period of prosperity in the late 1850s and early 1860s. In June 1862 a flood on Swatara Creek damaged the western portion of the canal, completely destroying the Pine Grove feeder upon which the canal company depended for revenue. The flood prompted costly repairs that were compounded with continual water supply problems. The connecting railroad was leased to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad on July 26, 1862, and sold outright in January 1866. The completion of the Lebanon Valley Railroad in 1857 from Reading to Harrisburg cut into the canal revenues, forcing its closure in 1881. Preservation In April 1950, the Union Canal Tunnel was purchased by the Lebanon County Historical Society. The tunnel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 1, 1974. It was designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 1970. On April 19, 1994, the tunnel was designated a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. The tunnel is open to visitors in the Union Canal Tunnel Park. A restored portion of the canal along Tulpehocken Creek is maintained by the Berks County Parks System at the Union Canal Towpath Park in Wyomissing west of Reading. This portion contains one previously restored lock (Lock 49E) https://www.co.berks.pa.us/Dept/Parks/Pages/Stop6Lock49E.aspx along a towpath now used as a recreational trail. A portion of the canal along Swatara Creek is also preserved at Swatara State Park where there are remains of 7 locks, a towpath bridge, major sections of the towpath, and three dams are still visible in Swatara State Park. The canal was never rebuilt because the railroad soon went into operation on the opposite bank of the Swatara Creek. Points of interest Notes See also Allegheny Portage Railroad Delaware and Hudson Canal Delaware Canal, aka later: Pennsylvania Canal (Delaware Division) List of canals in the United States Lehigh Canal Pennsylvania Canal System Pennsylvania Canal, aka later: Pennsylvania Canal (Eastern Division) Pennsylvania Canal (North Branch Division) Pennsylvania Canal (Susquehanna Division) Pennsylvania Canal (West Branch Division) IPennsylvania Canal Guard Lock and Feeder Dam, Raystown Branch Pennsylvania Canal Tunnel Pennsylvania Canal and Limestone Run Aqueduct Schuylkill Canal List of National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania References Sources Augunst, Dean, Two canals of Lebanon County, Lebanon County Historical Society, .V.14, no.1 (1966)