Ridley Township.

he threw his private fortune in the scale on behalf of the colonists, and to that end gave five thousand pounds to the North America Bank Fund to supply means to sustain the war. He also subscribed a hundred thousand dollars to various public improvements in Pennsylvania, from which he could not hope for any personal return, purely for the purposes of encouraging the development of the State. Truly has it been said of him that "few men ever lived a more patriotic, useful, and honorable life than he, for singleness of heart, integrity of purpose and conduct, devotion to the cause of liberty and of his country he was unsurpassed."¹ Not only in public life was he useful, but he it was who first introduced machinery for breaking and grinding plaster and oyster-shells, for sawing stone, thrashing grain, and making cider, all of which he had in operation on his Ridley estate, driven by water-power, under his personal supervision. He died July, 1825, in the eightieth year of his age. Among the descendants of this exemplary citizen have been many conspicuous men of the nation. Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, the Arctic explorer, was his grandson; Gen. Thomas Leiper Kane belonged to the famous "Bucktails." His eldest son, George G. Leiper, was associate judge of Delaware County and member of Congress from this district, and two grandsons of Thomas Leiper, Gen. Charles I. Leiper and Capt. Thomas I. Leiper, made highly creditable records in the late civil war.

Leiper's Canal. - In 1790 Thomas Leiper and John Wall, both large owners of real estate in Ridley, applied to the Legislature with a petition for an appropriation from the State to cut a canal from the point where the tide flowed in Crum Creek to McIlvain's mill-dam, in order to cheapen the cost of transportation of stone from Leiper's quarries to tide-water. The petition was supplemented by a similar one from the stone-cutter's and masons of Philadelphia, who stated that the stone procured from Leiper's quarries were the best produced in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, and representing that the construction of this canal would be of great public advantage. The petition was met with a remonstrance by John and Isaac McIlvain, and the Legislature refusing to act in the matter the scheme was abandoned.² A similar assertion was made in the United States Gazette, in August, 1828, as follows:

"The Leiper Canal. The late Thomas Leiper, Esq., of this city, contemplated, in 1790, a canal along his estate in Delaware County, in order to complete an easy communication between his quarries on Crum Creek and the Delaware. His views were not perfectly comprehended by the Legislature at that time, and he found himself foiled by the Legislature in that attempt. In 1807 he caused a railroad - the first in the country - to be constructed from his quarries to Ridley Creek. In 1825, since the death of Mr. Leiper, his son, George G. Leiper, Esq., revived the idea proposed by his father, and on Saturday, the 16th inst., the corner-stone of the canal was laid by William Strickland, Esq., with an appropriate address from Professor Patterson, of this city. A large concourse of citizens - as we gather from the Upland Union - attended the ceremony, among whom was Mrs. Elizabeth C. Leiper, the aged widow of the gentleman who had proposed the canal."³

The history of the canal being altogether documentary, we are compelled to reproduce the articles which appeared in the public press at the time the canal was constructed. In August, 1828, the Upland Union says, -

"George G. Leiper, of Ridley township, commenced his canal or Monday week last, and one lock is nearly completed. The length of the canal will be near a mile, and will be of great importance to this section of our county. It will be connected with Crum Creek, which empties into the Delaware, and when completed (which will be done as soon as possible) will have a tendency to enhance the value of property in that neighborhood, as well as open a direct water communication between Philadelphia and the stone-quarries belonging to Mr. Leiper. There are several mill-sites near its location."⁴

On Oct. 13, 1829, the Upland Union contained the following:

"The Leiper Canal Celebration. - On Thursday last, the 8th instant, the grand ceremony of navigating the Leiper Canal took place. It is a little better than a year since the commencement of this great work of individual enterprise, and its rapid completion appears almost like a dream to one who witnessed the laying of the corner-stone. The original projector of this canal, it is well known, was Thomas Leiper (now deceased), who, owing to unforeseen circumstances in the year 1790, was unable to carry his plan into operation. The project has, however, been successfully carried into effect by his eldest son, George Gray Leiper, to whom the citizens of Delaware County are indebted for one of the greatest works of individual enterprise to be found in the United States.

"At one o'clock the ladies were escorted to the canal boat 'William Strickland,' a beautiful boat about fifty-five feet in length, and named after that distinguished engineer. In the stern of the boat was stationed a band of music, which played during the passage of the boat up to the quarries, a distance of nearly two miles, some of the most fashionable and patriotic airs. Attached to the boat were two handsome full-blooded Wind-Flower colts, neatly decorated with covers, and trimmed with ribbons. At half-past one o'clock the signal was given, and the procession moved on in carriages, gigs, and gentlemen on horseback accompanied the boat as she smoothly glided through the unruffled stream to her place of destination. The sight, as may well be imagined, was truly grand and imposing. When the 'William Strickland' entered the first lock (the Elizabeth Leiper Lock, named after the wife of the venerable projector), three cheers were given. In a few minutes after she entered the Thomas Leiper Lock, which for beauty of stone and superior workmanship is unrivaled in the United States. Such is the opinion of the Messrs. Strickland and Struthers, of Philadelphia, and Major Bender.

"On the Thomas Leiper Lock the Delaware County Volunteer Battalion, under the command of Lieut.-Col. Henry Myers, were posted, and as soon as the boat passed through it a national salute was fired by the Pennsylvania Artillerists, accompanied with musketry. The boat was precisely one half-hour from the time she left the Great Southern road until she arrived at the mansion of the Hon. George G. Leiper. The ladies were then landed, and the boat proceeded on her passage up to the quarries without any accident having occurred to impede her progress.

"The troops then paraded in front of the mansion of Mr. Leiper, and were addressed by him in a very handsome and appropriate manner. On this as on all other occasions the hospitable dwelling of Mr. Leiper