AUTOMOBILES TO TOW BOATS.

The New York Times
April 27, 1900

Electric Motor to be Used on the Delaware and Raritan Canal.

TRENTON, N. J., April 26.—The first of the electric motors to be used on the Delaware and Raritan Canal for the propulsion of boats arrived here to-day.  The motor is in the form of an automobile, and will travel along the towpath, propelling the boat with a tow line.

The Delaware and Raritan, it is thought, will be the first canal in the world to be equipped with electricity for the propelling of boats, and it is believed that this new method will materially reduce the cost of transportation.  The motors are being provided by the Erie Canal Electric Traction Company, which has contracts for equipping other canals.

Superintendent Henry W. Dunn of the canal company, which is operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, said tonight that one of these motors would travel at the rate of five miles an hour with from three to five boats in tow.