Canvass White was the chief engineer for the Erie, Union, Lehigh, and Delaware & Raritan canals. He was also commissioned to plan the Juniata Canal, later named the Juniata Division Canal, which ran from near Duncan's Island in the Susquehanna River to Lewistown, Pennsylvania, 40 miles upstream. Later the state agreed to extend the canal to Hollidaysburg and the eastern end of the Allegheny Portage Railroad, increasing the canal's length to 127 miles. The canal required a total of 86 locks to overcome a change in elevation of 584 feet over its full length. It opened in 1832.