 Pleasant Township in 1808, and by the incorporation of and annexations by Canonsburg and Houston Boroughs.The emergence of the Chartiers Valley Railroad and then the local Interstate Highways mitigated the creek's use for transportation but its significance at the end of the 18th century is demonstrated in the name for the Township.In May 1790, John Canon, the founder of Canonsburg, loaded two boats with forty barrels of flour from his mill and shipped them to New Orleans via Chartiers Creek and the Ohio River.