Oversight of the canal passed to The Office of Public Works (OPW) in 1831, and traffic continued to increase, from 8,200 tons in 1837 to 18,888 tons in 1866. After that date, the railways started to have a serious impact on trade, and although the canal was maintained in good order, the costs of doing so exceeded the receipts from tolls and rents. In order to avoid this situation, the government sought to find someone else to run it, and eventually sold it to the Lagan Canal Company in 1888. They increased the navigable depth to , which enabled 80-ton barges to reach Coalisland, and the carriage of sand, bricks, agricultural products, pottery, fireclay goods and Irish timber to Belfast increased significantly, as did traffic in grain, coal, hardware, foreign timber and provisions in the opposite direction. Between 1890 and 1900, total traffic increased from 18,000 tons to 36,000 tons, and a loss of £89 became a profit of £355.