The Lehigh Canal, Easton, Northampton County

I found myself unable to update last week because of schedule conflicts, as you may have seen on Facebook. I intended to simply delay the post a day or two, but things just kept getting in the way, so I ultimately decided to delay last week's post until next week. Right now I'm sitting in the house listening to tropical whatever-it-is Ida drop a bunch of rain on my area. The worst weather is expected this afternoon, so it's currently a toss-up as to whether or not I'm going to be able to get to work. But at least I'm doing this work, and once this is live I'll be sending out the monthly email too. If you don't already receive that, please consider signing up with the form on this page! I only bother you once a month and it's free.

Since I'm already waterlogged anyway, let's take a ride over to Northampton County and visit the Lehigh Canal. 

The marker stands in Hugh Moore Park,
near the building where canal boat tickets are purchased

If you've ready my post about Carbon County, you might remember the names of Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, who founded the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company following the discovery of coal by Philip Ginter. We've also already talked about the ways that coal was brought down from the mountains, via transport like the Switchback Railroad. The problem that White and Hazard faced was that there was no good way to bring the coal to the bigger market in Philadelphia; sending it by boat along the Lehigh or Delaware River was risky and dangerous. The Civil War was not helping things either - due to the war, firewood and charcoal were difficult to acquire, and if a sailor did get their boat all the way to Philadelphia on the river, they usually sold the coal, then tore the boat apart and sold the wood before heading back north on foot. The setup was so bad that it was actually cheaper to import coal from Great Britain than to purchase the locally mined stuff!

It was Josiah White who came up with the plan for what became the Lehigh Canal (and, a bit later, the Delaware Canal, which has its own series of markers). The canal would run parallel to the Lehigh River and use its water, but in a much more controlled fashion; through a series of innovative locks and gates, the water level could be raised or lowered as needed to allow specially designed canal boats to pass along the waterway. Coal was thus brought to Philadelphia, where it could be sold to merchants throughout the country, and also to Bucks County, where the Durham Furnace needed coal to fuel its iron smelting fires, and to Lehigh County, where David Thomas was using the coal to create anthracite iron in Catasauqua.

The Lehigh formed part of what would eventually be an entire network of canals which transported goods throughout the commonwealth, many of which have their own historical markers. It took just two  years to create the Lehigh, and because of the black gold which formed its primary cargo, it was considered one of the most lucrative in the network. Stretching 47 miles, it included 52 locks and 8 dams, and the entire thing was dug by hand. At left you can see a hand-painted map of the canal, which is on the wall of the National Canal Museum.

I don't know if this is still the case (since it's been quite some time since I was in elementary school and I don't have kids), but when I was in fourth grade, that was the year that our history lessons were centered around Pennsylvania. As part of our lessons, we were taken to Easton, the county seat of Northampton County, to take a ride on a canal boat on the Lehigh Canal. The place is a bit different now, but I took my frequent guest star party member Andrea with me on a visit to what today is Hugh Moore Park, and we rode the canal boat in order to learn about the canals. (Hugh Moore didn't have anything to do with the canal - he's the one who bought the land in order to preserve the green space. He was actually the founder of the Dixie Cup corporation.) Sitting in Hugh Moore Park is the National Canal Museum, with lots of hands-on activities for the kids; being a bit older than the target age range, our interest was more in the canal itself.

As was the case during the canal's 113 years of operation, the boat was pulled by a pair of mules, Hank and George. Our guide explained that Josiah White was an early supporter of animal rights and welfare, and that one of his conditions was that a canal boat operator had to own his own mules - the logic was that if the boat operator owned the animals, he was more likely to take good care of them and treat them well. Hank and George are extremely well tended and very popular with everyone who comes to visit; boat rides are timed in order to give them a good rest in between each one, and for today's inclement weather they've been taken to the same farm where they live during the winter, so they're safe even if the canal floods.

The canal ride takes about 45 minutes and runs the entire length of the section of canal along the park. At one end is Guard Lock #8, where water levels are controlled and boat operators would interact with the locktender and his family. A house was provided for the locktender, and tending the lock was generally a family affair; the children would help with the animals and other tasks when they weren't in school. Many locktenders' wives would take in laundry or sell items to the boat operators' families, like baked goods and garden vegetables and new socks. Boat operators were encouraged to bring their families with them on the boat, as having everyone live together meant that the operators didn't get homesick, and stopping at a tender's house meant that the kids could play together and the wives could socialize. Boats only operated on the canal during daylight hours. The locktender's house in Hugh Moore Park, seen at right, has been beautifully restored (and they added air conditioning) and functions as a separate museum; the Delaware and Lehigh Trail passes through the park, which is part of the Heritage Corridor, so visitors can just follow the trail up from the canal museum to see the house.

The rise of the railroad impacted the success of the canal, although it didn't spell the end. The end of the Lehigh Canal was not man-made; it was natural. The first disaster occurred in 1862, when a wet spring flooded the reservoirs above White Haven and led to a domino-like collapse of several dams. It's uncertain how many people were killed in the flooding, but most estimates range between 100 and 200, and the state government forbade White and Hazard to rebuild that section of the canal. The rest of the canal continued to be used, however, even after other canals across the country ceased operation. Finally, in 1942, flood waters put an end to the era of the Lehigh Canal - the last fully functioning towpath canal in all of North America. 

Much of the old towpath is inaccessible today. In addition to the section in Easton, where you can ride the boat (seen at left), portions in Bethlehem and Jim Thorpe have been revitalized as walking trails. The National Canal Museum is a treasure trove of local and state history, and if you get the chance to visit Easton, make sure to drop by and experience it for yourself. And say hello to Hank and George!

(Also, a special hello to my fellow local historian from Catasauqua, Martha Capwell Fox; she works in the archives at the canal museum, and was so kind as to take a break from her work to come down and greet me.)

---

Sources and Further Reading:

Official website of the National Canal Museum

Official website of the Delaware & Lehigh Heritage Corridor

Fox, Martha Capwell. Geography, Geology, and Genius: How Coal and Canals Ignited the American Industrial Revolution. Hugh Moore Historical Park & Museums, 2019.

Bartholomew, Ann M.; Metz, Lance E.; Kneis, Michael. Delaware and Lehigh Canals. Oak Printing Company, Bethlehem, PA, 1989.

The Lehigh Canal at the Historical Marker Database

---

Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.