From Mine to Market

From Mine to Market.

"In the Spring of 1827 it was finally concluded we were strong enough to begin and prosecute the ascending Navigation. For the prosecution of that great undertaking the Co. employed Canvass White, Esq. as the principal engineer." , , Josiah White, 1832

, Taming the Lehigh River into a viable transportation route was no small endeavor. In 1818, Josiah White devised an openable dam that enabled flat-bottomed "arks" carrying 10 to 12 tons of anthracite coal to float over many of the Lehigh River's rocks and rapids. Nicknamed "bear traps," these low-head wing dams (model on right) operated by allowing a flow of water into the chamber below the metal handles, and then into the space under the two angled gates. When the downstream handle was turned to allow the water to run out, the gates fell and boats rode into the rush of water to the next dam. White built 12 of these dams on the Lehigh, which enabled the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company to ship anthracite to Philadelphia. The bear trap system operated from 1819 to 1826. Although successful, it provided only downstream transportation; boats could not return. This cut into profits, and White and Hazard looked north to New York for a new way to approach their problem., Seeing the success of upstate New York's Erie Canal, White and Erskine Hazard began to convert the downstream-only system of bear trap dams to a two-way navigation in 1827. Nine dams on the Lehigh River created 10 miles of "slackwater pools" where the river was deep and slow enough to float boats carrying 100 tons of coal. The pools were connected by 34 miles of canals. Forty-nine lift and guard locks allowed canal boats to travel the 46 miles between Mauch Chunk and Easton , and a 353-foot drop in elevation. In 1834, after White re-engineered the poorly constructed Delaware Canal between Easton and Bristol, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company finally could load anthracite on its boats in Mauch Chunk and deliver it to Philadelphia. The Lehigh Valley was about to turn the industrial world on its head.,

"In 4th month of 1818 Erskine and I surveyed the levels of the River from Stoddartsville to Easton. The ice had not yet disappeared. We found no houses between Stoddartsville and Lausanne and laid in the woods for six nights." , , Josiah White 1832

, [Caption:] , White and Hazard's two-way Lehigh Navigation system solved the problem of getting anthracite to markets in the Lehigh Valley and beyond. The Switchback Railroad they invented between Summit Hill and Mauch Chunk (right) mechanized the process of getting coal from the mines to the Lehigh River. . This historical marker was erected by City of Easton, Pennsylvania. It is in Easton in Northampton County Pennsylvania