PART FOUR

CANALS OF THE UNITED STATES

AND CANADA

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INTRODUCTION

The information to be obtained concerning the various canals of North America is somewhat meagre and a satisfactory compilation is extremely difficult. The most complete document on this subject is the report of H. Vétillart to the French Minister of Public Works. This report, entitled La Navigation aux États-Unis, has been used in preparing the present work, but considerable original research has been made also. Probably errors will be found in these sketches and tables; concerning New York canals it is known that different official records vary so widely as to make certainty of statement often impossible, and doubtless this is true of other waterways.

A number of short canals, without locks, have been purposely omitted. Among the canalized rivers only those are given in which the improvements comprise something more than mere betterment of channel by means of dredging and snagging. Naturally the line drawn between canals and canalized rivers cannot be altogether satisfactory; some of the canalized rivers will be seen to embrace in their extent canals of considerable length. The ton of two thousand pounds is used throughout this chapter, unless otherwise stated.

The following persons have kindly furnished information to be used in this compilation: Frank W. Hodgdon, Chief Engineer of Massachusetts; Leon McDonald, Superintendent of Canal Commissioners, Ill.; C.L. Nicholson, Secretary of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company; W.G. Johnston, President of the Board of Public Works of Ohio; Frank M. Kerr, Chief State Engineer, Louisiana; G.B. Nicholson, Engineer and General Manager of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company; Dr. E.L. Corthell, Advisory Board of Consulting Engineers, New York State canals; Professor L.M. Haupt, Consulting Engineer, Philadelphia, Pa.

The following is a partial list of the books consulted on this subject: Internal Navigation of the United States, George Armroyd; The Great American Canals, Archer Butler Hulbert; Waterways and Water Transport in Different Countries, J.S. Jeans; History of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, D.H. Kelton; Map of the Railroads of the United States and Canada, D.K. Minor; Compendium of the Internal Improvements of the United States, Mitchell; The Canals and Railroads of the United States, H.S. Tanner; Transportation Systems in the United States, J.L. Ringwalt; History of the Canals and Railroads of the United States, H.V. Poor; the report on Water Transportation of the United States census reports of 1880 and 1890; the reports of Chief of Engineers of the U.S. Army to date; reports of various corporations and of State officials; articles appearing in the following publications: Engineering News, Engineering and Building Record, Scientific American, and others.

CUMBERLAND AND OXFORD CANAL. – 1.

{Reference number. A corresponding number is given in Chapter II – Tabular Statistics – and on the accompanying map, found in pocket at cover.}

This canal, constructed under a charter granted in 1820, was designed to establish communication between Portland and Sebago pond, together with the connecting waters.

One lock in Songo river opened a waterway from Sebago river into the upper lakes and together with the canal, established a through water route from Harrison and Bridgeton to Portland.

Although badly constructed the canal did a profitable business until the opening of the Portland and Ogdensburg railroad, soon after which the canal was abandoned. The canalization of the Songo river was kept in operation by the State of Maine at last reports.

In 1833 the net profits on this canal amounted to $12,000.

THE CANALS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. – 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

The canals of New Hampshire were constructed between the years 1812 and 1837 and were designed to furnish a means of getting around the falls of the Merrimac and to render the river navigable.

These canals together with the canal at Lowell, Mass., around the Pawtucket falls made the Merrimac navigable from Concord, N.H., to the sea, for boats drawing three and one-half feet of water. This whole distance is more than one hundred miles.

PAWTUCKET FALLS CANAL. – 7.

This canal was constructed by a company incorporated in 1792 under the name of, "The Proprietors of the Locks and Canals of the Merrimac River." The canal was built in order to enable boats to get around the falls of the Merrimac, called the Pawtucket falls at Lowell.

This canal eventually became a distributing canal for water-power. It ceased to be used as a waterway to any great extent after the building of the Middlesex canal.

MIDDLESEX CANAL. – 8.

This canal was constructed by the Middlesex Canal Company, incorporated in 1793, and was designed to unite the Merrimac above Pawtucket falls with Boston harbor.

It left the Merrimac about one mile above Pawtucket falls and from thence ascended to its summit at Billerica. From that point it descended to the Charles river, which empties into Boston harbor. The canal summit level was fed from the Concord river.

The canal opened as far as Woburn in 1804; was completed and fully opened to traffic in 1808.

In 1810 the tolls on the canal, fixed at one-sixteenth of a dollar per mile, yielded a revenue of $15,000, and in 1836, $30,000. The revenues of the company continued to increase until 1835, when the Boston and Lowell railroad was built. From this time on the receipts from the canal tolls decreased steadily till in 1853 they ceased entirely. Six years later the rights of the company were forfeited and the rights of soil reverted to the original owners. During the most prosperous parts of this canal’s history, the stockholders received an annual dividend of six per cent.

CAPE COD SHIP CANAL – 8 ½.

As early as 1676 the necessity of building a canal across Cape Cod from Buzzards bay to Barnstable bay was appreciated by the colonists, but no action in the matter was taken until 1697, when it became a subject of such interest that the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts discussed the advisability of undertaking the work. The matter was referred to a committee, which, however, did nothing with the project, and it was about seventy years before the question was again brought before the public.

During the interim private parties became interested in the undertaking and a short time before the signing of the Declaration of Independence a surveyor was employed to examine the route for the proposed canal, but, owing to the Revolutionary war and the consequent reorganization of the Government, consideration of the project was given up and it was not until the year 1824 that it appeared again. At this time the question was brought before Congress, but again nothing was done.

During the several times that the question of building this canal was before the different legislative bodies up to 1860, it was evident that the importance and necessity of such a water-way was not fully appreciated; although first projected in 1676, it was not until just prior to the Civil war that there seemed to be any possibility of the passage of an act to accomplish the object so long sought by the people of Massachusetts and the marine interests. However, the outbreak of the war again blasted the efforts, when the outlook seemed bright for success.

Not until 1885 was anything done towards building this channel and in that year about one mile of canal was constructed, but this is all that has been done towards its completion. As projected the canal is to be eight miles long, to be built without locks and is estimated to cost $6,000,000.

The building of this waterway will save about 75 and 145 miles, respectively, in distance over the present "inside" and "outside" routes between New York and Boston, which are more or less dangerous at all times. About 40,000 vessels round Cape Cod annually, bearing cargoes of some 20,000,000 tons. It is supposed that the construction of this canal would increase this traffic by the large amount that now goes by part water and part rail routes.

BLACKSTONE CANAL. – 9.

Two distinct companies were incorporated in 1823 by the Legislatures of Massachusetts and Rhode Island respectively, for the construction of a canal from Worcester, Mass., to Providence, R.I.

These two companies were merged in 1825 under the name of "The Blackstone Canal Company." The construction of the canal was begun in Rhode Island in 1824 and in 1826 the work was started in Massachusetts.

The first boat passed through the entire length of the canal in 1828. The construction up to this time had cost $750,000. Of this total, $500,000 was subscribed by citizens of Massachusetts and the remaining $250,000 by citizens of Rhode Island.

The receipts from tolls reached their maximum in 1832, amounting to $18,907. The canal was never profitable to the owners.

The canal was deficient in an adequate water-supply and was often visited by injurious floods. It was also out of service during the winter months on account of the severity of the climate in this section. In spite of these disadvantages and its failure to make a commercial success, the canal conferred vast benefits on the region traversed and was not abandoned until 1848.

Its abandonment at this date was the direct result of the building, in 1847, of the Providence and Worcester railroad, with which the canal was unable to compete.

FARMINGTON CANAL. – 10.

HAMPSHIRE AND HAMPDEN CANAL. – 11.

NEW HAVEN AND NORTHAMPTON CANAL. – 10,11.

The Farmington canal received its charter from the State of Connecticut in 1822. It was begun in 1825 and opened in 1828 as far as Farmington. Soon after this, it was prolonged to Southwick on the northern boundary of the state.

The Hampshire and Hampden canal was the extension of the Farmington canal in the State of Massachusetts. Authorized in 1823, it was completed in 1829, as far as Westfield from Southwick, on the state’s southern boundary. In 1835 the canal was completed to Northampton.

The Farmington canal and the Hampshire and Hampden canal, although owned by separate companies, formed practically one canal, furnishing a continuous waterway from Northampton, Mass., to New Haven, Conn., on Long Island Sound.

In 1835 these canals suffered heavy damage and both companies, equally involved, sold out to a new company, called the New Haven and Northampton Canal Company, which thus put this whole system under one control.

The traffic on these canals was of considerable importance and from 1830 to 1836 the annual receipts were as large as $75,000. The expense of operating was so large, however, and the repairs were so numerous that the canal was never a paying one.

In 1836, when these properties were taken over by the New Haven and Northampton Canal Company, the new company agreed to take up the indebtedness only, of the old companies, paying nothing whatever for the capital stock, which thus became a total loss. The amount of stock issued by the Farmington Canal Company was $537,195, and by the Hampshire and Hampden Canal Company, $269,000, making a total loss up to 1836 of $806,195 to the stockholders of these two companies. The canal was operated with twenty to twenty-five-ton boats till 1845 when it was replaced by a railroad. At this date, 1845, the total loss on the canal system was reckoned at $1,089,425.

THE CANALS OF NEW YORK STATE – NOS. 18 TO 33, INCLUSIVE.

For a complete account of the canals of New York State, see Part One, their map numbers only being given here.

Erie Canal. – 18.

Champlain Canal. – 19.

Oswego Canal. – 20.

Oneida River Improvement. – 21.

Baldwinsville Canal and Seneca River Towing-path. – 22.

Cayuga and Seneca Canal. – 23.

Black River Canal. – 24. (Including Black River Improvement. – 25.)

Chemung Canal. – 26.

Crooked Lake Canal. – 27.

Oneida Lake Canal. – 28.

Chenango Canal. – 29.

Chenango Canal Extension. – 30.

Genesee Valley Canal. – 31.

Shinnecock and Peconic Canal. – 31A.

Delaware and Hudson Canal. – 32.

Junction Canal. – 33.

THE MORRIS CANAL. – 34.

The Morris Canal and Banking Company was chartered in 1824 by the State of New Jersey and authorized to construct a canal from the Delaware river to Newark. The extension from Newark to Jersey City was authorized in 1828. The canal was opened in 1831 as far as Newark and was completed to Jersey City in 1836.

The summit of the canal near Stanhope is fifty-one miles from Newark and thirty-nine miles from Phillipsburg. It is nine hundred and fourteen feet above the Hudson and seven hundred and sixty above the Delaware. The height of nine hundred and fourteen feet is surmounted by means of twelve inclined planes lifting seven hundred and fifty-eight feet and sixteen locks lifting one hundred and fifty-six feet.

The descent to the Delaware of seven hundred and sixty feet is accomplished by means of eleven inclined planes of six hundred and ninety-one feet total lift and seven locks of forty-nine feet total lift.

The canal was built originally with a prism of small dimensions, 32 x 20 x 4.

The planes and locks were enlarged in the year 1841, but immediately after this enlargement the company failed and the management of its affairs was put in the hands of receivers. The receivers leased the canal until 1844.

In 1844 the canal was bought under a plan for reorganization by the Morris Canal and Banking Company of 1844, (capital $1,000,000.)

In 1844-5 this company undertook the enlargement of the locks and prism. The prism was enlarged by them to the dimensions, 40 x 25 x 5. Section boats were also introduced at this time and were capable of carrying forty-four tons of twenty-two hundred and forty pounds.

Between the years 1847 and 1860 all the planes were rebuilt and equipped with wire-rope hoists. At the end of these improvements,, in 1860, the canal was capable of conveying boats of sixty tons capacity.

Besides its twenty-three lift-locks, already enumerated, this canal has four guard-locks, one feeder-lock and two tide-locks. The greatest lift of any one lock is twelve feet.

The boats, in order to facilitate their passage over the inclined planes, are constructed in two sections and are jointed together by latches and steadying pins. The trucks, like the boats, are built in two sections and are heavy timber cradles, supported on eight wheels and running on tracks that extend at the foot of each incline a short distance along the bottom of the canal prism. The tracks descend again to the bottom of the summit level and extend a short distance along the bottom. The boats are floated into these trucks in one level and are floated out again in the next level. The trucks are hauled up the steep inclines by wire ropes, wound on drums operated by water-power and descend by their own weight.

This canal has a total length from Phillipsburg to Jersey City of 102.38 miles, and in addition to this, two feeders. The Lake Hopatcong feeder in Morris county has a length of 0.5 mile and the Pompton feeder in Passaic county a length of 3.6 miles, making in all 106.48 miles of canal.

The original cost of this canal was $2,830,000, and the total cost including all enlargements up to 1860 was $5,100,000.

The canal was leased in 1871 to the Lehigh Valley R.R. Co. for nine hundred and ninety-nine years under a guarantee of ten per cent dividends on preferred stock and four per cent on the common stock.

The tonnage on this canal had decreased to such an extent that in 1904 a committee of the New Jersey Legislature reported in favor of allowing its abandonment. The Legislature, however, has failed to act on this report to the present time.

From 1880 to 1890 the average amount of coal transported on this canal was about 285,000 tons. The amount carried in each of the ten years previous to 1903 is shown below.

DELAWARE AND RARITAN CANAL. – 35.

The Delaware and Raritan Canal Company and the Camden and Amboy Railroad Company received their charters in 1830 and were consolidated in 1831. The company resulting from this consolidation constructed the canal and operated it until 1867, when it united with the New Jersey Railroad Company.

This new company took the name of the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company and is still the real owner of the canal.

In May, 1871, however, the canal was leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, and since that date it has been operated by that road. The Pennsylvania Railroad engages to pay ten per cent per annum on the total stock of the united companies.

The canal is well built throughout with paved banks, swing bridges and steam operated lock-gates. The bridges also near the locks are operated by steam and steam is used to tow the boats through the locks. The whole plan is to allow high speed and quick lockages.

While the canal is designed to allow the passage of boats carrying six hundred tons, experience has shown that it is more advantageous to employ boats carrying not more that four hundred and fifty tons. The length of boats should not be greater than one hundred and ten feet and the width not greater than twenty-three feet.

The feeder is navigable, but only for smaller boats.

{d = Deficit.}

THE PENNSYLVANIA CANALS. – 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46.

The State of Pennsylvania began the consideration of a canal system traversing the State from the east to the west in the latter part of the eighteenth century, but nothing was accomplished until 1824. In that year a commission was appointed to investigate the possible canal routes between Harrisburg and Pittsburg. The following year another commission was appointed to make surveys and estimates for a canal system extending from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, from Allegheny to Erie, and also for a line to extend to the northern boundary of the State, with a view to connecting with the New York State canals.

The work of construction was begun in 1826 and continued until about 1840 without interruption. During the year 1827 the construction of the Juniata canal as far as Lewiston was authorized and the construction of the western division as far as Blairsville was ordered; also the construction of the Susquehanna division to Northumberland. By the same act construction of the French creek feeder was ordered and the examination of a canal route up the valley of the Delaware from Bristol. Provisional authorization for this construction was also given.

In 1828 the extension of the canal on the Susquehanna from the mouth of the Swatara to Columbia was authorized, also the extension of the Juniata division to Hollidaysburg. By the same act the extension of the canal from Northumberland to Bald Eagle creek was authorized and of the Delaware valley canal as far as Easton. The construction of the Allegheny Portage railroad, designed to form a connecting link between the canals east and west of the Allegheny mountains, was authorized also at this time.

The work undertaken by the State in these various canals and railroads was much more expensive than previously estimated, and the debt accumulated rapidly. Much of the work was poorly done, although some of it merited the highest praise. As a whole, however, the construction of these canals was scandalously mismanaged.

The dissatisfaction of the people, when they began to realize the enormous burden of debt that they had taken upon themselves, was intense. Retrenchment was necessitated by the attitude of the people toward further expenditures, and in 1840 the work of construction was entirely stopped.

The work at this time was not complete, but the success of the competing railroads was already assured, and the people of the state wholly out of sympathy for further expenditures for canals.

The canals and railroads built by the State at such vast expense were no doubt successful in part. The vastness of the enterprise so hastily undertaken resulted in much that was unproductive. Parts of the canal system never paid the annual charges for repairs and operation, and disappointment with the entire scheme became general.

As a result of the popular discontent, the sale of the State works to private corporations was begun in 1845 and was completed in 1859.

In 1845 the Erie canal was sold to the Erie Canal Company. In 1857 the main line of the canal was sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for $7,500,000 in bonds. In 1858 the lateral canals were sold to the Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company for $3,500,000.

The Sunbury and Erie Company afterwards sold the several canals as follows:

The North Branch divisions to the North Branch Canal Company for $1,600,000; West Branch and Susquehanna division to the West Branch and Susquehanna Canal Company for $500,000; the Delaware division to the Delaware Division Company for $1,775,000.

In 1863 the North Branch Canal Company sold that part of the canal between Northumberland and Wilkesbarre to the Wyoming Canal Company for $1,010,000. In 1865 the name of the North Branch Canal Company was changed by legislative enactment to the Pennsylvania and New York Canal and Railroad Company. The privilege of constructing a railroad along the berme bank of the canal was granted by the same act.

This railroad did not injure the canal nor interfere with its operation, but the canal was practically destroyed by a flood in 1865, and repairs were never completed. The railroad was opened to traffic in 1869.

The Wiconisco canal was transferred to a private company while still incomplete, having cost the State about $1,500,000.

By the terms of sale to the Pennsylvania railroad, in 1857, that corporation acquired the Eastern division, the Juniata division, the Western division and the Allegheny Portage railroad. The railroad company gave in payment for these properties bonds to the value of $7,500,000, bearing five per cent interest and payable in annual instalments. These instalments were so planned that the entire bond issue would be finally retired in 1893.

In the first year of its ownership the railroad company abandoned the Allegheny Portage railroad. In 1863 about thirty miles of the Western division was abandoned, extending from Blairsville to Johnstown, and in 1864 the remainder of this division was abandoned.

In 1866 the Pennsylvania Railroad Company sold to the Pennsylvania Canal Company that part of its canal property that was not abandoned, amounting to one hundred and seventy-eight miles. The consideration was $2,750,000, and of this amount $1,000,000 was reckoned as being the value of the canals when first purchased by the railroad in 1857. The companies’ reports seem to show that this sale was made to avoid further payments to the State, and that the State received only this sum, $1,000,000, instead of the $7,500,000 as at first agreed.

The Pennsylvania Canal Company acquired a majority of the shares of the West Branch Canal Company in 1867, and operated the canals of that company (Susquehanna and West Branch canal) under a lease after 1869. The Wyoming Canal Company was absorbed by the Pennsylvania Canal Company in 1869. In 1870 the property of the Wiconisco Canal Company was obtained as a result of a judgment, and thereafter all these canals were operated as a single property. In 1870 the canals of the Erie Canal Company were acquired by forced sale by the Pennsylvania Company and were operated through the season of 1871, when they were abandoned.

In 1872 the canals in operation under the control of the Pennsylvania Canal Company were reported as follows:

The prism was 40 to 60 feet at water-surface, 24-34 at bottom and from 4 to 6 ¼ feet deep.

The locks were as follows:

Besides these lift-locks there were fourteen stop-locks, sixteen guard-locks, and four weigh-locks. There were, on the entire system, twenty-six dams, sixty-eight aqueducts, and eighteen miles of slack water. At this date the average capacity of the boats was one hundred and twenty tons each, and the average tonnage on the canals was a little less than one million tons yearly.

The canals of the western division were entirely abandoned in 1865 and after 1872 the number of miles operated decreased steadily. In 1875 the canal mileage of this system had decreased to three hundred and twenty-four miles. Again, in 1901, all except one hundred and one-half miles of the canals of this system were abandoned. In 1903 only forty-three miles remained and in 1904, this great system of Pennsylvania canals was wholly abandoned. The Delaware Division canal which is not included in the above system, but which is under the control of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, remains to-day a sole representative of the original system of State canals.

Statement of Operations of the Pennsylvania Canal Co. from 1871 to 1900.

{Abandoned in the year 1904.}

{d = Deficit.}

DELAWARE DIVISION CANAL. – 47.

This canal was sold in 1858 by the State of Pennsylvania to the Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company and it has since been resold to the Delaware Division Canal Company.

This latter company leased the canal in 1866 to the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, receiving eight per cent on the stock, $1,633,350 and six per cent on the bonds, $800,000.

Constructed originally with locks only eleven feet wide, it was operated with great inconvenience until the year 1860. At that time the width of the locks was enlarged to twenty-two feet, corresponding to the locks on the rest of the Lehigh canal, in connection with which it is operated.

{See also Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co.}

{a = average.}

ERIE DIVISION – 48, 49, 50.

FRENCH CREEK CANAL.

BEAVER CANAL.

ERIE EXTENSION.

These canals furnished two routes between Lake Erie and the Ohio river with the portion from Lake Conneaut to Lake Erie in common.

They were sold to the Erie Canal Company in 1845 by the State of Pennsylvania, and this company was absorbed by the Pennsylvania Canal Company in 1870. They were operated until the end of the season of 1871, when they were abandoned.

French Creek Canal.

{d = Deficit.}

Beaver Canal.

{a = Average. d = Deficit.}

SCHUYLKILL CANAL. – 51.

{On the accompanying map this canal should be shown in orange rather than red.}

This canal, one of the oldest, had a more prosperous history than some of the other canals.

It was chartered, in 1815, with the purpose of opening up one of the richest anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania. The work was begun in 1816 and about 1825 the canal was in operation between Mount Carbon and Philadelphia.

The company did an extremely lucrative business until the beginning of railroad competition in 1842, when the Philadelphia and Reading railroad began competing for the coal trade. The canal could not compete successfully with the railroad and, in order to do so, undertook extensive enlargements. In 1846 and 1847 the depth was increased to six feet, the number of locks was decreased from one hundred and twenty to seventy-one, and the canal made available for boats of one hundred and seventy tons.

This outlay, together with great flood damage in 1850, reduced the company to bankruptcy and although the canal was repaired and operated in 1851, nevertheless, in 1852, it went through a reorganization.

The company of 1852 took up the contest with the railroads, and showed great energy in that direction until 1870, when the Philadelphia and Reading put an end to the conflict by leasing the canal property for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, paying an annual rental of $655,000.

The canal receipts decreased steadily under the railroad management. In 1898 and thereafter only 89.88 miles were operated between Port Clinton and Philadelphia, and in 1904 the whole canal was abandoned.

The freight rate on this canal varied, for various commodities, from one cent to two and one-half cents a ton per mile, the ton being a gross ton of twenty-two hundred and forty pounds.

In 1872, two years after the lease to the Philadelphia and Reading railroad, there were forty-seven lift-locks, eighteen stop-locks, seven guard-locks, and seventeen guard-locks with lift also. Of these locks seventeen were of cut stone, two were of cement, and the remainder were composite, i.e., timber backed with rubble masonry.

The following shows the variation in the traffic on this canal:

{d = Deficit.}

{* in original text.}

THE LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. – 52,53.

In the year 1793 a company was formed under the title of the "Lehigh Coal Mine Company" which acquired, by purchase and under State warrants, about five-sixths of the anthracite coal land now owned by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.

This company opened the coal mines and appropriated some money to open a road from the mines to the landings, a distance of nine miles. Failing to obtain from the stockholders any adequate sum for this purpose, the mines were allowed to lie idle for a number of years. In the meantime, however, the stockholders endeavored to secure legislative action looking to the improvement of the Lehigh river. Several laws were passed as a result of their efforts, but none of real benefit to them.

A lease of one vein of coal was given by them in 1807 with the privilege of mining iron ore as well. The parties securing this lease failed to make a success of the business and soon after abandoned the lease.

Again, in 1813, the company leased their property for ten years, granting also the right of cutting lumber for boats. The company holding this lease agreed to market ten thousand bushels of coal a year. The entire consideration demanded by the Lehigh company was the introduction of this quantity of coal into the Philadelphia market. The lessees paid four dollars a ton to a contractor for hauling the coal from the mines to the river, over the above mentioned road. This contract resulted in loss to the contractor.

At the river the coal was enclosed in timber boxes, shaped like crude flat-bottomed boats, and called "arks." These arks, five in number, were despatched down the river, being carried along by the current. Of the five ark loads, so despatched, two reached Philadelphia in safety, the other three being wrecked in the passage.

The price at which the coal was sold to Messrs. White and Hazard, twenty-one dollars a ton, did not cover the expenses and losses incurred by the lessees, and owing to this fact the business was abandoned.

Messrs. White and Hazard were determined to obtain more of this coal, and in 1817 obtained a lease of the property for twenty years. The sole conditions of this lease were the marketing of forty thousand bushels of coal a year, in consideration for which the lessees were to pay the owners one ear of corn annually.

Having obtained this lease, Messrs. White and Hazard applied to the Legislature for authority to improve the Lehigh river. In 1818 an act was passed granting this authority. The Legislature, while granting this privilege, reserved the right to compel this firm to extend a slack-water system the entire distance from Easton to Stoddartsville if dissatisfied with the navigation provided.

A survey of the property was commenced in April of this year. The instruments used were borrowed from the Delaware and Schuylkill Canal Company. These were, in fact, the only instruments in Philadelphia at that time.

In attempting to form a stock company, Messrs. White, Hanto and Hazard found it necessary to separate the river improvement from the land improvement. Accordingly two companies were formed. The Lehigh Navigation Company was formed in August, 1818, to undertake the river improvements; the Lehigh Coal Company in October of the same year, to build a road from the mines to the river. This dual organization was due to the fact that some people believed in the river improvement, but were skeptical about the value of the anthracite coal, while others regarded the river improvement as a dangerous experiment, but had faith in the value of the coal fields.

The capital stock of the navigation company was fixed at $50,000, and the owners of the stock were to receive all earnings up to twenty-five per cent on their holdings annually. All earnings above this were to go to Messrs. White, Hanto and Hazard.

The grading of the road from the mines to the river, a distance of nine miles, was completed in 1819. This is said to be the first road in this country laid out with instruments and built to well planned grades, and possibly the first road built, without undulations, in any country in which so many natural obstacles to such a road existed.

In 1820 White and Hazard absorbed Hanto’s interests in these concerns, and the two companies were combined under the name, "Lehigh Navigation and Coal Company." Additional stock to the amount of $20,000 was issued at this time for improving the navigation, and three hundred and sixty-five tons of coal were sent to Philadelphia for sale. This quantity completely stocked the market and was disposed of with difficulty.

In 1821 the capital stock was again increased, the name was changed to "The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company," and the plan of distribution of the earnings was changed so that thereafter Messrs. White and Hazard were merely stockholders in the company. The amount raised by this stock issue was $50,000, which was expended in further improvements in the river navigation. In this year one thousand and seventy-three tons of anthracite coal were sent to Philadelphia.

In the following year, 1822, an act was passed incorporating the company and the stock was still further increased by $38,950.

The arks, so called, used in transporting this coal, were rectangular boxes from sixteen to eighteen feet wide, and from twenty to twenty-five feet long, resembling a rough scow. At first two of these were joined together by hinges, and later the number of sections increased to eight or nine. They were steered by a long oar, like a raft. Machinery was introduced for jointing and putting together the planks of which these arks were built, and the men became so expert in building them that five men could build and launch a section in forty-five minutes. These arks were broken up at the end of their journey and the lumber sold. The men employed in guiding them down-stream walked back to the upper end of their route and brought down another consignment.

The corporation was granted a license to receive tolls on this river navigation, but did not collect any tolls until the year 1827.

This method of transporting coal caused the consumption of so much timber that the river was improved in 1823 for sixteen miles above Mauch Chunk, for the purpose of bringing down the timber for building arks. These improvements gave rise to another increase to the capital stock of $96,050, making the entire capitalization at the end of 1823, $500,000.

In 1825 the demand for coal had increased to such proportions that 28,393 tons were sent down the Lehigh and 7,143 were sent down the Schuylkill, which was now open to navigation. The coal trade had grown to such proportions that a railroad was built in 1827 on the road from the mines to the river. There was at that time only one other railroad in operation in the country, and that was only three miles long. This railroad built by the Lehigh Company sloped from the mines to the river without any up grade in the entire nine miles. The slope was sufficiently steep so that the cars loaded with coal ran from the mines to the river under the influence of gravity. The empties were then drawn back to the mines by mules. On the down trip these mules were loaded in cars, with the coal.

In 1827 the capitalization was increased by the issue of new stock to the amount of $500,000, and it was determined to establish a complete slack-water navigation on the Lehigh, that would be navigable in either direction. The improvements up to this time had consisted in dams and channel work to facilitate the passage of the arks, and the change in system was a radical one.

At this time, the construction of the Delaware Division canal became a certainty; therefore, the Lehigh company had only to provide for the necessary canals and locks between Easton and Mauch Chunk. The dimensions of the canal were fixed at a width of sixty-feet at water-surface and five feet in depth. The locks were to be one hundred feet long and twenty-two feet wide, adapted to boats of one hundred and twenty tons. The Lehigh slack-water navigation was completed in 1829, and the Delaware Division canal was not navigable until nearly three years later. The failure of the contractors to complete the Delaware Division canal was very costly to the Lehigh company. Arks were the only form of boats that could be used on the Delaware during these three years, and they were very expensive to move on the improved Lehigh slack-water navigation. Moreover, when complete, the locks of the Delaware Division canal were only half as wide as those of the Lehigh, thereby preventing through transportation in the large boats, so that in its early history the Delaware Division canal was a serious handicap to the Lehigh.

In 1835 the extension of the Lehigh canal from Mauch Chunk to Stoddartsville was undertaken in compliance with legislative enactment. In 1837 the Legislature allowed the capital stock to be increased to $1,600,000 and repealed so much of their former act as effected the improvement of navigation between White Haven and Stoddartsville. In 1838 the canal extension from Mauch Chunk to White Haven was completed by means of high lifts and the obligations to the State thereby met.

In 1841 the Lehigh canal was visited by a flood that damaged the works so seriously as to render them entirely useless. Owing to this fact, an impression was created that the property was destroyed. As a result of this damage it was necessary, for a time, to put the canal under the management of trustees for the benefit of the creditors. The canal was restored in the following year from Easton to Mauch Chunk and in 1844 to White Haven.

The depth of the canal was increased at this time and other improvements made. The Legislature allowed the increase of the capital stock so as to cover the actual cost of the canal, provided that the total amount should not exceed $6,000,000.

The canal suffered again from flood damage in 1851, although somewhat less severely than in 1841. Repairs were immediately made increasing the depth of the canal and locks to six feet, in this year.

The financial position of the company was much improved in 1850 by the funding of the claims of the creditors, in whose interests trustees had been appointed in 1842. In 1851 provision was made for converting outstanding bonds into stock, still further strengthening the company.

In 1860 the Delaware Division canal was increased in size so as to admit boats of the same size as the Lehigh, thus conferring great benefit upon the latter.

In 1862 the canal was again visited by a damaging flood and in the year following the canal was repaired, except that part above Mauch Chunk, which was then abandoned.

In 1866 the Lehigh took a lease of the Delaware Division canal for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, and the two have been operated as a single canal ever since. The Lehigh company agreed to pay six per cent annually on the bonds of the Delaware company, amounting to $800,000, to assume the obligation of paying them, and to pay eight per cent annually on the stock, $1,633,350. In 1878 the date of payment of these bonds was extended to 1898 and the dividend payment on the Delaware stock decreased from eight per cent to four per cent per annum. In 1898 the date of payment of the bonds was extended to 1948 and the rate on them decreased from six per cent to four per cent.

The Lehigh company owns valuable railroad properties, built as adjuncts of the canal. These railroads, combined with the coal properties, have so increased in value as to form the main asset of the company.

The Lehigh and Susquehanna railroad was built by this company in the years 1837 to 1844. It was designed to connect the Lehigh canal with the North Branch canal of the Pennsylvania system. It extended from Whitehaven to Wilkesbarre, a distance of about twenty miles, and cost originally about $1,120,000. A description of the present condition of the coal and railroad properties is beyond the scope of the present work.

In the year 1871 the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company leased its railroad properties to the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey for an annual rental equal to one-third the gross receipts from their operation. In 1873 the same company contracted to operate the Lehigh canal properties, to assume all the obligations involved and to pay an annual rental of $200,000 to the Lehigh company.

In 1876 the Central Railroad of New Jersey was put in the hands of a receiver. As a result of this, the canal contract was abandoned by the railroad company, and the operation of the canals was resumed in 1877 by the Lehigh company.

The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company derives to-day large revenues from its coal and railroad properties and its securities are closely held. There is a small annual loss from the operation of the canals, larger than appears in the accompanying table. This table does not show loss due to capital account nor to extraordinary repairs which are frequent.

In 1839 the lower section of the canal, extending from Mauch Chunk to the Delaware river at Easton, was reported as follows:

Canals sixty to sixty-five feet wide at top water-line, forty-five feet wide at bottom and five feet deep.

Locks

Dams – 8

Total fall of canal, 352.2 feet.

TABLE SHOWING TONS OF COAL TRANSPORTED ON THE LEHIGH CANAL UP TO THE YEAR 1839.

It was estimated at this time, 1839, that the total cost of conveying freight on this canal per ton per mile, including tolls, was 1.6 cents.

{The below statement includes the Delaware Division canal after 1890.}

{d = Deficit.}