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In the early 1800s, two Philadelphia businessmen, Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, oversaw the construction of a lengthy network of locks, canals and towpaths to ship anthracite, further aiding the mining industry’s growth.
Together the Lehigh and Delaware Canals created a key part of a grand transportation system stretching from the Appalachians to the Atlantic. These waterways had very different effects on their surrounding lands.
The Lehigh Canal generated a great deal of industrial development in the form of mining and the accompanying advances. It gave rise to many towns and offshoot businesses including timber cutting and sawmills, steel and silk mills, and one of the largest tanneries in the U.S.
Then in 1862, a massive flood destroyed all the dams, locks, canal boats and villages along the Upper Grand Division of the Lehigh Canal (between White Haven and Jim Thorpe). Thus a new era began, as coal shipping shifted to railroads. The Lehigh Valley Railroad, which ran from Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe) to Easton and on to New York City, was the first rail line to have a significant impact. The Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad and Reading & Pennsylvania Railroad also moved into the area, creating competition for shipping coal and other goods. Investment by J.P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt and other entrepreneurs gave railroads leverage to squeeze coal mining operators and the immigrants they employed.
The Delaware Canal, on the other hand, was a means of shipping goods and establishing commerce—an economic and physical link. There was little if any industrial impact on the rural, farm region it flowed through. Farmers had overland routes for their dairy products, grains, fruits and vegetables, only occasionally using the Canal. They did not solely depend on it for their transport needs, as did businesses to the north. As a result, most of Bucks County avoided the industrial boom seen in the counties upriver. However, the land became more valuable in the 1900s for stately residences.
