The Ohio & Erie Canal was constructed between 1825 and 1832 to connect Lake Erie and the Erie Canal with the Ohio River and beyond, fulfilling the link between the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. The canal was over 300 miles long, with 146 locks, built with the technology that started with the Erie Canal. Building a canal system in Ohio pushed the state from being one of the poorest to the third wealthiest in less than a decade. For Ohio, the canal changed everything, from money to ideas to foodways to fashion to culture. Today the canal lives on in the Ohio & Erie Towpath Trail.

Rebecca Jones Macko has been with the National Park Service for over 30 years and brings backgrounds in biology, teaching, and history together in her programming. She has worked most of her career at Cuyahoga Valley National Park and her passion for history is known throughout the valley.

The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company gained virtual ownership of the Lehigh River from the Commonwealth of PA in 1818, and in 1820 began downstream shipping of anthracite coal by means of a series of low dams with hydrostatic gates in them. This allowed “arks” (boxes of coal chained together and crewed by two to five men) to reach the mouth of the Lehigh at Easton and then proceed down the Delaware to Philadelphia. This system was superseded by the two-way navigation of dams, slack water pools in the river, and canals with lift locks that were begun in 1827 and opened in 1829. The Navigation was 46 miles long from Mauch Chunk (present Jim Thorpe) to Easton.

The intent was to connect to the Pennsylvania Canal System’s Delaware Division, which was begun the same year, but which did not become navigable until 1834. The Delaware Canal went from Easton to Bristol and had 24 lift locks; at Bristol, the canal boats exited through a tide lock into the Delaware River and were towed in groups to the LCN’s coal docks at Port Richmond in Philadelphia. In 1858, Lehigh Coal and Navigation gained full control of the Delaware Division.

The Lehigh Navigation and the Delaware Division were the last two towpath canals to operate commercially in the US. The Delaware officially closed in 1931; the Lehigh continued in partial operation until 1942. Anthracite coal was the chief downstream cargo on the canals, but a wide variety of other goods and raw materials were also carried.

The Lehigh and Delaware Canals will be presented by Martha Capwell Fox.

This talk will be presented via Zoom. Attendance is FREE with a recommended $10 donation. Register here: https://eriecanalmuseum.org/store/product/canal-conversation/