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75-812: In 1871, the CNJ leased various railroads in Pennsylvania, most from the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company allowing the CNJ to penetrate to the upper Wyoming Valley , over some stretches, competing directly with the Lehigh Valley Railroad and with the Lehigh Canal and the trunk road connection of the Belvidere Delaware Railroad to New York became less profitable since Philadelphia connected more easily to Northeastern Pennsylvania thereafter without needing

150-652: A connection to the National rail network . Commercial agreements also provide a connection with the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) at Allentown, Pennsylvania . BDRV is a NS handling carrier, meaning NS haulage rates include delivery to BDRV customers by BDRV. The BDRV, along with BR&W, is part of the Chesapeake and Delaware system, which also includes the newly formed Delaware and Raritan River Railroad out of Jamesburg, New Jersey . The BDRV right-of-way began as

225-635: A double-crossing of the Delaware River; a general revenue decline ensued, leading to the Pennsylvania Railroad acquiring the rights, where it served as part of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) system, carrying mainly anthracite coal and iron ore from northeastern Pennsylvania to population centers along the coast. The Belvidere-Delaware Railroad was chartered on March 2, 1836 and was constructed between 1850 and 1855 from Trenton along

300-446: A fairly new design, invented for the purpose by White, were used so water could be retained until required for use. When the dam became full and the water ran over it long enough for the river below to regain its ordinary depth, the sluice ates were let down, while the boats, which were lying in the pool above, passed down with the artificial flood. In this manner the difficulty was overcome. Crews were sent up Mount Pisgah to improve

375-568: A few hundred yards from the central business district and state capitol complex in Trenton, no official interest in taking advantage of the line's passenger potential was raised. To preserve track from possible future abandonment, the BR&;W purchased approximately three miles of track in the Lambertville area to continue to serve several freight customers located in town. (The BR&W had already purchased

450-423: A half in width, laid upon wooden ties, which were kept in place by means of stone ballast. The loaded cars or wagons, as they were then termed, each having a capacity of approximately one and a half tons, were connected in trains of from six to fourteen, being attended by men who regulated their speed. Turn-outs were provided at intervals and the empty cars were drawn back to the mines by mules. They descended with

525-495: A loading chute at the huge slack water pool at Mauch Chunk . Riding this success, the two companies were merged into the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, which resolved to apply American Canal era technology, including canals, locks, and rails to bring coal to their foundries and the stoves and furnaces of Philadelphia and beyond. On March 20, 1818, the company was granted various powers they sought to secure navigation in

600-575: A new connection opened at Three Bridges, and with freight business drying up in Frenchtown, they eventually abandoned the line south of Milford to Lambertville by January 1979 after running a signal removal train on the Milford-Lambertville segment in November 1978. Track removal began in the summer of 1979 and ended in the spring of 1982. In those three years Conrail dismantled approximately 31 miles of

675-586: A primary energy source at the time, to the company's primary markets in the Northeastern United States . By the early 1830s, the Lehigh Canal and its bridges along the Delaware River inspired the development and connection of four other regional canals. Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company's success, along with White's reputation for advancing the state of mining and civil engineering, jump started

750-573: A segment of the original Belvidere Delaware Railroad, later controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), Penn Central (PC), and Conrail. BDRV originally served the James River Paper plant in Milford, New Jersey , assuming the task from Conrail: service to the plant ended in July 2003 when the plant closed. Rail service to a lumber transload continued serving Milford into 2004 when service on this part of

825-569: A wire mill foundry at the Schuylkill River falls near Philadelphia . White and Hazard were delighted by the quality of the fuel, and subsequently bought the LCMC's final two barges to survive the trip down the Lehigh River. In 1815, convinced they could much improve the reliability of its delivery, they began in 1815 to inquire after the rights to mine the LCMC's coal and hatched a plan to improve

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900-448: A yearly event called "Milford Alive," which has included rail speeder rides on the line. In May 2023, passenger excursions reached Riegelsville, where passengers disembark at a replica Pennsylvania Railroad station that formerly stood on the same site (still under construction). As part of the track improvements to reach Riegelsville a siding that had previously been taken out by Conrail was put back in place; albeit slightly shorter than

975-444: Is to pass," wrote one of the commissioners, "I need only tell you that I considered it quite an easement when the wheel of my carriage struck a stump instead of a stone." The public, meanwhile, was divided. Some held that the attempt to operate the coal mine was farcical, but that the improvement of the Lehigh River was an undertaking of great value and would prove profitable to investors. Others were just as positive that improvement's to

1050-550: The American Industrial Revolution . The company ultimately encompassed source industries, transport, and manufacturing, making it the first vertically integrated company in the United States. In 1792, a hunter named Philip Ginter discovered anthracite coal on Pisgah Mountain near present-day Summit Hill, Pennsylvania close to the border Schuylkill and Carbon counties. The following year, in 1793,

1125-587: The Ashley Planes and made or supported means to other novel solutions of transport problems; and created transport corridors still important today. It also pioneered the mining of anthracite coal in the United States, acquiring virtually the entire eastern lobe of the Southern Pennsylvania Coal Region , and brought in Welsh experts to bootstrap Iron production using blast furnace technology in

1200-667: The Black River and Western Railroad (BR&W). BR&W has leased 10 miles (16 km) of trackage to BDRV since 2004. The main freight service on the BDRV is south along the Delaware River from Phillipsburg to Carpentersville , a distance of 5 miles (8.0 km) along the Delaware River in New Jersey. Much of the industry currently is lumber and stone. BDRV interchanges with Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) in Phillipsburg, which provides

1275-640: The Canal Age in the U.S. It also spurred historically significant investments in raw materials and bulk transportation infrastructure projects. The company also supported funding efforts behind the Schuylkill Canal project, which began in 1814, and was finally funded and finished with the company's support. White and Hazard had backed the Schuylkill project since their mills were on the River, but became disgusted with

1350-574: The Delaware River north to Belvidere, New Jersey . The Trenton- Lambertville section opened on February 6, 1851, eventually reaching Belvidere on November 5, 1855. On June 7, 1854, the Bel-Del agreed to operate the Flemington Railroad and Transportation Company , where a connection was made with the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) at Flemington, New Jersey . LV coal trains began using

1425-654: The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad in Portland, PA, via the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Bangor-Portland Division. Flemington Branch (current BR&W) Lehigh Coal %26 Navigation Company Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company was a mining and transportation company headquartered in Mauch Chunk, now known as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania . The company operated from 1818 until its dissolution in 1964 and played an early and influential role in

1500-518: The Industrial Revolution in the United States . The company also established the Lehigh Canal , whose construction began in 1818. The Lehigh Canal became usable in 1820, was improved further between 1821 and 1824, and was finally transformed into a two-way canal between 1827 and 1829. The Lehigh Canal played a hugely influential role in the nation's ability to transport anthracite coal ,

1575-634: The Lehigh and Delaware rivers. The mining camps were over nine miles from the Lehigh River at Mauch Chunk. Sporadically active between the years of 1792 and 1814, the Lehigh Coal Mine Company was able to sell all of the coal it could mine to fuel-hungry markets but lost many a boatload on the rough waters of the unimproved Lehigh River, contributing to lost operating profits for the company and sometimes outright losses. The owners later sold some coal to Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, who operated

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1650-489: The Lehigh Coal Mine Company (LCMC) was founded. It was incorporated the following year, in 1793, and the company also acquired 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) in and around Panther Creek Valley and Pisgah Mountain , and the aim of hauling anthracite coal from the large deposits on Pisgah Mountain near what is now Summit Hill, Pennsylvania , to Philadelphia via mule train to arks built near Lausanne on

1725-555: The Lehigh Valley , building the first six such furnaces and puddling furnaces to create steel, which the company then provided to its own wire rope (steel cable) manufactury, the countries first it set up in Mauch Chunk. Completing the vertical integration, the wire ropes were then marketed to other mining operations, cable railways, and other industries needing high tensile reliability in managing weighty loads. In 1822, Lehigh Coal Company bought out partner George Hauto and formed

1800-612: The New York, Susquehanna and Western (NYS&W) Technical and Historical Society joined the partnership, after searching for a place to operate their recently-acquired steam locomotive, No. 142 . Ex-NYS&W No. 142 is a China Railways SY class 2-8-2 Mikado steam locomotive built by the Tangshan locomotive works in 1989 for export to the Valley Railroad in Essex, as No. 1647. In late 1991, it

1875-576: The 11-mile line between Flemington and Lambertville from PC in March 1970 for $ 153,000.) The Trenton-Lambertville segment was abandoned in March 1977. While the Trenton-Lambertville segment was not included in their system, Conrail retained the rest of the line from Lambertville to Belvidere, renaming it their Delaware Secondary. Conrail ceased interchanging at Lambertville with BR&W in January 1977 when

1950-594: The Bel Del as the Belvidere Division of the United Railroads of New Jersey Grand Division in 1871 and purchased the line soon afterwards. The Flemington Railroad & Transportation Company then merged into the Bel-Del on February 16, 1885. For much of the late 19th century and early 20th century the railroad line proved vitally useful. In 1882, the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway made a deal with PRR to operate on

2025-558: The Bel-Del as a dispensable secondary line. The chief function of the Bel-Del ;— bringing coal and iron ore between the LV connection at Phillipsburg with the PRR system — had long since ceased. The main priority freight trains were rerouted to other lines. With little industry remaining between Trenton and Lambertville, Conrail had little use for the line. Though the south end of line passed within

2100-410: The Bel-Del between Phillipsburg and Belvidere where L&HR's track to Maybrook, New York connects. By the 1950s, steam locomotives had been replaced with diesel operated self-propelled doodlebugs as a cost-saving measure resulting from dwindling patronage. In August 1955, flood waters from the Delaware River caused by Hurricane Diane washed out portions of the line north of Belvidere near where

2175-628: The Bel-Del in January 1856, joining the Bel-Del by the LV's bridge over the Delaware River where it connected in Phillipsburg, New Jersey . An extension was then completed in 1864 that gave the Bel-Del access to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) at Manunka Chunk, and permitted trains to operate via trackage rights to East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania through the Delaware Water Gap . The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) began operating

2250-634: The Flemington Branch from PRR on weekends to operate steam excursions. As part of the leasing agreement, BR&W was required to pay PRR for all track expenses, totalling $ 5,000. Trains began operating between Flemington and Lambertville by May 16, 1965. The PRR merged with rival New York Central Railroad in 1968 to form the Penn Central (PC), which fell apart faster than it came together. PC remnants were absorbed by Conrail in April 1976, which treated

2325-632: The LCN & Co. from rebuilding. In 1827, the Company in one massive well organized effort, completely built the 9.2 miles (14.8 km) of America's second railroad using the road bed of the wagon road built in 1818–19 in just a few months — a gravity railroad named the Mauch Chunk and Summit Hill Railroad using wooden sleepers on a gravel substrate (as did most more modern railways) — to bring coal from mines to river more efficiently. The work went quickly since

Belvidere Delaware Railroad - Misplaced Pages Continue

2400-586: The Legislature put it, was granted by an act passed March 20, 1818. According to a history of the navigations, authored in 1884: The improvement of the Lehigh was begun at the mouth of the Nesquehoning Creek , during the summer of the year 1818, under the personal supervision of Josiah White. The plan adopted was to contract the channel of the river in the form of a funnel, wherever it was found necessary to raise

2475-616: The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N) by combining the Lehigh Coal Mining Company, the Lehigh Coal Company, which was leased, and the Lehigh Navigation Company. The transactions represented the first merger of interlocking companies in the nation's history. Five years later, the company built the Mauch Chunk and Summit Hill Railroad , the first coal railroad and just the second railroad company in

2550-462: The Lehigh Coal Company on April 21, 1820. Under the conditions of the lease, it was stipulated that, after a given time for preparation, they should deliver for their own benefit at least forty thousand bushels of coal annually in Philadelphia and the surrounding districts, and should pay, if demanded, one ear of corn as a yearly rental. White and Hazard found a wide divergence of opinion on whether

2625-510: The Lehigh Coal Company was launched with capital stock of $ 55,000. This formed one of the most striking illustrations in American history of the dependence of a commercial venture upon methods of inland transportation. The Lehigh Navigation Company proceeded to build its dams and walls while the Lehigh Coal Company constructed the first roadway in America built on the principle, which was later adopted by

2700-462: The Lehigh Coal Mine Company was founded, but management proved weak and tried to operate in an absentee mode. Company personnel ambitiously attempted to trek to the mine site, dig the anthracites, and then use mules to transport bags of it to the Lehigh River , which required cutting down trees and building crude arks near Lausanne Landing and then shooting the Lehigh River's rapids, hoping to reach

2775-416: The Lehigh River could be tamed, and even fewer believed that the mining of coal from the Lehigh River's surrounding lands was feasible. On three separate occasions, funds were raised to improve the Lehigh River's functionality. By 1820, the two companies had a marginal level of navigability on the Lehigh over four years ahead of their targeted 1824 deadline. Coal was transported by mule track from Summit Hill to

2850-438: The Lehigh River towns Jim Thorpe , formerly Mauch Chunk, to the towns west, and Nesquehoning to its north. Both towns are built into the flanks, the traverses , of the mountain , with flats along the river banks. (A few decades later, railroads would follow the canals.) Within the next two years, White and Hazard constructed a descending navigation system that used their unique "bear trap" or hydrostatic locks , which allowed

2925-400: The Lehigh River, including with boats loaded with one hundred barrels, or ten tons on coal. Pennsylvania's state government kept an eye on the operation, however, and a minority felt the two men might succeed. The state reserved the right to compel the adoption of a complete system of slack-water navigation from Easton to Stoddartsville if the company did not succeed satisfactorily. Capital

3000-564: The United States. Using anthracite as fuel in its production, iron for the first time became plentiful and inexpensive. For a period of thirty years, three decades that shaped the future of the valley, anthracite fueled furnaces throughout the Lehigh Valley produced greater quantities of iron than any other part of the nation. The June 6, 1862 flood proved to show a fatal flaw in White's grand dream. The Upper Grand contributed to its own demise in that

3075-648: The canal banks, Belvidere and Delaware River Railway The Belvidere & Delaware River Railway Company ( reporting mark BDRV ) also known as Delaware River Railroad or Bel-Del , is a class III railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1995 when the Conrail Delaware Secondary line was purchased by the Black River Railroad System, which operates several railroad services in western New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania . The Black River Railroad System also owns and operates

Belvidere Delaware Railroad - Misplaced Pages Continue

3150-434: The company from 1822 until 1865, White and Hazard were constantly seeking innovative solutions to increase business and revenues. The vertical integration many economists credit them with inventing would appeal to them as a very natural way to control costs, hence maximize profitability. The two, and the various members of the corporate board often heard of ideas that separately( ? ) or together needed financial investment which

3225-490: The company was combined with the Lehigh Coal Company with the ouster of George Hauto, but was not rechartered officially until 1822. By late 1820, four years ahead of their prospectus 's targeted schedule, the unfinished but much improved Lehigh Valley watercourse began reliably transporting large amounts of coal to White's mills and Philadelphia. The nearly 370 tons of coal brought to market that year not only salved

3300-413: The company would often join as investors, and often end up providing a later critical boost of finishing financing, investing in such ventures directly, or buying out at a later time as subsidiaries as things developed a proof of concept, track record, better promise, or dependency on another business. From that moment on, anthracite and the canals were of pivotal importance in the industrial development of

3375-510: The country to be constructed after the Granite Railroad in Quincy, Massachusetts . The company was founded by industrialists Josiah White and Erskine Hazard , who sought to improve delivery of coal to markets. and a thickly=accented German immigrant miner named Hauto. The company is known in the Lehigh Valley as the "Old Company", as distinct from the later 1988–2010 company, which

3450-482: The dams and locks necessary to allow the coal barges to travel on the river meant that huge pools of water sat at the ready. Once the heavy June rains began, and dams began to be breached, devastating tidal waves of flood water burst dam after dam causing a great flood and loss of life. John J. Leisenring Jr., then Superintendent of the LCN & Co. estimated that 200 people lost their lives from White Haven down to Lehighton. The state legislature stepped in and prohibited

3525-583: The dormant Milford and Lambertville lines. Norfolk Southern (NS) retains ownership of the Phillipsburg-Belvidere main line after the Conrail split of 1999 with CSX Transportation . They continue to use the line serving several customers in Martins Creek accessed by the former Lehigh and New England Railroad Martins Creek Branch, Roxburg via a spur over the river and Belvidere. NS also interchanges with

3600-621: The line in the Riegelsville area at the time. The New York Susquehanna & Western Historical & Technical Society (NYS&WH&TS) started running passenger trains in 2004 between Phillipsburg and Carpentersville and has since become a successful operation. In recent years both the NYSWHTS and the Black River Railroad Historical Trust (the entity that now runs passenger trains on BR&W) have been gradually restoring

3675-421: The line was finally terminated. Freight service to Corrugated Paper Group (now Georgia Pacific ) in nearby Riegelsville, New Jersey terminated in 2005 when the firm switched from railroad to trucking for product shipment. In 2002, the town of Phillipsburg partnered with the BDRV to launch an excursion operation between Phillipsburg and Carpentersville, after the town of Trenton, New Jersey , declined to support

3750-497: The line. Freight service was non-existent by the late 1990s. Service trains operated over the Ringoes-Lambertville portion on a seldom basis until 2002. BDRV served a paper plant south of Milford, New Jersey, until 2003 when the paper plant closed. The line south of Carpentersville was soon after closed to Riegelsville in 2005 when another paper plant decided to not continue using rail service. Flooding also partially damaged

3825-557: The line. The NYS&W Technical and Historical Society operates their trains with the label "Delaware River Railroad Excursions". All excursions originate out of Lehigh Junction in Phillipsburg with various station stops along the way depending on the season and/or any themed events that may be happening at the time. In late 2010, the NYS&;W Technical and Historical Society began clearing the line of vegetation south of Carpentersville, eventually reaching Milford. The borough of Milford hosts

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3900-404: The line. The former railroad bed was converted for use as part of the Delaware & Raritan Canal Trail . Conrail later sold the Phillipsburg-Milford section to the newly formed Belvidere & Delaware River Railway (BDRV) in 1995. In 1998, BR&W ceased regular operations into Lambertville when track was demoted to excepted prohibiting the continuation of passenger trains on that segment of

3975-421: The mule trails down from the coal deposits at Summit Hill, Pennsylvania , and others to build docks, boat building facilities, and the canal systems head end pool and locks. The canal head end needed a location where barges could be built and timber and coal could be brought into slack water. The challenge was to do it above the gap made by the east end of Mount Pisgah , a hard rock knob that towers 900 feet above

4050-506: The navigation on the Lehigh as a key step. In 1818, building on two predecessor companies, founders Erskine Hazard and Josiah White entered the coal industry to serve customers seeking a steady supply of fuel for foundries and mills on the falls of the Schuylkill River . Its role in accelerating regional industrial development by taking on civil engineering challenges initially thought impossible and creating important transport and mining infrastructure, proved influential in spearheading

4125-487: The passage of coal boats by means of artificial floods. The coal arrived at the head end from the mines at Summit Hill or down along the steep mule trail from near the headwaters of Panther Creek . It floated down the navigation; at journey's end, the barges were sold as fuel or for Delaware basin transports. The navigation company began shipping significant quantities of coal by early 1819, ahead of expectations, and attained their goal of regular shipments in 1820. In 1820,

4200-412: The proposed New Jersey Transportation Museum. In March 2003, the BDRV acquired an Ex- New Haven Brill motorcar, M-55, from the Valley Railroad in Essex, Connecticut , and they contracted with the Edward Railway Motor Car Company in Mount Dora, Florida , to have it restored to operating condition. It was subsequently used on the Mt. Dora Scenic Railroad before being moved to the BDRV. Later in 2003,

4275-458: The railway, of dividing the total distance by the total descent in order to determine the grade. The Lehigh Navigation Company, then suffering from an unprecedented dearth of water, adopted White's invention of sluice gates connecting with pools that could be filled with reserve water to be drawn upon as needed for navigation. By 1819, the depth of water between Mauch Chunk and Easton was obtained. The two companies were immediately amalgamated under

4350-515: The right-of-way crosses modern-day US Route 46 , although the line still remains active south of this point to serve the Hoffmann-LaRoche pharmaceutical plant. North of where the plant is now to the junction at Manunka Chunk, the line was subsequently removed in late 1955. On December 31, 1957, the Bel-Del was merged into the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company , with passenger services ending on October 26, 1960. Heritage operator Black River & Western Railroad (BR&W) began leasing

4425-414: The right-of-way surveyed by White (well before 1818's charter) ran along the virtually uniform gradient created by grading the original mule trail, work overseen by Hazard in 1818. During the summer of 1827, a railroad was built from the mines at Summit Hill to Mauch Chunk. With one or two unimportant exceptions, this was the first railroad in the United States. It was nine miles in length, and occupied

4500-419: The river's confluence with the Delaware River at Easton on the Pennsylvania border with New Jersey . The Lehigh Coal Mining Company was sporadically successfully in mining and transporting anthracite coal to Philadelphia , and its rights were eventually absorbed by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, which leased their own operational rights from their predecessor, the Lehigh Coal Company. In 1792,

4575-399: The river's navigation would follow the fate of so many similar enterprises but that a fortune was in store for those who invested in the Lehigh mines. The direct result of the examiners' report and of the public debate ultimately was the organization of the first interlocking companies in American commercial history. The Lehigh Navigation Company was formed with a capital stock of $ 150,000 and

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4650-494: The route of the old wagon road most of the distance. Summit Hill, lying nearly a thousand feet higher than Mauch Chunk, the cars on the road made this descent by gravity, passing the coal, at their destination to the boats in the river by means of inclined planes and chutes. The whole of this plan was evolved by Josiah White, under whose direction it was consummated in a period of about four months. The rails were of rolled bar-iron, three-eighths of an inch in thickness and an inch and

4725-475: The service given by the company did not meet "the wants of the country." In 1817, they leased the Lehigh Coal Mine's properties and took over operations, incorporating it on October 21, 1818, as the Lehigh Coal Company. They petitioned the legislature and proposed acquiring rights to make improvements to the Lehigh River for which there had been a string of supportive legislation going back decades. In 1820, White and Hazard bought out their partner Hauto and dissolved

4800-475: The timid investment and management attitudes of its board, so they explored property and feasibility examinations elsewhere in 1814–1815 and petitioned to build the canal that next year. Upon their return, the company's two founders took over Lehigh Coal Mining Company's mines and mining rights in a 20-year lease. built the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad and had its hands in many other northeastern Pennsylvania shortline railroads, spurs, and subsidiaries; created

4875-480: The title of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. By 1823, the two companies delivered over two thousand tons of coal to market. Having displayed great technological skills by creating the world's first iron wire suspension bridge, which spanned the Schuylkill River at their wire works, White and Hazard schemed with other industrialists to secure a reliable source of anthracite. To move the coal to market, they entered political negotiations to acquire rights to tame

4950-430: The trains in specially constructed cars, affording a novel and rather ludicrous spectacle. Thirty minutes was the average time consumed in making the descent, while the weary trip back to the mines required three hours. The wagon road to become gravity railroad ran from what later became Summit Hill along the south side of Pisgah Ridge to Mount Pisgah to the canal's loading chute over 200 feet (61 m) above

5025-437: The turbulent and rapids-ridden Lehigh River for navigation. By 1817–18, they had organized the separate Lehigh Navigation Company and had written stock flyers announcing plans to deliver barge loads of coal regularly to Philadelphia by 1824. The LCMC had trouble delivering Anthracite to Philadelphia at costs cheaper than imported Bituminous Coal from Britain or Virginia. Their last expedition had been sent out in 1813 during

5100-514: The war & blockade caused bituminous shortages, and by the time five arks were sent down river, three sank, leaving the directors of LCMC disgusted and unwilling to fund more losses. The company began to prepare plans and surveyed sites, and when the state legislature approved the river work in 1818, immediately hired teams of men and began to install locks, dams, and weirs, including water management gates of their own novel design. The desired opportunity " to ruin themselves ," as one member of

5175-483: The water, throwing up the round river-stones into low walls or wing dams, thus providing a regular descending navigation. It soon became apparent that the carrying out of this plan would not insure sufficient water in seasons of drought to float a loaded ark or boat, and the success of the whole enterprise hung in the balance. White resorted to the expedient of creating artificial freshets. Dams were constructed in Mauch Chunk in present-day Jim Thorpe , and sluice gates of

5250-461: The whole range of tried and untried methods for securing "a navigation downward once in three days for boats loaded with one hundred barrels, or ten tons." The State kept its weather eye open in this matter, however, for a small minority felt that these men would not ruin themselves. Accordingly, the act of grant reserved to the commonwealth the right to compel the adoption of a complete system of slack-water navigation from Easton to Stoddartsville if

5325-570: The winter's fuel shortage but created a temporary glut. After buying out co-founder George Hauto, White and Hazard reworked their lease deal with the Lehigh Coal Mine Company, and merged it with the Lehigh Coal Company, acquiring ownership of its 10,000 acres spanning three parallel valleys in the 14 miles (23 km) from Mauch Chunk to Tamaqua . A few months later, they merged the LCC and the Lehigh Navigation Company. In late 1821, they filed papers to incorporate Lehigh Coal & Lehigh Navigation , which took effect in 1822. As operations managers of

5400-426: Was less likely to succeed. They secured additional investors by forming two companies, the Lehigh Coal Company (LCC) and the Lehigh Navigation Company, and began seeking legislative approval for improving the Lehigh River 's navigation. The desired opportunity "to ruin themselves," as one member of the Legislature put it, was granted by an act passed March 20, 1818. The various powers applied for, and granted, embraced

5475-471: Was sold to the NYS&W, where it was renumbered No. 142, and operated mainline excursions on NYS&W and, on occasion, NJ Transit . In April 2004, No. 142 was ferried from the NYS&W’s Utica shops and over NJ Transit and Norfolk Southern to Phillipsburg. On May 1, No. 142 hauled the BDRV’s inaugural train. In recent years, ex- Nickel Plate Road No. 811, an EMD GP9 , has been used in frequent service on

5550-401: Was subscribed by a patriotic public on condition that a committee of stockholders go over the Lehigh River ground and pass judgment on the probable success of the effort. The report was favorable so far as the improvement of the Lehigh River was concerned. But the nine-mile road from the river to the mines was unanimously voted impracticable. "To give you an idea of the country over which the road

5625-408: Was very similarly named the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company and was known as the "New Company" in the region. White and Hazard very shortly found themselves on the receiving end of investor criticisms that the improvements and mining operation at Summit Hill were failing and were both considered crackpot schemes. The majority opinion was that improvements were possible, but that coal mining

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