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78-577: It was one of a variety of regional railroads which were subsidiaries of Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N), wherein the LC&;N company financed part of the joint venture with outside interests; and often later bought a majority share or merged the railway into its railroad operating subsidiary, Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad (LH&S). Its 38.521 mi (61.994 km) of track were located within Carbon County and Schuylkill Counties in

156-597: A 16-mile (26 km), 70-minute round-trip out of Jim Thorpe, following the Lehigh River to Lehigh Gorge State Park. In October, the LGSR operates abbreviated 45-minute trips that offer views of fall foliage in Lehigh Gorge State Park. In addition, are several special excursions that are occasionally operated by the LGSR. The Hometown High Bridge train is a 30-mile (48 km), 2-hour round-trip excursion that runs on

234-446: 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

312-423: 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

390-495: 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

468-651: A partnership with the Reading Company Technical and Historical Society, which leased track space in Leesport and in return leased two vintage Reading Company diesel locomotives and assorted passenger cars for use on the line. In 1990, the Blue Mountain and Reading took ownership of 150 miles of track located in the Coal Region north of Reading , referred to by Conrail as the "Reading Cluster". Shortly thereafter,

546-586: 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

624-573: A railroad from a point near the mouth of the Nesquehoning Creek (known now as Nesquehoning Junction and the former Lausanne Landing , in the borough of Jim Thorpe) where it joined the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad between Easton - Mountain Top from whence it began to climb, struggling steadily upwards in a long climb beside Nesquehoning Creek with Nesquehoning Ridge to the south, and Broad Mountain to

702-514: 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

780-530: Is focused. In 2017, the railroad completed its connections to the Hazleton Shaft and Hazleton Hiller Drying Plant. In 2019, an audit by the borough of Jim Thorpe revealed the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway owed the borough $ 90,000 in amusement tax. The Railway fought the tax bill in court, where the judge sided with the borough; the railway appealed the decision, arguing that the tourist railroad

858-444: 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

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936-550: 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,

1014-587: 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

1092-757: The Budd Company in the 1950s and operated along the Pottsville Line between Pottsville and Philadelphia via Reading until SEPTA discontinued diesel service in 1981. Between 2009 and 2010, RBMN expanded operations due to the emergence of Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling in northeastern Pennsylvania. The railroad spent $ 100,000 to update an outdated and lightly used Pittston Yard between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre . RBMN also purchased two new locomotives, 101 rail cars , and 6 miles (9.7 km) of track between Monroeton and Towanda , where much of northeastern Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale economic activity

1170-640: 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

1248-572: 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 ,

1326-586: 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

1404-489: 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

1482-541: The Lehigh Division between Lehighton and Dupont . This mainline gives the RBMN a direct route from Reading to Scranton , the first such route to exist under the control of a single railroad. Founded in 1983 to take over from Conrail on the ex- Pennsylvania Railroad Schuylkill Branch between Reading and Hamburg, the railroad quickly grew over the next several decades to become the largest privately-owned Class II railroad in

1560-609: 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

1638-472: The United States . Its main freight cargo is anthracite coal, but also sees significant shipments in frac sand , forest products, petrochemicals and minerals, food and agricultural products, metals, and consumer products. The Reading and Northern is also well known for operating several passenger excursions over its system. A subsidiary, the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway ( LGSR ), offers daily service between Jim Thorpe and Lehigh Gorge State Park between

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1716-591: The coal breakers and coal yards in Lansford, Pennsylvania , and the rest of the Panther Creek Valley was completed in 1872, as a joint-effort of the CNJ, the new leasee of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad subsidiary of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company. The Nesquehoning Valley Railroad would in time connect the Lehigh Canal and CNJ's customers to the coal deposits around Mahanoy City , and those deposits in

1794-889: The 25-mile (40 km) journey along the Lehigh Gorge Trail from White Haven down to Jim Thorpe. LGSR trains are usually diesel-powered and consist of an open-air car, standard coaches, a gondola car that allows passengers to transport the bicycles aboard the train and ride their bicycles back to Jim Thorpe, and a caboose. The RBMN also operates passenger excursions out of the Reading Outer Station located outside of Reading in Muhlenberg Township , with Rail Diesel Car trains running from Reading Outer Station to Jim Thorpe with an intermediate stop in Port Clinton . The train runs from Reading and Port Clinton to Jim Thorpe in

1872-632: 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

1950-586: 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

2028-616: 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

2106-462: 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

2184-510: 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

2262-462: 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

2340-416: 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

2418-438: 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

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2496-400: 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

2574-735: The Panther Creek to customers beyond in the lower Susquehanna Valley. With the strength of this connective flexibility, the roadbed of the NVRR is still in use today as an important standard E-W rail corridor, today operated by the Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad . 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

2652-475: The Reading Division, ran from East Mahanoy Junction to Jim Thorpe via Nesquehoning. The RBMN had run over this line via trackage rights , but with this acquisition was able to control maintenance and dispatching on the line. The railroad immediately announced $ 1M in repairs, in order that the line might be brought to FRA Class III standards. On April 21, 2022, railroad officials announced their purchase of

2730-522: The State of Pennsylvania, less than half of which was within the valley formed by the Nesquehoning Creek , which ascent was straight forward. The majority of the track is thus in the Schuylkill Basin using more curvaceous climbing. The road had virtually no rolling stock, instead being an example of a shortline built in a corridor that was a necessary choice and then leveraging the niche established against

2808-564: 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

2886-517: The canal banks, Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad The Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad ( reporting mark RBMN ), sometimes shortened to Reading and Northern Railroad , is a regional railroad in eastern Pennsylvania . With a headquarters in Port Clinton , the RBMN provides freight service on over 400 miles (640 km) of track. Its mainline consists of the Reading Division between Reading and Packerton and

2964-434: 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

3042-567: The company renamed itself the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad and moved its headquarters from Hamburg to Port Clinton . Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the RBMN acquired more lines in northeastern Pennsylvania, primarily of Reading Railroad , Central Railroad of New Jersey , and Lehigh Valley Railroad heritage. In the mid-1990s, the RBMN discontinued the regularly scheduled passenger operations between Hamburg and Temple and instead focused on occasional excursions throughout

3120-490: 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

3198-413: 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

Nesquehoning Valley Railroad - Misplaced Pages Continue

3276-510: 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

3354-482: 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

3432-531: The first full weekend in October from Jim Thorpe through Nesquehoning to the 1,168-foot (356 m) long Hometown High Bridge that passes 168 feet (51 m) over the Little Schuylkill River , offering views of fall foliage. The Bike Train is a 25-mile (40 km), 1-hour one-way trip from Jim Thorpe to White Haven that allows passengers to take their bicycles onboard for the trip up grade, and then bike

3510-514: The following freight railroads: The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway ( reporting mark LGSR ) is a tourist railroad that operates passenger excursions along RBMN trackage from the former Central Railroad of New Jersey station in Jim Thorpe to Old Penn Haven, following the Lehigh River through Lehigh Gorge State Park . Operations officially began in 2005, excursions run several times daily from April to November. The regular excursion consists of

3588-624: The former Pennsylvania Railroad Schuylkill Division between Hamburg and Temple . Starting in 1985, the BM&;R began operating passenger excursions over the line using two steam locomotives: ex- Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad 4-6-2 № 425 and ex- Reading Company T-1 4-8-4 № 2102 . The BM&R also began operating three more state-owned lines: the Allentown branch , the Perkiomen Branch , and Colebrookdale branch . The railroad also entered into

3666-486: The introduction of the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway in Jim Thorpe . In December 2016, the RBMN announced that it spent $ 2 million to build a train station at Pennsylvania Route 61 and Bellevue Avenue in Muhlenberg Township outside Reading, called Reading Outer Station, with plans to operate passenger excursions from there to Jim Thorpe. The first round-trip excursion from Reading Outer Station to Jim Thorpe ran on May 29, 2017. It used refurbished Rail Diesel Cars built by

3744-538: The months of April and November, while RBMN itself runs regular weekend trains to Jim Thorpe from Reading and Pittston . In 2022, the RBMN also revived the Reading Company Iron Horse Rambles , using recently restored locomotive RDG 2102 . RBMN's two main lines all operate entirely within Pennsylvania : The Blue Mountain and Reading Railroad was founded in 1983 to provide freight service on

3822-549: The morning, allowing passengers time to explore Jim Thorpe. The return trip leaves Jim Thorpe in the late afternoon and returns to Port Clinton and Reading in the evening. This excursion operates on select weekends and holidays from May to November. On May 27, 2023, the RBMN inaugurated excursion service from their new Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Regional Railroad Station in Pittston to Jim Thorpe. Service from this station mirrors that of Reading Outer Station, with trains leaving Pittston in

3900-677: The morning, arriving to Jim Thorpe around noon, and then returning to Pittston in the evening. The Iron Horse Rambles are several excursions occurring throughout the summer that are pulled by steam locomotive № 2102. A spiritual successor to the Reading Company excursions of the same name, trips have run between Reading Outer Station and Jim Thorpe, as well as up the Lehigh Division from Nesquehoning to either Tunkahannock or Pittston. These trains are often in excess of 16 cars, and are popular with tourists and railfans alike. The Rambles offer

3978-421: 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

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4056-506: 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

4134-484: The needs of operating rail companies. The owned mileage extends in a westerly direction from Nesquehoning Junction to Tamenend, 16.719 miles, with a line 0.955 mile in length leaving the above-described road in the village of Hauto, and extending southerly through the Hauto Tunnel into coal mine trackage in Lansford, Pennsylvania . The Nesquehoning Valley Railroad embraces 38.521 miles (61.994 km). The entire railroad

4212-550: The north up past the streams' headwaters below the drainage divide at Hometown in the saddle of the pass . From there the road dropped down westerly into the valley of Little Schuylkill River where it took a convoluted path entering Tamaqua where it connected to the Panther Creek Railroad and the Philadelphia and Reading Railway (Reading Railroad) at Tamaqua Junction. The Nesquehoning Valley Railroad also enjoys

4290-487: 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,

4368-527: The powers and is subject to the restrictions of a general law approved February 19, 1849. In 1861 the Nesquehoning Valley Railroad began the construction of its road. The work was temporarily suspended in the latter part of the year 1862, but was resumed in 1868. The main line was completed in April, 1870, and the Hauto Tunnel between the village and railyard at Hauto along the Nesquehoning Creek to

4446-535: The property of the former KME Fire Apparatus plant in Nesquehoning for $ 2 million. The Reading and Northern now uses these facilities for maintenance of locomotives, passenger equipment, freight cars, and company automobiles, as well as storage. On June 22, 2024, the Reading & Northern debuted its new Nesquehoning Station at the former KME site for the day's Iron Horse Ramble to Tunkhannock . RBMN interchanges with

4524-503: The railroad. In 1995, No. 425 was present at the grand opening of Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton . № 425 remained at Steamtown until 1997. Between 1998 and late 2008, all steam operations were suspended while both № 425 and № 2102 underwent full rebuilds in compliance with federal guidelines. № 425 returned to service in 2008, while № 2102 returned to service in 2022. In 2005, regularly scheduled passenger excursions resumed with

4602-458: 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

4680-578: The rest of its system. The partnership between the RBMN and Reading Company Technical and Historical Society had more or less ended by this point, but the group still leased track space in Leesport until 2008 when they moved to the Hamburg yard and opened the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum. Despite the discontinuation of the Hamburg to Temple excursions, steam operations continued elsewhere on

4758-414: 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

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4836-419: 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,

4914-399: 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

4992-494: 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

5070-534: 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

5148-475: 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

5226-480: 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

5304-430: 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

5382-437: 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

5460-514: 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

5538-483: 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

5616-461: 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

5694-616: 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

5772-629: Was "not an amusement". Company officials threatened to leave the borough of Jim Thorpe, and briefly ceased excursion operations in November 2019. RBMN officials shortly thereafter, negotiated a new agreement with the Jim Thorpe Borough government, and excursions resumed in February 2020. On May 6, 2021, railroad officials announced their purchase of the 19.5-mile (31.4 km) Panther Valley line from Carbon County for $ 4.7 million. This line, part of

5850-456: Was leased shortly after its construction to the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company , which in turn subleased 16.719 miles to The Central Railroad Company of New Jersey (CNJ, or Jersey Central) and 0.955 mile to the Lehigh and New England Railroad Company. The Nesquehoning Valley Railroad was incorporated by special act of Pennsylvania approved May 14, 1861, for the purpose of constructing

5928-426: 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

6006-401: 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

6084-408: 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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