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The Lehigh Navigation (also called the Lehigh Navigation Canal or the Lehigh Canal) was a canal and series of locks along the Lehigh River in eastern Pennsylvania in the United States. It was built in the 1830s primarily to transport anthracite coal from Lehigh Valley to the Delaware River, and thence to the burgeoning urban centers of Philadelphia and New York City.
History[edit]
The discovery in 1791 of anthracite near Summit Valley, Pennsylvania had led to the formation of Lehigh Coal Mine Company which had successfully transported coal down the Lehigh to its mouth at Easton and thence down the Delaware to Philadelphia. The transport of large loads was rendered difficult by the turbulent waters of both rivers, especially along the upper Lehigh. The difficulty in navigation led to the construction in 1820 by the Lehigh Navigation Company of a series of hydrostatic locks along the Lehigh downstream from Jim Thorpe (then called Mauch Chunk). The "bear trap" locks, which had been invented by Josiah White, increased the depth of the river by creating artificial floods, allowing easier navigation through what had formerly been turbulent stretches of the river.
The following year in 1821, the Lehigh Coal Mine Company and Lehigh Navigation Company merged to form the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. By 1825, four years later, the combined company was shipping 30,000 tons ( metric tons) of anthracite annually downstream to Philadelphia.
, which led to the development of coal mining in the region over the next several decades. By 1820