Lehigh Canal

Lehigh Canal
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
The Lehigh Canal in Glendon, Pennsylvania in 1979
Location	Lehigh River in Pennsylvania. Upper: Nesquehoning to White Haven Lower: Jim Thorpe to the Delaware River in Easton
Coordinates	40°46′09″N 75°36′13″W / 40.76917°N 75.60361°W / 40.76917; -75.60361
Built	1818-1821; 24-27 upper: 1838-1843, Upper ruined and abandoned: 1862
Architect	Canvass White, Josiah White
Architectural style	Fitted stone, iron, and wood
NRHP reference No.	78002437, 78002439, 79002179, 79002307, 80003553[1]
Added to NRHP	Earliest October 2, 1978

The Lehigh Canal is a navigable canal that begins at the mouth of Nesquehoning Creek on the Lehigh River in the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern regions of Pennsylvania. It was built in two sections over a span of 20 years beginning in 1818. The lower section spanned the distance between Easton and present-day Jim Thorpe.^[2] In Easton, the canal met the Pennsylvania Canal's Delaware Division and Morris Canals, which allowed anthracite coal and other goods to be transported further up the U.S. East Coast. At its height, the Lehigh Canal was 72 miles (116 km) long.

Although the canal was used to transport a variety of products, its most significant cargo was anthracite coal, the highest quality energy source then available in the United States, and pig iron, a vital input product used in manufacturing steel. Both proved cornerstones of the Lehigh Valley's ascent as a central hub of the American Industrial Revolution, and their mining and transportation defined the rugged blue collar character of the Lehigh Valley towns that surrounded the canal.^[3]

The route initially consisted of canals and dammed-off sections of the Lehigh River. Boatmen had to navigate barges periodically from the canal through a lock onto the river or vice versa. This design saved time and money and made the canal functional while it was being built, although it made for a slower, more difficult trip for canal-boat captains.