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THE DELAWARE AND HUDSON CANAL
A HISTORY
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 07472 7170
.7
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019
https://archive.org/details/delawarehudsonca00lero
The Delaware and Hudson Canal
A History.
by
Edwin D. LeRoy.
published by
The Wayne County Historical Society
COPYRIGHT 1950, E. D. LeRoy
1
TO ADVENTURERS.
The completion of the DELAWARE & HUDSON CANAL,
has opened a wide and promising field for enterprise. to the Farmer. the Merchant. and the Mechanic.
This Canal forms an inland navigation for Boats of twenty-five tons burthen. from tide on the Hudson River, at the village of Bolton. near Kingston, (Esopus) in Ulster County. New York. to the village of Honesdale. in Wayne County. Pennsylvania, a di- tance of 108 miles.
The Canal now is in successful operation through the whale line. sustaining a re- spectable and an increasing amount of transportation. which at this time rates at from 250-to 300 tons per day.
HONESDALE,
Is located at the termination of the Canal.
The village plot, which was a heavy and unbroken forest about three years ago. now contains sivy familice, and upwards of 100 souls. It is situated in the margin of an extensive region of valuable country. bing northward and westward. over which a multitude of settlements are planted in every direction. although the amount of the present population is small compared with the capacity of the country.
Honesdale is already becoming the depot for an extent of comptes of inore than fifty miles westward and northward .- The Merchant there meets his Goods from New York ; and there the Farmer find' a ready market for the products of Husbandry :- and those engaged in subduing the forest, now find an improved value for their timber. acquired'by the facilities for transportation.
The face of the country is undulating and hilly, but not mountainous .-- The timber. Beech. Sugartree, Hemlock. Ash. &c .- The soil. deep and strong ;- much of it produces good crops of Grain, but it excels in the growth of the usual kinds of Grass, for Meadow and for Grazing.
Like most hilly countries, it is well watered and healthy,-and the country is intersected in all directions by Turnpikes and common roads.
BETHANY,
the County Town of Wayne County, is situated three miles northiward from Honesdale, and contains fifty families and upwards of 800 souls.
From the termination of the C'anal at Honesdale, a RAIL ROAD is constructed in a western direction. sixteen iniles, to the ev- haustless Coal beds at Carbondale, on which there is a daily transportation of inore thinn 250 tous.
The Moral and Religious social privileges are good. In Henesdale is an organized Presbyterian Church. and settled Ministry; and a Methodist Society, the residence of a Circuit Preacher .- In Bethany, is a Presbyterian. a Methodist, and a Baptist organized Church. In each is a Bible Society, and in euch, and in most of the considerable adjacent settlements, is a Sabbath School and Tract Society.
The facility afforded by the Canal, for a cheap, safe, and expeditions communication with die City of New York. presents to the Farmer, to the Merchant, and to proficients in the various Mechanic Arts, encouragement. which is greatly increased by the consideration that Honesdale, will perpetually be the principal depot and market place, for an extensive region of country, which is now iu the com- mencement of a rapid increase in population and improvement.
The Subscriber offers for Sale, on moderate terms. to actual settlers, a large number of Village Lots, in the Villages of Honesdale and Bethany .- Also, several valuable scites for establishments, for Mechanics and Manufacturers, requiring water power, within a convenient distance from those villages.
And also, a number of Farms with small and large improvements, and upwards of 10,000 Acres of unimproved farm land, among which settlements are interspersed .- The titles are indisputable.
Maps of the Villages, and of the County. may he scen at the office of the subscriber in Bethany, and of John Torrey in Honesdale. where particular information to applicants will be cheerfully communicated.
JASON TORREY.
Bethany, June 17. 18.30
THE DELAWARE AND HUDSON CANAL
"M AURICE, you must hold onto that lot on the Lackawanna that you took for debt from David Nobles. It will be valuable some day for it has stone coal under it." It was Samuel Preston speaking to Maurice Wurts on Market Street, Philadelphia, in 1814. Paul Preston was present and recalled the conversation years later. Whether or not Maurice Wurts was aware of the wealth beneath his land we do not know, but this sound advice may easily have been the foundation upon which one of the greatest private enterprises of the early Nineteenth Century was built.
This enterprise, the Delaware & Hudson Canal, was the result of the industry and foresight of Maurice and William Wurts and their efforts to haul the coal of the Lackawanna Valley to the eastern market.
This is not the place to give a detailed history of the anthracite coal fields, but the fact that anthracite, or "stone coal," existed in the Lacka- wanna and adjoining Susquehanna Valleys was known as early as 1763, for it is mentioned in the charter granted to the Wyoming Valley settlers by the Connecticut fathers. There is a record of anthracite having been used in 1755 by a gunsmith of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, who, having run out of charcoal, used a quantity of "stone coal" brought him by an Indian in payment for work done on his gun.
Coal Floated Down River
During the Revolution coal from this locality was floated down the Susquehanna River to the Carlysle Arsenal for use in the manufacture of arms for the American soldiers, but the residents of the valleys of the Susquehanna and Lackawanna Rivers were slow to realize the value of the black stones which lay beneath their farms; even after Judge Fell of Wilkes-Barre made the experiment which he recorded in the fly leaf of one of his books;
"February 11th 1808-
"Made the experiment of burning the common coal of the valley in a grate, in a common fireplace in my home, and found it will answer the purpose of fuel, making a clearer and better fire, at less expense, than burning wood in the common way .-
Jesse Fell"
In the spring of that same year John and Abija Smith floated an arkload of coal down the Susquehanna River to Columbia, but not until the following year did they succeed in inducing some of the residents to buy a few tons.
3
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These very briefly are the highlights in the history of the North Eastern anthracite coal fields prior to 1814, when the Wurts Brothers began their purchases of coal lands in the Lackawanna Valley.
It appears that David Nobles, a well-known hunter from the Lacka- wanna Valley, had become acquainted with Maurice and William as early as 1812, during one of their hunting excursions in Wayne County. The improvident Nobles was about to be imprisoned for debt and the Wurts advancing the money to pay the debt, took title to his property on the Lackawanna in return. During 1814 William seems to have taken Nobles into his employ and together they explored a great expanse of the Lacka- wanna Valley, mapping the coal out-croppings, and purchasing what land they thought of value at from 50¢ to $3.00 per acre.
Water Route Only Solution
That there was coal in the Valley was evident even to such amateurs as they, but the problem was transportation. The local population was of no consequence and in fact, had little interest in coal with wood so plentiful. Coal laden rafts, or arks, could, without much preparation be floated down the Lackawanna and on down the Susquehanna without great difficulty but the markets which they could reach by that route would hardly be profitable. Their main object was to reach their home town, Philadelphia. Overland transportation, because of its prohibitive cost, was out of the question, and railroads, of course, were a thing of the future. A route by water was the only solution.
4
They mined a small quantity of coal in 1815 and, during the spring of 1816, an attempt was made to float a raft load of this coal down Jones Creek, a tributary of the Wallenpaupack, but fortune was not with them for the raft struck some rocks and was quickly broken up. Although the accounts are somewhat vague and contradictory, they seem to have suc- ceeded in hauling a small quantity over the old Wyoming Road the following year, rafting it down the Wallenpaupack to the falls where it was unloaded, hauled to the Lackawaxen near Paupack Eddy and again loaded on a raft for the long voyage to Philadelphia. Whether or not the raft load ever completed the hazardous voyage is a mystery, but in any event the impracticable Wallenpaupack route seems to have been aban- doned in favor of the route through Rixe's Gap and Cherry Ridge to the banks of the Lackawaxen River near the present site of White Mills. A substantial quantity of coal was hauled over this route during the winter months when there was sufficient snow to permit the use of sledges. (Wagons if they had been available could not have been used over the roads which then existed.)
Shipments Were Small
The accounts vary as to the quantity of coal mined and the quantity actually hauled to the Lackawaxen. It was probably about sixty tons, although some estimate as high as one hundred. However, between 1816 and 1822 a considerable quantity of this coal was successfully rafted to Philadelphia and sold, but there seems to be no record of the total quan- tity to reach that city, or of the quantity carried on each raft. We know that rafts containing in excess of 20,000 feet of lumber had been going down the Lackawaxen for over half a century and there were many experienced pilots available but then again, managing a lumber raft where the entire load was buoyant was a different matter from handling a raft with a dead weight load of coal.
The many hardships which beset the Wurts brothers do not seem to have discouraged them, for they were ever on the lookout for a better route. In April, 1818, Maurice wrote to Colonel Seeley, of Wayne County, to inquire about the turnpike road he contemplated building through Rixe's Gap to a junction with the Long Ridge Road near the present site of Honesdale. Wurts asked for particular information concerning the practicability of using sledges, and for information concerning spring and fall freshets on the Lackawaxen.
Canal Route Surveyed
Maurice, while traversing the valley of the Delaware many times, came to know of the broad valley which, in prehistoric times, connected the Delaware and Hudson Rivers. He explored this valley following the Neversink River north, then crossing the Summit he followed Rondout Creek down to the Hudson at Kingston. Here was a route over which a canal might be built enabling them to reach the New York market where they would not have to meet the growing competition of the Schuylkill and Lehigh coal fields.
Maurice undertook a hasty survey of the route to satisfy himself and his brothers that the route was practicable. The residents of the valley, hearing of his plans welcomed him enthusiastically.
5
1828-1898 The Delaware & Hudson Canal and the Gravity Railroads connecting with the Mines
This great engineering work wos the first private enter- prise In the United States to cost more than a million dollars. It was constructed to bring the onthrocite cool of Pennsylvonio to the eastern markets ond until well ofter the civil war, corried most of New York City's cool.
The project woe first visualized by Maurice & William wurte and financed through the influence of Phill p Hong, then mayor of New York.
The conal was originally anty 3' deep 20' wide at the bottom and 32' at the top. It was finally enlarged ta a depth of 6', o battam width of 32' but the top width wos little changed The original lacks were 76' X9' but were enlarged in 1850 10 100' X 15". As the canal was enlorged the tonnage of the boate increosedi- 1828-10tons, 1840-30tons, 1844-40 1 1850-I40tons. There were 22 aqueducts (4 shown). 136 bridges, 22 reservoirs, 16 dams, 14 feeders.
1824, Engineer Sullivan proposed carrying the conai to Keen's Pond 1877 feet above sea level!
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72
--
SCALE of PROFILE
- -
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- -
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VERTICAL
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Profile of
-Delaware Section
- Neversink
Lactawaxen Section
Copyright 1949 E.D.LOROY
COUNTY
PIK* & poolpit basin-Deepest spot on the conol. Over 30 / mel deep. 9
Lockomegnen Aqueduct
6
Brink's Dom
WAYNE COUNTY.
97
1029-1899, The D.& N. Conel Ce's Gravity Railroad. Homesdale to Malley Jection. 30 Milee and
COUNTY
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35
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Deloware Section
The engineers originally planned to terminale the conol of MIII Rift and to navigate the rivers from That point by means of sloctwater dams.
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61
57
August 8th 1829, over this trestie ond along the Locktowaren River Horatio Allen drove the first locomotive ever to move on ralla in Americo!
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Kingston 221
The First boot to novigale the
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Eddyville.
entire canal, the packet boat "Orange" left Rondout October 16/h 1828.
Bloomington
Weigh Lock
The four aqueducts chown were engineered and built by John A. Roebling , of Brooklyn Bridge tome, during 1848. They were open od for traffic In 1849.
108 Miles
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WAYNE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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In 1823 a prapasal to tunnel the Showangunk Mountains was con- sidered but discarded
Honesdale, Pa.
Milford
COUNT
COUNTY
N E. W
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U.S Highway Numbers 16
Peekskill
209
531
Summitville
Phillipsport
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Kingston
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200 - 500
400
the Canal
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Sect .- 1-
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- Ellenville-
- Rondout CreekSection
6
0
2
3
4
5
SCALE OF MILES
StateHighway Numbers 97
S
ORANGE SUSSEX
Neversink Sect.
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Hawks Nest Cliffs
Summit Level :
17X
SULLIVAN COUNTY ORANGE COUNTY
Servons"
then mayor of New York, turned the first shovel full of earth.
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ULSTER COUNTY SULLIVAN COUNTY
I Ellenville
2
Alli gerville
Rondout Creek Section
209
6 5 }Crook Locks
Lafever Falls
. 200'
21
20 - 8
I
The Wayne County Historical Society
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Great progress had been made on the Erie Canal and people were aroused to the value of canals. To heighten their interest the Wurts adver- tised widely in the local papers.
Benjamin Wright had gained great prestige as chief engineer of the Erie Canal when Maurice Wurts approached him with the proposition that he make a detailed survey of their route. Although Wright was unable to come himself he sent two of his younger associates, John B. Mills and Edward Sullivan.
From the survey made by these two men a map was prepared and widely circulated in New York and Philadelphia financial circles. It was a copy of this map that first brought the enterprise to the attention of one of the most influential men of the time, Philip Hone. Hone imme- diately became interested in the proposition and his name alone gave assurance to others that the venture was likely to succeed.
Shortly before this map was published there was a proposal that the canal be carried through the Shawangunk Mountains in a tunnel and thence across New Jersey. Nothing came of the proposal but it brought forth immediate scathing comments from the Kingston (N. Y.) Plebian, for July 16, 1823, and at the launching of the first boat at Summitville, four years later the hard feeling was revived when a toast was drunk to "the enemies of the D. and H. Canal, like the projectors of the tunnel- ing of the Shawangunk Mountains, may they find their reward in disap- pointment and their glory in infamy."
Legal Approval for Canal
While John Wurts did not have the personal magnetism of Philip Hone, he nevertheless was no stranger to politics (he later became a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature). Seemingly without opposition, he ob- tained from the State of Pennsylvania for his brother Maurice and his heirs and assigns authorization to improve the navigation of the Lacka- waxen River. This act was approved by the General Assembly, on March 13, 1823, and on April 23, the State of New York authorized the "Dela- ware and Hudson Canal Company" to construct a canal from Rondout (Kingston) on the Hudson River to Saw Mill Rift on the Delaware River. The route was to follow up Rondout Creek through the valley to the west of the Shawangunk Mountains, thence down the valley of the Neversink River to the Delaware. At the time no provisions were made for. the continuation of the canal beyond that point. However, things were now taking shape and on December 7, 1823, a more thorough survey was begun, likewise under the direction of Benjamin Wright, who was still not free to come himself. This time a more mature man was in the party, which again included Mills and Edward Sullivan. He was Colonel John L. Sullivan, builder of the Middlesex Canal in Massachu- setts, who was, according to a pamphlet published at the time, "one of a Board of internal improvement appointed by President Monroe under the late act of Congress," but his enthusiasm for the project, if we can judge from his letters, seems to indicate a more material interest.
On January 7, 1824, Colonel Sullivan reported to Wright that, between the terminus of the canal at Saw Mill Rift and the mouth of the Lacka -. waxen River, nine dams and locks would be required on the Delaware, and on the Lackawaxen itself at least seventeen dams would be required
8
CHAPTER LXI. OF THE LAWS OF
Pennsylvania, PASSED IN THE SESSION OF 1822-23.
AN ACT. To improve the navigation of the River Lackawaxen
Maurice' Wurts, bis beim and se- Sigue, author- Wed to im- prove the na- vigation of the FİVET Lacka- varea.
Power
SECT. 1. BE it enacted by the Senale and House of Re- presentatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in Gene- ral Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That it shall and may be lawful for Maurice Wurts, of the city of Philadelphia, his heirs and assigns, with his or their surveyors, engineers, superintendants, artists, and workmen, to enter upon the river Lackawaxen, and any one of the streams emptying into the same, that may appear to the said Maurice Wurts, his heirs or assigns, most suitable for the purposes con- templated by this act, to open, enlarge or deepen the same, in any part or place thereof, in the manner which shall appear to them most convenient for opening, enlarging, changing, making anew, or improving the channel, and also, to cut, break, remove and take away all trees, rocka, stones, earth, gravel, sand, or other material, or any impediments whatsoever within the said river Lackawaxen and the branch thereof, which the said Mau- rice Wurts, his heirs and assigns, may select, and to use all such timber, rocks, stones, gravel, earth, or other material, in the con- struction of their necessary works, and to form, make, erect and set up any dams, locks, or any other device whatsoever, which the said Maurice Wurts, his heirs or assigns, shall think inost fit and convenient, to make a good and safe descending navigation, at least once in every six days, except when the same may be obstructed by ice or floods, from or near Wagner's Gap, in the county of Luzerne, or, from, or near Rix's Gap, in the county of Wayne, to the mouth of the said rizer Lackawaxen, with a chan. nel not less than twenty feet wide and eighteen inches deep, for arks and rafts, and of sufficient depth of water to float down boats of the burthen of one hundred barrels, or ten tons: Provi. Proviso rela dad, That no toll shall be demanded for any boat, vessel or craft tive is taking in ascending said stream of water, unless the same is converted will into a complete slack water navigation, as is authorised by this act.
9
to make it navigable. It would seem from the Colonel's reference to Keens' Pond that he was even then thinking of an extension of the canal over at least part of the distance. He said in part, "Middle Creek (which enters the Lackawaxen at the present site of Hawley) heads even nearer the mines than Capt. Keens' Pond and may possibly afford a shorter and better route than the west (or main) branch of the Lackawaxen. He also reported that he had made a quick survey of the "South Branch" (the Wallenpaupack) but did not find it favorable.
Wright Turns to D. & H.
Although Benjamin Wright continued in the service of the Erie Canal, he apparently gave some personal attention to the D. & H. Canal during 1824, and as a result recommended extension of the canal up the Dela- ware and Lackawaxen Rivers to a point as near the mines as possible. Slackwater navigation on these swift rivers would not, he reported, permit the boats to carry a paying load. Further, owing to the yearly freshets, these dams would have been too costly to maintain but most serious of all, the obstruction which these many dams would have presented to the raftsmen would not have been tolerated by the prosperous and influential . lumbering interests, who for the past fifty years had enforced their will upon these valleys. Wright proposed to extend the canal up the Lacka- waxen to the present site of Prompton, thence up Vanorba Brook to Keens' Pond, near the foot of the Moosic Mountains at Rixe's Gap, but Colonel Sullivan, who seems to have been far more enthusiastic than Wright, was all for carrying the canal on over the Mountains directly to the mines. He reported the nearest coal beds to be "within five miles of the proposed head of canal navigation, between which and the coal there is no mountain; the chain being broken by Rixe's Gap, which ap- peared to me to be about half a mile in width-and it appears to me that if the Lackawanna should not be found capable of feeding a canal through the gap, that the ground would be very favorable to an iron railroad, as they are formed in England." It is evident that this was no passing remark, for he later reiterated "From my knowledge of the place, I am able to say there is no mountainous land intervening between the Lackawaxen and the coal formation and can probably be reached by a continuation of the canal, by feeding from some distance up the Lacka- wanna."
A great deal of confidence seems to have been placed in Colonel Sulli- van, who was an engineer of experience and it seems incredible that he could have made such a misstatement, for the lowest point in the gap was over six hundred feet above Keens' Pond, less than three miles away, and a thousand feet above the mouth of the Dyberry Creek, where the canal finally terminated. Requiring as it did one lock for each twelve feet of rise, it can readily be seen that his proposal was impossible.
"Hydraulic Lift" Proposed
Sullivan had, if nothing else, a vivid imagination, for as an alternative to continuing the canal across the Moosic Mountains, he favored the scheme of moving the boats directly to the mines over the railroad but his most interesting proposal was his "Hydraulic Lift" which was to do away with canal locks. The "lift" was to be operated by filling or emptying
10
AN OUTLINE of the Lift, shewing the situation of an ascending Boat; the relative distance and elevation of two levels of a Canal. The Transit; the Weights of one side; the Pullies, Axis and Chains also of one side only, that the sketch on this small scale might not appear confused.
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