USA > Pennsylvania > The Delaware and Hudson Canal, a history > Part 7
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Reaching the "knuckle" (the head of the plane) the brakeman, who rode each trip, unhooked the sling while the cars were still in motion
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and the cars then continued on under the force of their own inertia and gravity along the next "level" until the foot of the next plane was reached, and the process repeated until the end of the "trip" at Honesdale.
On the loaded track the descent between the summit and Waymart was so steep (about five hundred feet in two miles) that it was necessary to have machinery to lower the cars. Of course, here no power was required, merely a braking arrangement.
The brakes were located at the summit and were outwardly similar to the mechanism at the head of each powered plane. They consisted of a ten-foot iron drum upon which the ropes were wound and which was geared to a huge eight-bladed fan having a diameter of twelve feet. The fan itself served to retard considerably the speed of the descending cars but in addition around each drum was an iron band which could be tightened by a lever somewhat on the order of an automobile brake.
Regular passenger service was inaugurated over the Gravity railroad between Carbondale and Honesdale on April 5, 1877 and while the road never lost its activity as a coal carrier, it at once became a popular ride for summer tourists because of the scenic beauty of route over the Moosic Mountains. Although a picnic ground was furnished by the com- pany at Fairview, the trains, like the canal, were not operated on Sun- days.
Farview Station
Progress dealt the canal another blow when in the fall of 1868 the D & H Company entered into a contract with the Erie Railroad which provided that that railroad should transport the D & H Coal to the
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Hudson during the winter months when the canal was closed by ice. From that date on the D & H Company entered into new contracts or leases with numerous railroad companies expanding mostly northward into New York State and the New England states. This expansion and transformation took place so rapidly that after 1872 the company dis- continued the publication of statistics on canal traffic. The last of these statistics from the annual report of 1872 is reproduced herewith.
Statement of Tolls received on the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Railroad in each year since the completion of the Works.
1880
$16,422 44
1845 ..
$25,880 92
1859
$ 311,597 79
1831 .
20,554 64
1846
26,068 65
1860.
397,677 99
1832
28,717 51
1847
38,971 34
1861
367,953 56
1833.
37,004 58
1848
46,548 54
1862.
316,376 97
1884.
36,946 07
1849. 34,817 95
1863
954,822 67
1885.
41,976 82
1850.
97,999 15
1864.
1,213,570 46
1886.
45,154 73
1851.
158,441 96
1865
201,679 38
1837.
44,832 42
1852.
293,174 67
1866
118,482 95
1888.
40,328 38
1858
378,479 83
1867
96,530 05
1889.
40,095 26
1854.
587,349 52
1868
89,846 57
1840.
35,450 46
1855
. 652,362 94
1869.
110,172 86
1841.
39,388 19
1856
.583,737 86
1870.
110,258 25
1842
33,894 92
1857.
435,198 44
1871.
123,836 22
1848
30,996 53
1858
307,698 11
1872
109,786 75
1844.
33,525 61
Total
$8,714,610 91
Statement of Articles transported on the Delaware and Hudson Canal during the year 1872.
Tons.
Merchandise and Provisions
15,944
Plaster
349
Cement and Cement-Stone
130,558
Tanners' Bark
729
Leather and Hides
1,690
Stone, Brick and Lime
51,521
Iron-Ore, Pig-Iron and Sundries
5,938
Mill-Stone.
456
Staves, Hoop-Poles and Lath
4,584
Manufactures of Wood
3,927
Glass and Glass-Ware.
1,010
Bituminous Coal up Canal
856
217,562
Cords of Wood.
20,913, reduced to tons.
41,826
Hemlock Shingles
486,950,
244
Ship Timber and R. R. Ties ... .
49,503,
1,188
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Hard Wood, board mea.
6,066,808, ..
12,013
Pine and Basswood "
789,363,
1,184
Hemlock,
9,575,769,
16,758
Promiscuous
290,775
Anthracite Coal
1,409,628
Total Tonnage in 1872.
1,700,408
While to the boatmen and lock tenders of 1872 no change in the attitude of the managers was apparent, it is strikingly obvious today, reviewing the company's records from year to year, that railroads had superceded the canal in their interests for from that year until the final abandonment of the canal, twenty-six years later there are only brief infrequent references to the canal. The D & H boatmen were by no means so fickle and no railroader ever had the affection for his calling that the average canaller, be he otherwise callous, had for his.
One of the greatest handicaps of any canal in competition with rail- roads is its inability to operate during the winter months for the merest film of ice made it impossible for the mules to move the boats. The Delaware and Hudson Canal, reaching as it did into the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania was closed for five months of each year. Usually the boating season began during the early part of May and closed in early December. Another was the maximum speed of three miles per hour attained by the plodding mules and the time lost in pass- ing through the locks.
Even had the mules been able to move the cumbersome, blunt-nosed canal boats at a faster pace, it could not have been permitted, for the wash thrown up by boats moving at a greater speed would have caused the canal banks to cave in. The only solution would have been concrete or masonry walls the full length of the canal. In the one hundred and eight miles of canal there were one hundred and six locks, each with an average lift of ten feet. The boats fitted into these locks like a hand in a glove and there was, of course, considerable time lost in getting the boats into the locks and in overcoming the inertia of the loaded boats. particularly when starting out of a lock, so that the actual work of lockage required the less time. The whole operation consumed no less than twelve minutes, actual lockage as low as six.
It is easily apparent that locks having a greater lift would take little or no more time to operate than those in use. Consequently. had the board of managers approved the construction. at High Falls, Neversink. Lackawaxan, and the Narrows. of new but fewer locks. each having a greater lift, the cost of operation and time of navigation would have been materially reduced, but as the railroads took more and more pres- tige away from the old waterway it became increasingly less practicable to make the improvements which might have given the canal a longer lease on life.
7.8
Two remaining disadvantages hampered the D & H: The Moosic Mountains remained a barrier between it and the mines, requiring the double handling of coal by means of the Gravity railroad. Finally, after traveling one hundred and eight miles to tidewater, the canal terminated but a few miles nearer the New York markets than was its starting point at Honesdale.
The last twenty-five years of operation of the canal were uneventful from the standpoint of change. The canal people themselves had settled down to the serious business of hauling coal and freight.
The following summary of the canal, while it is for the year 1880, will suffice for the year of operation:
Locks: 107 (including double lock at Honesdale), 95 composite, 12 stone and cement masonry, 100 feet in length between gates 15 feet wide. Feet of Lockage: 1086, including 58 feet at Neversink.
Weight Locks: 2 of stone and cement masonry.
Stop Locks: 2 stone masonry ends.
Guard Locks: 2, one masonry, one composite.
Aqueducts: 22, 4 wire suspension, 18 wood trunk. 2,000 lineal feet aque- duct superstructure.
Waste Weirs: 110-105 stone masonry, 5 timber and plank.
Canal Feeders: 14-2 wood, 12 earth trunk. Total 31/2 miles.
Feeder dams: 16-4 stone masonry, 10 timber and plank. 2 stone and brush.
Drydocks: 2, leased, not operated by company. (There were numerous others of varying sizes privately owned.)
Bridges: 136 highway and farm bridges. 5 have wrought iron super- structure.
Tow path bridges: 37-1 crossing Lackawaxen at Honesdale. (5 span wrought iron.) 26 crossing aqueducts, 10 crossing feeders.
Reservoirs: 22.
Boats: 915 canal boats, 66 transfer boats, 3 freight line boats, 16 barges, 2 wrecking boats, 1 propeller boat and 1 dredging machine. In addition to these boats there were, of course, an uncounted number of boats which had been privately built.
T HE locks on the D & H were numbered in order westward from Rondout to Lackawaxen and from Lackawaxen to Honesdale. For the most part the boatmen referred to the lock by some name which was derived from the proprietor or from some peculiar feature nearby. The most common names were: 1-Eddyville, 2 to 4-Creek Locks, 5-Mil- ban's, 6-Websters, 7-Rosendale, 8-9-Lawrenceville, 10-Humphreys, 11-Cole's Basin, 12-14-Nigger Locks, 15-20-High Falls, 21-Alliger- ville, 22-Foleys, 23-Stony Kill, 24-Middleport, 25-Port Hickson, 26-Port Benjamin, 27-Bob Decker's, 28-Chris Ginniel's, 29-Shirley's,
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30-31-Ellenville, 32-Sam Taylor's, 33-Youppy's, 34-Ostrander's, 35-Callahan's, 36-Penny's, 37-Mose Charles', 38-Louie Beardsley, 39-Joe McKane, 40-Hank Woods, 41-Jack McCarthy, 42-Bill Foster, 43-Bill Robinson, 44-Dan Hanion, 45-Enoch Rogers, 46- Huck Rogers, 47-Will Donnelly's, 48-Will Halstead's, 49-Wm. E. Rose's, 59-P. O. Callahan's, 51-55-Neversink, 56-Mineral Springs, 57-Butler's, 58-59-Mongaup, 60-Woolsley's, 61-Pa Gene Smith's, 62-Widow Kelly's, 63-Pond Eddy, 64-Squire Van Tuyler's, 65- Decker's, 66-Lambert's, 67-Handsome Eddy, 68-Barryville, Lower 69-Barryville, Upper, 70-71-72-Gilson's Locks.
Here the canal crossed the Delaware and Lackawaxen Rivers. The first three locks on the Lackawaxen were abandoned after the completion of the aqueducts. 4-5-6-Ridgeway's, 7-Joe Tague or Tinsmiths, 8- O'Donnell's, 9-Bishop's, 10-George Rowland's, 11-Saxon's or Lar- son's, 12-Westfall's, 13-14-Griswold's, 15-Jim Avery's, 16-Corkon- ian's or Chidesters, 17-Rodgers, 18-Jim Hanner's, 19-Abe Rowland's. 20 Pat Gannons, 21-Field Bend, 22-Mike Harrison's, 23-Jim Har- rison's, 24-Frank Danniel's (Pat Harrison), 25-Poolpit, 26-Baisdens, 27-Carroll's (Billy O'Brien), 28-Rock Lock (Mike Connors),, 29- Lower Hawley (Conklin's), 30-Upper Hawley (Hennessey's), 31- Wier's (O'Han's), 32-McKahill's, 33-White Mills, 34-Lonsome Lock (Dan Carroll), 35-Tom Whitaker's, 36-Chris Lane's (Miles Bishop), 37-Honesdale-Twin Locks ..
It should be born in mind that no two such lists of names would be the same, but those given seem to have been the most common in the last years of the canal.
The accompanying reproduction of "Rules for Government of Lock Tenders", together with the "Rules, Regulations and By-Law", covered any contingency which might arise and were for the most part adhered to.
The lock tender was responsible for the level of the water in the sec- tions of canal below his lock, regardless of the head of water above his lock. That was the responsibility of lock tender next above him. A cer- tain amount of water passed through each time a lock was emptied, but, except in the dry seasons there was a continuous flow of water through the sluiceway which bypassed each lock.
In addition to the feeders, which drew water from the river, the canal was fed by brooks or springs which emptied into it. It was necessary to control the flow of this water through the erection of wasteweirs, usu- ally opposite each brook or spring. By raising or lowering the planking at these wasteweirs, a proper boating head was maintained. A flow of water through the canal greater than a half mile per hour would have caused serious damage to the banks.
The operation of the locks became an art in itself and was accomplished quickly and efficiently. As has been pointed out locking through required less time than bringing the boat into or out of the lock. Originally the gates on all of the locks were the balance beam type, and each was oper- ated independently by hand, but in 1865 the upper gates were replaced
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RULES FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF LOCK-TENDERS ON THE Delaware & Hudson Canal
1882
1882
1. The Locks are to be closed bo- lines when properly held, nr so as to cause an unneces- left at or near their locks, that belong to the Company, Iween the hour- of 12 on Saturday night and 12 o'clock ' sary swell of water upon the levels to ground Boats lying! and keep the same safe until called for by the Superintend- on Sunday night, and open for the passage of Boats and near a Lock .-. See Rules, Regulations and By-Laws. ent or other officers of the Canal. Floats during other hours, night or day, as directed by 6. Look-Tenders arv to be vigilant in their watch and not to permit any Boat or Float to Lamps and Lanterns properly cleaned and in good order, 15. Lock-Tenders are to keep the pass their Locks without having a proper clearance or lighted up at all times during the hours of navigation, perinit, and report immediately to the nearest Collector or Superintendent the master of any Boat or Float that the officers on the final. One competent man is to be constantly in attendance at the Lock during the hours the Lock is directed to be opened for the passage of Boats, and be vigilant in enforcing the Rules, Regula- when it is so dark as to need them ; and the Law k-T'en- shall discharge from on board any articles which are not of Oil, or its use for other purposes than directed for the der will be held accountable for any unnecessary waste tions and By-Laws for the navigation of the canal, and facilitate the passage of Hoats and Floats in a prompt. entered on the permit or clearance, or in any manner at- Locks. tempting to defrand the Collector in the payment of tolls .- Ser Rules, Regulations and By-Laws. careful and business manmer. The contractor for a Lock will be held liable for the faithful performances of any person he may employ as a Lock - Tender.
2. No boat or Float is to be allowed to pass a lock next after leaving . Collector's office with- out exhibiting a clearance or permit, which is to be re- tained by the Lock-T'ender of the last, Lock through which said Boat or Float is to pass, (unless it be a Lock next to a Collector's office. ) which permit the Lock-Ten- der is to forward to the next Collector toward which the Boit or Float shall be progressing .- See Rules, Regule- tions and By-laws.
3. The-Lock-Tenders aro to Certify the place of starting or loading of every Boat or Float which starts or takes any articketem gard, at or near the Locks in their charge, and nodet an Collector's office ; being particular to give the date thename of the boat, the number of the Lock, and the place in distance above of below said Lock where the Boat of Float started or took any freight on board. Soch certificate is to serve as a passport through the Locks that intervene between such Loh or place and the next Collector's office ; but shall not serve As a pass through a Lock after said Boat or Float shall have passed a Collector's office .- See Rules, Regulations and By-Laws.
4. The Paddle Gates are to be used in the most careful minner and so as not to create injuri- ons swells on levels between Locks. When there is a tull head of water on the upper level, and the level below is not above a honning head, Houts may be swelled out of the Look, but with the most economical use of water, and vigilant car. In every case when those in charge of a Boat neglect or refuse, when required, to make their horses draw a Boat out of a Luck promptly, without a >well trum the paddles, such Buat must be reported to: The proper officer, and the penalty rigidly exacted.
7. Lock-Tenders are not required in all cases to examine the permits of Boats engaged in transporting Coal, unless they should have other Freight than Coal on board. But this is not to excuse the mas- ter of a Boat for not exhibiting his permit when it shall be they shall be ready to improve their turn .- See Rules, demanded.
`16. Whenever Boats are detained by a breach or otherwise, so as to collect together, Lak- Tenders are to take the numbers in the order as they arrive, and have them moored so as to maintain a free pastuge for Boats to pass thein ; and when they start, to let them pass the Lock in the same order as they came up, providing
Regulations and By-Laws.
8. Boats or Soows engaged in im- 17. Lock-Tenders are to notice and proving or repairing the canal are to have the preference report immediately to some officer on the Canal any ahoays in passing through Locks. When any Boat or Boatman engaged in the Coal business, that shall sell or Float does not improve the first opportunity to pass a take off any Coal from his Roat along the Canal without Lock, and delays until another comes within locking dis- tance, the last one shall have the preference in passing no Lock-Tender will be allowed to take Coal from a Bout written permission from some authorized person. And the Lock .- See Rules, Regulations and By-Laws.
.. Look-Tenders who by inatten- 18. Lock-Tenders are to notice and tion or neglect shall detain a Boat or Float, so as to in- I report without delay the Master ot any Hoat in the Coal cur the penalty of the I.aw, shall be dismissed and also be liable for such penalty and cost .- See Rules, Regula- tions and By-Laws.
10. Lock-Tenders are strictly required to in business for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Com- keep the levels below the Locka under their charge at the height directed by the Super- crew of three male persons, withont written permission Intendent or other officer of the Canal.
business that is intoxicated, or otherwise incompetent to manage his Boat, to any Agent or Superintendent on the Canal, and are not to let any Boat that may be engaged pany pass through a lock unless it has a competent from an officer in the employment of the Company, and
11. Look-Tenders are required to they are to report every Bout that may be engaged in keep their Locks in good order, the embankments clear ; other business which does not have such a crew -See from lumber or anything to prevent the free and clear Rules, Regulations and By-Laws.
passage on both sides of the Lock for the business of navigation ; they are to watch the banks near their Locks, and when a breach is threatened, to take prompt meas- ures to prevent it, and also to give the Superintendent or other officer prompt notice thereof, or of any breach that may have occurred. During the rains they are to be vigi- lant, and Tender all reasonable assistance to open waste weirs, to draw off water, or to protect the Canal banks and property of the Company as the case may be.
19. A Liberal Reward will be paid to any person that informs to the conviction of any Mas- ter or Crew of any Boat that breaks down any fence along the Canal, or has any fencing materials on board said Boat in violation of the " Rules, Regulations and By-I.aws," for the navigation of said Canal.
20. The foregoing Rules, together with the general Rules, Regulations and By-Laws for the navigation of the Canal (a copy of which will be furnish- ed them) are to be strictly adhered 10, and 10 be enforced by Lock-Tenders, unless otherwise directed by some of- ficer of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company on the Canal for the time being ; and they will be discharged im- mediately for negligence or non-compliance. Any pen- alty or damage that shall occur in consequence of their inattention of negligence will be deducted from their wages agreeable to an estimate of the same by an agent
COE F. YOUNG, General Manager.
Office of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, HONESDALE, APRIL, 1882
Citims Frist, Hancedale
5. Look-Tenders are to make them- 13. When a breach or leak has oc- curred so as to stop navigation, Lock-Tenders are to la- bor under the direction of the Superintendent or other officer, without extra compensation selves familiar with the " Rules. Regulations and By- Laws for Navigating the Canal." explain them to the Bonmen. und enforce them rigidly, in a kind and friend- h manner. in all matters pertaining to the Locks They 18. No occupant of a Look-House will require avery Best of Float to be snubbed and held firmly bs booth low and stern lines, before opening a pad- will be allowed to sell Ardent Spirits under any en un- dle gale they are to keep careful watch of the Boat or stances Float, and not to open the poodles so fast as to look the 14. Lock-Tenders are expected to craft against the harp giles, we endinger breaking the take charge of my tools or other property which may be or Superintendent on the Canal for the time being
or burn Anthracite Coal without special permission.
by drop gates, and hand operated machinery, by which both the upper and lower gates could be operated, was installed.
The drop gates were hinged at the bottom and so weighted that when the lock was full they could be allowed to drop backwards into the bed of the canal. With this gate down the boat slid over it into the lock. When the boat was safely snubbed the lock-tender, from his shanty over the lower gates, "cracked" the "paddles" of the lower gate (i. e., opened them slightly) and at the same time turned the winch which started the upper gate from its resting place. The current created by cracking the paddles was sufficient to cause the drop gate to rise into place without much further effort on his part. The winch was tightened and the dog (or ratchet) dropped into place on the cog, thus holding it securely. The paddles (they were called wickets on some canals) in the lower gate were opened fully and the water boiled out below the lock. These paddles were below the surface of the water, so as to cause as little erosion as possible. When the water within the lock thus reached the level of the water below the lock, the lower gates were opened and the boats passed on out. When there was an abundance of water, the lock-tender could speed up the passage of a boat by partly opening the paddles beneath the upper gate, thus causing a swell of water upon which the boat rode out of the lock, attaining full speed within a hundred feet.
The canal company owned half an acre or so of ground adjacent to each lock on which was built a house for the use of the contractor who was responsible for the operation of the lock. Often the operation of the lock was kept in the family but in many cases an outsider was hired as locktender. More often the contractor himself also ran a farm, did lumber- ing or quarrying or probably he ran a store.
Maintenance Problems
Maintenance of a canal presents its own peculiar problems compared with which the problems of a railroad are trivial. It is one thing to dig a ditch and another to keep it filled with water and anyone who has ever seen the havoc caused by a single heavy summer downpour on a country road, not to mention a spring flood can appreciate the irresistible power of water. In the valley of the Neversink the builders of the D & H en- countered porous, gravelly ground which would not hold water. During the first years this difficulty caused a great deal of annoyance until it was finally overcome by lining that entire section, sixteen miles, with clay.
The use of "sitting poles" or pikes was strictly forbidden for their sharp points, driven down into the bed of the canal, elevated as it was above the river, would be certain to puncture the lining and the smallest leak thus started soon became enlarged and if not repaired promptly, a wash- out was inevitable. As a precaution against such an occurrence, which could tie up the whole canal for days, the tow-path walker or watchman was an invaluable man. It was his duty to repair small leaks whenever possible. This was usually done by plugging the hole with stones or twisted straw or both. On top of this he rammed down some convenient sod or clay, probably tramping it down with his feet.
Poles of the boatman were by no means the only cause of such leaks,
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for eels, catfish, sometimes moles, and even crawfish were the cause but probably the greatest enemy were the muskrats who found the canal an ideal home. Liberal bounties offered for killing them seemed only to make those which remained more determined.
A leak which threatened to become a washout called for the attention of the emergency crew. Their scow was loaded with timber for piles and planks for coffer dams as well as wheel barrows, shovels, and all the neces- sary tools. These scows had the right of way over all other traffic and were easily. reached by the D & H telegraph. Where a breach of wash- out had occurred, a temporary dam was built across the breach and the canal again placed in operation. This dam was built by driving piles and facing them with grooved planking which, when watersoaked, soon became watertight. Behind this dam the washed-out section was then rebuilt but the dam remained in place to give the new work time to settle and become watertight before being subjected to pressure.
With these physical handicaps to be overcome, and with the board of managers almost wholly absorbed in the great railroad expansion, the Delaware and Hudson Canal continued its useful life as a coal carrier until November 5, 1898, when boat number 1107 in command of Cap- tain Frank Hensberger left Honesdale for Rondout.
The famous old "Gravity" was continued in operation until January 3, 1899, and on April 28 of that year the New York Legislature formally approved the abandonment of the canal in that State. On June 13, 1899 the entire canal with "all its franchises, rights and privileges" was sold to S. D. Coykendall, president of the Cornell Steamboat Company, for the sum of $10,000.
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