Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company facts for kids

The main office of Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, seen in 2007. It's right across from the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad!

The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company was a very important mining and transportation company. Its main office was in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, which used to be called Mauch Chunk. This company was active from 1818 until it closed in 1964. It played a huge role in starting the American Industrial Revolution in the United States.

This company was special because it did everything itself. It mined the coal, transported it, and even made things with it. This is called "vertical integration" and Lehigh Coal & Navigation was the first U.S. company to do it!

The company was started by Erskine Hazard and Josiah White. They wanted to provide a steady supply of coal for factories and mills. They built the Lehigh Canal, starting in 1818. This canal was a big engineering challenge, but it helped speed up industrial growth.

The Lehigh Canal was ready to use by 1820 and was improved over the next few years. By 1829, it could handle two-way traffic. This canal was vital for moving anthracite coal, which was the main energy source back then. It helped transport coal to major cities in the Northeastern United States. The success of the Lehigh Canal also inspired other canals to be built nearby.

History of the Company

The success of Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, and Josiah White's smart ideas, helped kick-start America's "Canal Age." This led to big investments in moving raw materials and goods. The company also helped fund the Schuylkill Canal project. White and Hazard had mills on the Schuylkill River, so they really wanted that canal to succeed.

White and Hazard took over the Lehigh Coal Mining Company's mines in 1818. They also built the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad and other smaller railroads. They even created special systems like the Ashley Planes to solve tough transportation problems. Many of the routes they created are still important today.

The company was also a leader in mining anthracite coal in the United States. They bought almost all the coal-rich land in the eastern part of Pennsylvania's Southern Coal Region. They even brought in experts from Wales to help make iron using new furnace technology. They built the first six blast furnaces and puddling furnaces to create steel. Then, they used this steel to make wire rope (steel cable) at their own factory in Mauch Chunk. These wire ropes were then sold to other mining companies and industries. This shows how they did everything from start to finish!

In 1822, Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N) was officially formed. It combined the Lehigh Coal Mining Company, the Lehigh Coal Company, and the Lehigh Navigation Company. This was the first time different related companies merged in the U.S. Five years later, in 1827, the company built the Mauch Chunk and Summit Hill Railroad. This was the first coal railroad and only the second railroad in the entire country!

The company was founded by two clever businessmen, Josiah White (1780–1850) and Erskine Hazard (1790–1865). They wanted to find better ways to get coal to people who needed it.

People in the Lehigh Valley often call this company the "Old Company." This helps tell it apart from a different company with a similar name, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, which started in 1988. That one is called the "New Company."

How the Company Grew

A map showing the Coal Region in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

In 1792, a hunter named Philip Ginter found coal on Sharpe Mountain, near what is now Summit Hill, Pennsylvania. The Lehigh Coal Mine Company was started the next year. But they had trouble getting the coal to market. They would dig coal, use mules to carry it to the Lehigh River, build simple boats called "arks," and try to float them down the river to Philadelphia. Many boats sank on the rough river.

The Lehigh Coal Mining Company sometimes managed to get coal to Philadelphia. Eventually, its rights were taken over by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company.

Early Coal Mining Efforts

The Lehigh Coal Mine Company (LCMC) was founded in 1792. It bought a lot of land around Panther Creek Valley and Pisgah Mountain. Their goal was to move anthracite coal from Pisgah Mountain near Summit Hill, Pennsylvania, to Philadelphia. They used mules to carry coal to "arks" built near Lausanne on the Lehigh River and Delaware River. The mines were over nine miles from the Lehigh River at Mauch Chunk.

From 1792 to 1814, LCMC was active off and on. They could sell all the coal they mined, but they lost many boatloads on the wild Lehigh River. This meant they often lost money.

Eventually, the owners sold some coal to Josiah White and Erskine Hazard. These two men owned a wire mill and factory near Philadelphia. White and Hazard loved the quality of the coal. They bought the last two barges that made it down the Lehigh River. They believed they could deliver coal much more reliably. So, in 1815, they started looking into getting the rights to mine LCMC's coal. They also planned to improve the Lehigh River for easier travel.

Improving the River and Mining

White and Hazard faced a lot of criticism. People thought their plans to improve the river and mine coal at Summit Hill, Pennsylvania were crazy. Most people believed improving the river was possible, but mining coal would not work. To get more investors, they formed two new companies: the Lehigh Coal Company (LCC) and the Lehigh Navigation Company. They then asked the government for permission to improve the Lehigh River.

In 1817, White and Hazard leased the Lehigh Coal Mine's properties and took over operations. They officially started the Lehigh Coal Company on October 21, 1818. They asked the government for rights to improve the Lehigh River, something many people had tried to do for decades. In 1820, White and Hazard bought out their partner Hauto and closed the Lehigh Coal Company.

Under their lease, they had to deliver at least 40,000 bushels of coal to Philadelphia each year. They would pay a tiny rent of "one ear of corn" if demanded.

Many people doubted that the Lehigh River could be controlled. Even fewer believed that mining coal from the surrounding lands was possible. But White and Hazard raised money three times to improve the river. By 1820, their two companies had made the Lehigh River somewhat navigable. This was four years ahead of their goal! Coal was brought from Summit Hill by mule track to a loading spot at Mauch Chunk.

Because of this success, the two companies merged to form the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company. They decided to use new technologies like canals, locks, and railroads to bring coal to their factories and to homes in Philadelphia and beyond.

On March 20, 1818, the company got permission to improve the Lehigh River. They could now use boats carrying 100 barrels or 10 tons of coal. The state government watched closely. They even said they could force the company to build a full "slack-water" navigation system if they didn't do a good enough job.

People invested money, but only if a committee of stockholders checked the Lehigh River first. The report said improving the river looked good. But the nine-mile road from the river to the mines was called "impracticable." One commissioner said, "I considered it quite an easement when the wheel of my carriage struck a stump instead of a stone."

The public was divided. Some thought the coal mine idea was silly but that improving the river was a great idea. Others thought the river improvements would fail, but that investing in the coal mines would make a fortune.

This debate led to the creation of the first "interlocking companies" in American business history. The Lehigh Navigation Company was formed with $150,000, and the Lehigh Coal Company with $55,000. This showed how much a business depended on good transportation. The Lehigh Navigation Company built dams and walls. The Lehigh Coal Company built America's first road designed like a railway, using a steady slope. The Lehigh Navigation Company also used White's invention of "sluice gates." These gates connected to pools that could store water, which could be released to help boats navigate when water levels were low.

By 1819, they had achieved the needed water depth between Mauch Chunk and Easton. The two companies quickly merged into the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. By 1823, they were delivering over two thousand tons of coal to the market.

The Lehigh Navigation Company's Role

White and Hazard were very skilled engineers. They had already built the world's first iron wire suspension bridge over the Schuylkill River. Now, they worked with other business leaders to get a steady supply of anthracite coal.

To move the coal, they negotiated with politicians to get rights to control the wild Lehigh River for navigation. By 1817–1818, they had formed the separate Lehigh Navigation Company. They announced plans to deliver coal regularly to Philadelphia by 1824. The old LCMC had struggled to deliver anthracite coal cheaply enough to compete with coal imported from Britain. Their last attempt in 1813 saw three out of five boats sink, making the LCMC directors give up.

The company started planning and surveying sites. When the state government approved the river work in 1818, they immediately hired teams of men. They began building locks, dams, and weirs, including their own special water management gates.

One politician joked that the company was granted the opportunity "to ruin themselves" when the act was passed on March 20, 1818.

Here's how the river improvements began, according to Fred Brenckman in 1884:

• The work on the Lehigh River started in the summer of 1818, led by Josiah White.
• They tried to narrow the river channel with low stone walls to raise the water level.
• But soon, it was clear this wouldn't be enough water during dry seasons.
• Josiah White, being very clever, came up with the idea of creating "artificial floods."
• They built dams near Mauch Chunk with special "sluice-gates" that White invented.
• Water could be held back until needed. When the dam was full, the gates were opened.
• This released a rush of water, allowing boats waiting in the pool above to float down with the flood. This solved the problem!
• Crews also improved the mule trails from the coal mines at Summit Hill, Pennsylvania down Pisgah Ridge. Others built docks, boat-building areas, and the canal's main pool and locks.

The canal's starting point needed a place where barges could be built and where timber and coal could be brought into calm water. This was a challenge because it had to be above Mount Pisgah, Carbon County, Pennsylvania, a tall rock hill that rises 900 feet above the towns of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania (Mauch Chunk) and Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania.

Within two years, White and Hazard built a system that used their unique "bear trap" locks. These locks created artificial floods to move coal boats past rapids. Coal arrived at the starting point from the mines at Summit Hill or down the steep mule trail from Panther Creek. It then floated down the river. At the end of the journey, the barges were sold for fuel or for transport in the Delaware basin.

The navigation company started shipping a lot of coal by early 1819, even earlier than they expected. They reached their goal of regular shipments in 1820.

In 1820, the company merged with the Lehigh Coal Company. It was officially re-chartered in 1822.

The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company is Formed

By late 1820, four years ahead of schedule, the improved Lehigh Valley waterway was reliably moving large amounts of coal to White's mills and Philadelphia. The nearly 370 tons of coal brought to market that year helped with the winter fuel shortage and even created a temporary surplus. After buying out co-founder George Hauto, White and Hazard changed their lease with the Lehigh Coal Mine Company. They merged it with the Lehigh Coal Company, gaining ownership of 10,000 acres of land. A few months later, they merged the Lehigh Coal Company and the Lehigh Navigation Company. In late 1821, they filed papers to officially form the Lehigh Coal & Lehigh Navigation company, which started in 1822.

Other Business Ventures

From 1822 to 1865, under White and Hazard, Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company always looked for new ways to grow. They believed that "vertical integration" (doing everything themselves) was a natural way to save money and make more profit. The company often invested in other businesses, sometimes providing the final funding or even buying them later as subsidiaries.

Iron Production

Using anthracite coal as fuel, iron became much cheaper and easier to get. For 30 years, factories in the Lehigh Valley that used anthracite coal produced more iron than any other part of the nation. This was a huge step in the industrial development of the United States.

The Grand Lehigh Canal

A big flood on June 6, 1862, showed a major problem with White's canal system. The dams and locks that allowed coal barges to travel meant huge pools of water were always ready. When heavy rains started, dams broke, causing massive floodwaters to burst through other dams. This led to a terrible flood and many lives were lost.

John J. Leisenring Jr., who was the Superintendent of the company, estimated that 200 people died from White Haven down to Lehighton. The state government then stepped in and stopped the company from rebuilding that part of the canal.

Railroads Built by the Company

The Summit Hill and Mauch Chunk Railroad

In 1827, the company built America's second railroad in just a few months! It was 9.2 miles long and used the path of an old wagon road. This was a "gravity railroad" called the Mauch Chunk and Summit Hill Railroad. It used wooden ties on a gravel base, just like modern railways. It helped move coal from the mines to the river much faster. The work was quick because the path had a smooth, even slope.

Here's what Fred Brenckman wrote in 1894 about this railroad:

• It was built in the summer of 1827.
• It was almost the first railroad in the United States.
• It was nine miles long and followed the old wagon road.
• Summit Hill was nearly a thousand feet higher than Mauch Chunk. So, the cars went down by gravity!
• Coal was moved from the cars to boats using inclined planes and chutes.
• Josiah White planned all of this, and it was finished in about four months.
• The rails were made of iron bars, laid on wooden ties held in place by stone.
• Loaded cars, each holding about 1.5 tons, were linked in trains of 6 to 14 cars. Men controlled their speed.
• There were places for cars to turn off. Mules pulled the empty cars back up to the mines. The mules even rode down in special cars, which must have looked funny!
• It took about 30 minutes to go down, but three hours to get back up to the mines.

The gravity railroad ran from what became Summit Hill along the south side of Pisgah Ridge to Mount Pisgah. It ended at the canal's loading chute, over 200 feet above the canal banks.

Room Run Railroad

The Room Run or Rhume Run Railroad was a short coal railroad built by Josiah White in the Nesquehoning Valley.

Other Companies and Operations

During the winters of 1821–1823, the company learned a lot about how ice damaged canals. They learned how to build canals to resist damage, but also that some damage would happen every winter. The need for new money for repairs in 1821 led to the company becoming the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company. They also bought out George Hauto's share, leaving White and Hazard with most of the ownership.

In 1823, White offered to build a two-way canal system from Mauch Chunk to Philadelphia that could handle ships and steam tugs. But the state government said no in 1824. They promised the state would build the Delaware Canal instead. Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company had to keep building coal "arks" and used up thousands of acres of timberland for these one-time use boats. This cost the company a lot while the state delayed.

The state's canal project along the Delaware River was not well-built. It was narrow and didn't even have enough water.

• Delaware Division Canal Company – The state of Pennsylvania had trouble building a canal ditch about 60 miles long, connecting the Lehigh Canal from Easton to Bristol. When it opened in 1831, it leaked a lot. So, the state had to ask Josiah White to fix it. After his repairs, the state asked Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company to operate the canal, which they did starting in 1834. This led to the creation of a new company, the Lehigh Navigation Coal Company, which operated both canals until the 1930s.

Mill Parks

White and Hazard were originally mill and factory owners. They focused on getting fuel for their main businesses before 1815. In 1814, they had even invested in the rival Schuylkill Canal. But they became frustrated with the planning and lack of commitment from other board members there. White's clever "Bear Trap" lock-gate system used artificial floods. It's no surprise that as he looked at the Lehigh River, he also noticed places where water power could be used for mills. The law effectively gave the company ownership of the entire river. These rights were not given back to Pennsylvania until 1964.

So, once the canal was improved, the company used its knowledge to develop water-powered industrial parks along its waterways. By 1840, the Abbott Street area near Lock 47, now part of Hugh Moore Park in Easton, Pennsylvania, had almost a dozen factories and employed over 1,000 men. This helped grow industries in Allentown and Bethlehem. The connection with the Delaware Canal, which the company managed for the state after 1834, helped the company even more.

Decline of the Company

In 1932, the Lehigh Navigation canal was closed because it cost more to maintain than it earned.

By the mid-20th century, Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, which used to be very diverse, relied mostly on coal sales. Its other businesses, like railroads, were owned by subsidiaries and were more profitable. But the demand for coal dropped. Railroads started using diesel engines instead of steam, and other ways of heating became popular. This hurt the company's profits a lot. So, the company slowly sold off its different parts. In 1966, Greenwood Stripping Co. bought the remaining coal properties, mostly in the Panther Creek Valley. Eight years later, they sold them to Bethlehem Mines Corp.

In 1986, the company's owners decided to close it down after selling its last business, Cella's Chocolate Covered Cherries, to Tootsie Roll.

The New Company (Unrelated)

The name "Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company" is still used today, but it refers to a completely separate company started in 1988. This "New Company," as it's known locally, was started by James J. Curran Jr., who was a previous officer and stockholder of the old company. He took over Lehigh Coal from Bethlehem Mines Corp. in 1989. Through the 1990s, it was the largest producer of U.S. anthracite coal, which is now a special product.

In 2000, Lehigh Coal closed and laid off 163 employees because coal prices were too low to make a profit. The company reopened in 2001 with help from a $9 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 2010, the company went bankrupt again and was bought by one of its creditors, BET Associates. As of mid-2013, the company's properties between Lansford and Nesquehoning were still operating under the "Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company" name.

See also

• Lehigh Canal
• Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad
• Panther Creek Valley