that European experience, in using 25-ton boats, was 
more applicable and decided to make the locks half 
the width but the same length as those of the Lehigh 
Navigation.** 
The Lehigh slackwater navigation between Mauch 
Chunk and Easton was opened for use in June 1829.*” 
The Delaware Division improvements, started 4 
months after the Lehigh, were not completed until 
1832. To ensure the Delaware’s completion, Josiah 
White was impressed as a consultant to design and 
construct a useful navigational system.** The delay in 
the construction of the Delaware Division caused the 
Lehigh managers to pass eight semiannual dividend 
payments. The company was required to use temporary 
arks which were the only kind of boats that could be 
used in the downward navigation on the Delaware. 
The Lehigh Company expended all of its authorized 
capital while engaged in improving and enlarging their 
facilities and, in 1828, applied to the legislature for an 
increase of capital.** The attitude of the public toward 
this venture changed as the managers had proven that 
the Lehigh was navigable, but now there were many 
objections to the concessions granted under the original 
charter. The increase in capital was denied as the 
Lehigh managers refused to relinquish their valuable 
concessions. With the denial by the legislature for an 
increase in capital, the company’s first private loan 
was negotiated during 1828 (details remain unknown). 
During the next 6 years, the coal traffic continued 
to grow despite the necessity of continual improve- 
ments to keep the navigation operational. The capaci- 
ties of the boats were gradually increased and the 
Mauch Chunk Courier announced, near the end of the 
1833 season, the use of a 100-ton boat on the naviga- 
tion.*° Shipments of coal decreased in 1834, as the 
result of slack business conditions throughout the 
country, but an increase in the coal trade was noted 
in the following year. 
In 1835, with public attention being directed to the 
Beaver Meadows coal region and the deadline ap- 
proaching for the completion of the navigation on the 
** Lehigh History, op. cit., p. 20. 
®T.C.N.C., Annual Report for 1829 (Philadelphia: T. A. 
Conrad, 1830), p. 12. 
% Josiah White resigned his office of Acting Manager at 
Mauch Chunk during 1831 and moved to Philadelphia. 
Hazard’s Register of Pennsylvania, op. cit. (vol. 8 no. 8, 
August 20, 1831), p. 128. 
** Lehigh History, op. cit., p. 22. 
% Mauch Chunk Courier, November 9, 1833. 
PAPER 72: ANTHRACITE IN THE LEHIGH VALLEY 
upper section, the Lehigh managers decided to extend 
the navigation up to Stoddartsville. This work was 
begun in 1835 and completed on September 26, 1837.%° 
The prejudices against the company had subsided 
by then and on March 13, 1837, the legislature au- 
thorized the company to build the Lehigh and Susque- 
hanna Railroad, 19 miles long, to connect the northern 
anthracite field with the Lehigh Navigation (Wilkes- 
Barre to White Haven) .** Under the same authority, 
the company was permitted to increase its capital to 
$1.6 million from the previous limit of $1 million. 
The Governor’s commission inspected the Stod- 
dartsville section of the navigation and recommended 
the issuance of a warrant to collect tolls beginning 
November 2, 1837 (Appendix IV) .°° The managers 
reported to the Governor that the railroad was com- 
pleted on March 19, 1838, and on June 19, 1838, 
received a warrant to charge tolls on that property.*® 
With the completion of the railroad, a shorter line of 
communication was obtained to the west by use of 
the Pennsylvania canal system which was completed 
in 1835. Total construction costs of the Lehigh and 
Susquehanna Railroad amounted to $1,326,700. 
As early as 1834, the company offered to any iron 
manufacturer who successfully used Lehigh anthracite 
in his furnace special privileges—coal at a reduced 
rate, grants of waterpower, and reduced canal rates 
for shipments to market.*° 
No offers were received until July 1839, when the 
owners of the Lehigh Crane Iron Company accepted 
the company’s longstanding offer.*t The Company, in- 
corporated on May 20, 1839, for the manufacture of 
iron from coke or mineral fuel, was formed through the 
efforts of three of the managers of the Lehigh Coal 
and Navigation Company.” 
As superintendent of their operations, David 
Thomas, an ironmaster from Wales, was employed. 
Thomas was an associate of George Crane, who had 
*®T,.C.N.C., Annual Report for 1838 (Philadelphia: James 
Kay, 1839), p. 37. 
™ Pennsylvania Legislative Acts, 1836-37 (Harrisburg: 
T. Fenn, 1837), pp. 52-57. 
8T,C.N.C., Annual Report for 1838 (Philadelphia: James 
Kay, 1839), p. 45. 
Slbids sp! ios: 
' RICHARDSON, op. cit., p. 100. 
“T,C.N.C., Annual Report for 1839 (Philadelphia: W. S. 
Young, 1840), p. 27. 
" Josiah White, Erskine Hazard. and Thomas Earp. 
101 
