8 Canal and River Navigation. — Scenery. 



the canal, and in sonne parts of the river there is no need of a 

 canal, as the river, made still by the dam, answers the purpose 

 very well. The comparative advantages of canal and still water 

 river navigation must depend entirely upon the circumstances of 

 particular rivers; had the Lehigh been a quiet stream, with a 

 gentle descent, and few obstructions, so that a dam would have 

 made still water for many miles above it, and therefore a few dams, 

 with long intervals, would have answered the purpose ; then, by short 

 canals and locks, enabling boats to pass securely either way, up 

 stream or down, without encountering the danger of sluices, a secure 

 and desirable navigation might have been obtained, as it now exists 

 for ten miles in that river. The experiments that are now making in 

 various parts of the United States, will enable the public to judge which 

 mode is preferable, in particular cases, and when to combine both 

 modes, by preferring the one o"r the other, in different rivers or in dif- 

 ferent parts of the same river, as circumstances may require. 



The canal along the Lehigh is a noble work ; the banks are firm, 

 and lined chiefly with stone 5 the locks are twenty two feet wide, and 

 one hundred long, and are constructed of hewn stone, laid in hydrau- 

 lic cement, and faced with plank. This canal, which is sixty feet 

 wide at top, and forty five at bottom, with five feet water, follows the 

 Lehigh to its junction with the Delaware at Easton ; the distance is 

 forty six miles, thirty six of canals, and ten of slack water pools ; the 

 ascent from Easton to Mauch Chunk is three hundred and sixty four 

 feet ; there are fifty four locks, and nine dams. 



At present, the coal is carried to Philadelphia in temporary flat 

 boats, called arks, which at Easton are launched into the Delaware ; 

 but as soon as the canal which is now constructing along the west 

 bank of that river, is finished, which will be the present season, there 

 will be a complete canal navigation from Mauch Chunk, to Bristol, 

 eighteen miles above Philadelphia, and the whole distance from the 

 mine to Easton will be fifty five miles, including the rail way of nine 

 miles on the mountain : the length of the Delaware canal is sixty 

 miles, so that the whole distance from Mauch Chunk to Philadelphia, 

 is one hundred and twenty four miles. The improvements above 

 Mauch Chunk are for a descending navigation only. 



SCENERY. 



May 13. — Fog and rain obscured the wild scenery of the valley, 

 but did not retard our visit to the mine. We ascended the steep 



