188 
important stockholders is a quaker, Mr. White, who lives here, 
and has properly created every thing, and directs every thing 
himself. He visited me the same evening, and appeared to be a 
plain Friend, who however has reflected much on the good of 
mankind, and speaks very well. 
On the next morning Mr. White took me about the place; it 
lies in a very narrow vale surrounded with high mountains, 
which rise out of the Lehigh and are covered with trees. The 
company has made the Lehigh navigable, or rather is at present 
engaged in this work, by means of dams, locks and canals, in order 
to transport the coal to Philadelphia with ease and cheapness. 
The canal, in which two locks stand at a distance of one hun¬ 
dred and thirty feet from each other, is thirty feet wide between 
the locks, the sides of which are covered with planks; behind 
this covering a wall has been erected, the crevices of which are 
filled with a liquid mortar. Mr. White calculates, that the co¬ 
vering of wood will last about thirty years, and that during this 
time, the wall will unite with the mortar and form a kind of rock. 
Neither the locks, nor the canal were finished, so that there was 
as yet but a temporary navigation. The coal is put into flat boats 
six feet wide and ten feet long; these are attached, two together 
and five behind each other, so that a kind of raft of ten boats, or 
rather a box is formed. When this raft arrives at Philadelphia, 
and the coal unloaded, these boats are taken to pieces, the boards 
sold, and all the iron which was in them, brought back to Mauch 
Chunk in carts. Two saw-mills are in constant operation for the 
building of these boats, the timber is previously cut in form, so 
that practised workmen may nail together such a boat in an hour. 
But as soon as the canal and the locks are finished, even this navi¬ 
gation so expensive and destructive to the wood, will cease, and 
coal be transported in steam-boats, which will pass up and down 
the river and canal. The banks of the canal are covered with 
stones, or rather formally paved, so that they may not suffer 
from the action of the wheels. The coal is taken from the mine 
in wagons to the place where it is put into boats, and there weigh¬ 
ed. After this the carts move upon a disk which turns, where 
the horses are quickly unharnessed. The carts are then raised 
by means of a machine, worked by a horse, and when they have 
attained a certain height, are brought in an oblique position, so 
that the coals fall out into a kind of enclosure, where they re¬ 
main till wanted; the boats are loaded by means of moveable 
broad iron gutters, which are elevated or depressed according to 
the height of the water. Grates are put in this gutter, so that 
the coals which are too small, and the dust, fall through, and 
merely the larger pieces fall into the vessel. 
