Lehigh Canal Overview
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| National Canal Museum posted This color postcard of Mauch Chunk, sent in 1913 to DLNHC Historian Martha’s grandmother in Connecticut, shows a view familiar to many tourists who once visited the “Switzerland of America” in search of cool breezes and a thrilling ride on the Switchback Railroad. But to us canal geeks, who scrutinize old images like these for clues about the operation of the Lehigh Navigation, this is a fascinating picture. That brown swath of dirt at the bottom of the postcard is the dry bed of the Lehigh River! Yet, curved around the base of Bear Mountain is the Lehigh Canal, filled to the brim with six feet of blue-gray water. How did this happen? On the left side of the picture is Dam No. 1. It backed up the waters of the Lehigh so the river was deep enough for canal boats loaded with 100 tons of anthracite coal, and water and the boats could be fed into Lock No. 1 of the canal. Apparently, the summer this postcard photo was shot was a dry one, so there was only enough water in the river behind the dam to feed the canal. Matthew Shäfferz: Sewer plant is there today. |
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| 1922/52 Mauch Chunk Quad @ 62,500 |
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