The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1912-04-19

! coming them form an interesting
chapter in the annals of those early
times.
The vessel first used for water
TRANSPORTATION of the coal was known
as the Ark This, on the Lehigh,
was at first a rectangular box, made
of heavy planks spiked together. The
Tightening of the joints by the swell
| ing of the wood was evidently relied
upon for adequate 1otation, although
mention is found of securing added
| buoyancy by some lumber placed in
the bottom, and also of double bot
! tom, for space from which leakage
could be conveniently pumped out.
At first these boats were forwarded
singly, but later, advantage was found
in Ringing a number together, thus
| forming a long, flexible craft, which
passed readily over uneven currents,
guided in the same manner as the
raft, by oars on the ends, the end
boats being sometimes somewhat
pointed, to facilitate the movement.
An ark run singly was also some
times pointed on the ends
The plan of Ringing number of
| boats together required less number
of men than was needed when each
had a separate crew. A similar
method is seen in the canal boat of
two boxes hinged together, which may
be separated for convenience in load
ing and unloading.
The lumber of the ark was sold at
destination, the iron work being
carted back for further use.
Mr.. NJ. s. Henry, in his History of
the Lehigh Valley" published in 1860,
gives the following account of these
| vessels
"The boats used in this descending
navigation ION the Lehigh) consisted
of square boxes, or arks, from sixteen
| to eighteen feet wide and twenty to
| twenty-five feet long. At first two of
these were joined together by hinges,
to allow them to bend up and down In
| passing the dams and sluices and, as
the men became accustomed to the
work, and the channels were straight
ened and improved, the number of
sections in each boat was increased,
till, at last. their whole length reached
one hundred and eighty feet. They
were steered with long oars, like
raft.
Machinery was devised for joint
ing and putting together the planks
of which these boats were made, and
the hands became so expert that five
men could put one of the sections to-
gether and launch it in forty-five min
utes Boats of this description were
used on the Lehigh until the end of
the year 1881, when the Delaware Di-
vision of the Pennsylvania canal was
partly finished"
Other accounts of transporting
coal on the Lehigh, by arks, also in
dictate that but single box was used
| of
man, whose father was engaged in
running arks, has told the writer that
in the String" afterwards adopted,
the front and rear boxes were pointed.
A drawing of a single ark, in pub
LEGATION by the Wyoming Historical
and Geological Society" shows both
ends pointed and small cabin
perched on a floor above the cargo
In "Watson's Annals of Philadel-
phia" Is found the following brief
mention of the practice in ark build
ing on the Lehigh
'The boat building is a curiosity
Here four men make a coal ark for
twenty-five tons, in thirty minutes.
| They plane the joints of the pine
boards with plane of nine irons,
turned, to give 1t power, by a crank.
Twenty spikes. of six inches length,
are driven home, at a single stroke,
one at time.
In Davis History of Bucks Coun-
ty" it Is stated that William Trum-
bull built the first ark at Mauch
Chunk, in 1906, and she made her
first trip to Philadelphia that year,
with 300 bushels of hard coal"
| Davis further states that Jacob
Van Norman started from Mauch
| A I'll
| loaded with two or three hundred
bushels of coal After many vicissi-
tudes in going down the Lehigh,
among which was STAYING a hole in
the bottom, into which the men
stuffed their clothing, she reached the
Delaware and floated safely down to
| tide water"
Henry mentions the dispatch of
several arks in 1913, part of which
reached Philadelphia, and one in 1914,
which was II feet wide and 65 feet
long, carrying "a tons of coal, and
which met with many difficulties by
the way, but finally reached its desti-
nation.
| The passage through difficult
rapid, by this singular namesake of
Noah's vessel, must have been inter
esting and exciting.
| For the material needed in build
ing the arks, the Lehigh Company Sc
cured a timber tract at Lowreytown,
| II miles above Mauch Chunk, where
arks and also RATS were constructed
1t is related that sometimes pleasure
parties of ladies and gentlemen would
ride down to Mauch Chunk on the
RATS, seated in boxes for protection
| from the waves in the rough waters
| encountered on the way.
The consumption of lumber in the
arks became SO enormous that efforts
were made to transport the coal to
Philadelphia by boats which could be
returned. These efforts, referred to
more particularly elswhere in this
paper, were but partly successful,
They appear to have been conducted
during the interval of about three
years between the completion of the
slack water navigation on the Lee
high, in 1929, and the opening of the
Delaware Division of the Pennsyl-
vania Canal, from Bristol to Easton.
L