page_title: Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
section_title: 18th - 20th centuries: Coal mining era
hierarchical_section_title: Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor / History / 18th - 20th centuries: Coal mining era
caption_attribution_description: A view of the w:Lehigh Canal from Guard Lock 8 &amp; Lockhouse, Island Park Road, Glendon, w:Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
context_page_description: The Delaware & Lehigh Canal National and State Heritage Corridor is a 165-mile National Heritage Area in eastern Pennsylvania in the United States. It stretches from north to south, across five counties and over one hundred municipalities. It follows the historic routes of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, Lehigh Valley Railroad, the Lehigh Navigation, Lehigh Canal, and the Delaware Canal, from Bristol to Wilkes-Barre in the northeastern part of the state. The backbone of the Corridor is the 165-mile D & L Trail. The Corridor's mission is to preserve heritage and conserve green space for public use in Bucks, Northampton, Lehigh, Carbon, and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania. It also operates Hugh Moore Historical Park & Museums, which includes the National Canal Museum.
context_section_description: In 1791, Philip Grinder found anthracite coal in what is now Summit Hill, Carbon County, PA. Coal helped the region develop and contributed to America's iron and steel industries. The anthracite coal in the region is known as "stone coal" because of its rock-like hardness. Anthracite is created over millions of years as countless layers of sediment compress plant debris from swamps until it becomes hard.  The Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor follows the route stone coal took from mine to market, winding through northern mountains and along the banks of the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers.
  In the early to mid-1800s, a lengthy network of locks, canals, and towpaths was built to ship anthracite, further aiding the mining industry's growth. The Lehigh Canal system generated a great deal of industrial development in the form of mining and the accompanying infrastructure.  It gave rise to many towns and offshoot businesses, such as timber cutting, sawmills, steel mills, tanneries, etc. The Delaware Canal, on the other hand, was a means of shipping goods and establishing commerce. It supplemented existing overland routes resulting in the lack of an industrial boom along this route. However, the Lehigh and Delaware Canals merged to create part of a grand transportation systems stretching from the Appalachian Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. In 1862 a massive flood, which destroyed dams, locks, canal boats, and villages, helped to shift the shipping of anthracite coal towards the railroads.
  Much like the canals, railroads helped to transport goods and contribute to the development of the region. Asa Packer's Lehigh Valley Railroad, which ran from Mauch Chunk to Easton and on to New York City, was the first rail line to have a significant impact. The Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad, Reading Railroad, and the Pennsylvania Railroad also moved into the area to create competition for the shipping of coal and goods.
  The canals and railroads that serve as the Corridor's backbone once transported coal, lumber, slate, iron, cement, and steel from mountain to market, fueling the Industrial Revolution and supplying downstream industries for more than a century. Of all the products and businesses born out of the coal and transportation connection, none were as significant as Bethlehem Steel, locally known as "The Steel."
caption: Locktender's House and Guard Lock 8
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