|
Morris Canal in Jersey City
additional
information about the Morris Canal
The stone entrance archway of the
Morris Canal is visible on the New Jersey shore directly opposite the Guard
Lock of the Delaware Canal. The Morris Canal was the most unique of
America's towpath waterways. Designed to carry coal from the Lehigh Valley
to New York harbor, it utilized a series of twenty-three water powered
inclined planes along with thirty four locks (including tide locks, guard
locks and feeder locks) to cross New Jersey.
 It was completed in 1831
between Newark and Phillipsburg (where it connected with the Lehigh
Navigation and Delaware Canal by means of an outlet lock and cable ferry
which crossed the Delaware River). The Morris Canal enjoyed its first full
boating season in 1832. In 1836, it was extended to Jersey City. Its total
length, including navigable feeders, was 109 miles. During the 1850's and
1860's the original inclined plane water wheels were replaced with more
efficient water turbines. The canal locks had been previously enlarged
resulting in a 75 ton navigation limit by 1860.
Beginning in the 1840's large amounts
of high grade New Jersey iron ore were shipped West on the Morris Canal to
the prosperous anthracite iron furnaces of the Lehigh Valley and upper Bucks
County. In 1866, traffic on the Morris Canal reached its peak when it
carried 899,220 tons of freight. Competition from railroads, however, eroded
the canal's role as a coal carrier and in 1871, the Lehigh Valley Railroad
secured a long term lease of the Morris Canal.
Primarily concerned with utilizing the
Canal's New York waterfront facilities, the Lehigh Valley Railroad never
realized a profit from its acquisition. After 1889 the cable ferry to
Phillipsburg went out of use. In 1905 a flood destroyed the Easton outlet
lock. By 1915 commercial traffic on the Morris Canal ceased. In 1922 the
Morris Canal passed into the hands of the State of New Jersey. The decision
was made in 1924 to abandon the Canal and within five years the waterway was
largely destroyed. In 1929, an abandonment report was issued marking the end
of the Morris Canal.
|
It's