The Ring
1831 - 1932
“This day [June 11] the first clearance on the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal was issued from his office to the Mauch Chunk Canal Boat No. 30, Capt. William C. Zanes, bound to Bristol with 30 tons of coal.”
The Whig, Easton, Pennsylvania
June 12, 1832
A Century of Cargo
When Canal Boat No. 30 left Easton, it began nearly a century of traffic along the 60 mile Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal. From the 1830s to 1931, boats loaded with thousands of tons of coal, lumber, grain, limestone, and other cargo floated through the Canal and the Locks, bypassing the Delaware River's shallow waters and dangerous rapids.
The Derrick
The Canal ended in Bristol where the river deepened. Cargoes continued on to the markets and factories of Philadelphia and New York City, sometimes in flotillas of Canal boats, or in barges loaded by derricks like the one that stood on this spot. All that remains of the derrick is the foundation which can be seen circling the outside of the tile map.
The date of the derrick's construction is unknown; however, photos indicate that it was late in the commercial life of the Canal. The approximate location of the Canal where it entered the Delaware River is edged and filled with spring flowers
Courtesy hmdb.org
