The Delaware Canal

by Marie Murphy Duess

  The locks are no longer in use and the lock tenders’ houses, what is left of them, are privately owned; yet some of the lock keepers left a part of themselves behind in different ways. In the Bristol Pilot, published on September 17, 1998, in an article titled “Delaware Canal Brought a Growing Business to Bristol,” Paul Ferguson of the Bristol Cultural and Historical Foundation is quoted as saying:

  At the first lock there was Abel VanZant. He operated lock one with his wife Mary. Mary had children. Every time VanZant had children he would plant a black willow tree. Today we can see thirteen black willow trees which we presume are descended from the willows.39

  Bristol was the final stop on the boatmen’s journey before turning around to ascend the canal. The basin is located behind the children in this image. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Canal Society Collection, National Canal Museum, Easton, PA.

  The locks in New Hope were the halfway point between Easton and Bristol. Courtesy of the New Hope Historical Society.

  Even years after the end of the canal age, the Delaware Division Canal has taken lives. Several young children have meandered away from their backyards along the canal and slipped under its idle waters. A businessman from York, Pennsylvania, took a wrong turn in his car and drowned in the canal. In October 1983, well-known NBC television news anchor Jessica Savitch was having dinner with a close friend, Martin Fischbein, the president of the New York Post, at Chez Odette’s in New Hope—a historic tavern that was a popular boatmen’s stop. It was raining when they left the restaurant. Savitch’s dog, Chewy, was in the car with them when they took a wrong turn from the parking lot and drove along the towpath rather than on the road. The car veered left, went over the edge and turned upside down in the shallow water of the canal. The station wagon sank into the mud, sealing the doors shut. Savitch, Fischbein and the dog were trapped inside as water poured into the car. All three drowned.

  Chapter 5

  Beside the Busy Canal

  The building of the Delaware Canal introduced opportunities for other businesses, and industrious Bucks Countians could make an ample living beside the waterway. Numerous businesses emerged near the canal—taverns, hotels, stores and stables for the mules. Mule trading and stabling became lucrative businesses, as did boatyards, quarries and mills.

  From Bristol to Easton, taverns at canal level provided an evening’s respite from the boredom of the mule-drawn trip from lock to lock. Tavern fare back then was hardy, if not fancy. Meals varied according to the season, but the most commonly served were ham, bacon, beefsteak and fowl. Breads were a staple, of course, as were fruit pies and apple butter. Eggs, butter and cheese were all served, along with a varied selection of vegetables that included potatoes, carrots, peas, beans, beets, onions and cabbage. And for those places that weren’t influenced by the temperance movement in the 1800s, a supply of beer, applejack, whiskey, rum, gin and even brandy was available.

  Canalboats had a wet well but no proper refrigeration to keep food fresh. As a result, stores along the canal provided necessities for the boatmen and their mules. Perishable foods were bought daily, and many of the local residents made a living supplying the boatmen with fresh-baked bread, cheese and meat.

  Expenses round trip from Mauch Chunk to Philadelphia could cost three dollars, which included feed for the mules. Bacon cost four cents per pound; ham, six cents; butter, twelve cents; coffee—which was a boatman’s staple—twelve cents; and brown sugar, four cents. They also purchased baskets of potatoes and bushels of oats.

  It is said that during the temperance movement no liquor was sold in stores along the canals, but Francis Rapp reports in “Lehigh and Delaware Canal Notes” that a drink called “strap” was sold at the locks and canal stores, and from the reputation of the canallers, liquor must have been available somewhere along the way, for the boatmen were always ready to “throw one back.”

  In addition to being an “avenue of commerce,” the canal also provided water for fire trucks in the later days of the canal era. This photo was taken near Lock 11 in New Hope. Courtesy of New Hope Historical Society

  Strong drink served to break the monotony for the men, and, it can be assumed, increased the tendency to crime. Abundant apple jack and black strap made with rum and molasses were available at every basin, dock, and even the locks. There were also floating saloons and plenty of taverns along the canal route. Saloons offered free stabling for the mules and lewd women to lure the boatmen off the water.40

  Perhaps that is how “Devil’s Half-Acre” in the township of Upper Black Eddy got its name. Now known as Point Pleasant, the majority of development in Upper Black Eddy was centered on the canal. There were stables for the mules, a shipyard and a general store. A tavern was built in the 1800s while the canal was being constructed. The owner ran the tavern illegally and was often in trouble with the authorities and with the rough-and-ready canal men who found comfort in bottles of whiskey and the arms of “ladies of the night.” There is a legend that the area where this tavern was located is haunted by the ghosts of canal workers who were buried in shallow graves after being killed in drunken brawls.41

  Taverns, Stores and Stables

  Merchants catered to the canallers in Bristol, where the basin was located, and in almost all cases the stores extended credit to the boatmen. This was where they stocked up at the beginning of their return trip. And in Bristol there was no shortage of taverns and inns. Most canal men enjoyed a beverage and meal at the Closson House (formerly the Delaware House), where they could await orders for their return while their coal loads were transferred to steamers. At the waterfront below this saloon, fifty or more canalboats could be seen docked while the men prepared for the return.

  Bristol was always bustling with canallers and their trade, and more often than not, they brought unwanted trouble with them. In Doran Green’s History of Bristol Borough, he relates how stimulating life with the canallers in town could be.

  One day a well-known young man with several companions was playing a game of cards on one of the canal boats. A row occurred and when the young man’s body was found next day, from marks upon his head, he was supposed to have been murdered by being struck by some hard instrument. Great excitement prevailed throughout the town. Several arrests were made, but no incriminating evidence could be found and the matter remains a mystery to this day.42

  If they survived their stay in Bristol, the canal men boarded their “light” boats and headed back up the canal. It was a day’s trip from Bristol to Yardley, and they usually tied up for the night and stabled their horses there. The Continental Hotel and the White Swan (now the Yardley Inn) were the stopping points at the Yardley lock. Both places are still popular establishments today. During recent renovations at the Continental Hotel, a secret room was found in the lower level of the building that confirmed the legend that the Continental had once hidden escaping slaves from the South.

  In Yardley (then called Yardleyville), there was a store on Edgewater Avenue that sat along the towpath. The owner of the store, a Mrs. Reed, would go down to the canal to see what the boatmen needed and then bring their orders to them; this was especially helpful if the captain wasn’t stopping in town and wanted to move on to the next lock before nightfall.

  Between the major towns, some of the residents along the canal would offer provisions—baked bread and produce—and the LC&N made arrangements for mules to be stabled in barns along the way. Where the canal ran parallel to the river with just the towpath between them, bridges were provided so that the mule drivers could unhitch their teams and lead them across the bridge to the stables.

  Homes located on the canal often accommodated the boatmen with food, drink and stabling for their mules. This home was originally built in 1740 and was licensed as Beaumont’s Tavern. Because of its proximity to the canal and the remnants of a bridge nearby, it is likely that it stabled mules for the night and offered provisions to the canallers. Courtesy of Jim and Tina Greenwood.

  Once the canal
lers arrived in New Hope, they had their choice of spots to imbibe. Originally called Coryell’s Ferry, the village was a major encampment during the Revolution, and in the years following the war, development in the village grew when merchant Benjamin Parry made it his home and built his Hope Mills there. When the mills burned down, he rebuilt and renamed them New Hope Mills, and eventually the town adopted the name. The building of the Delaware Division Canal helped to establish New Hope as a central district. Four locks were located in the borough, including an outlet lock to the New Jersey side of the river connecting to the Raritan and Delaware Canal.

  The River House, which was built in 1794, was a favorite stop for the boatmen. After the canal years, it became known as Chez Odette’s (owned by a French actress who starred in movies and onstage and who made her home in New Hope), but three major floods in the early 2000s finally closed this famous restaurant.

  A rather popular brothel called the Bucket of Blood was always accommodating to the canallers who were so inclined to accept hospitality there. Although the renowned Logan Inn is located on the canal, it was a hotel for more sophisticated tastes and pocketbooks, and boatmen rarely, if ever, slept off their boats. Established in 1722 by John Wells, the founder of New Hope, the Logan Inn is one of the oldest continuously run taverns in Bucks County and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington stayed at the Logan numerous times, and during the summer of 1777, General Benedict Arnold headquartered there—before he became a notorious traitor. Since New Hope was the halfway mark between Easton and Bristol, the boatmen restocked many of their supplies there. The Defiance Cigar Store and T.E. Watson’s provided cigars and chewing tobacco, and in the borough close to the canal there were livery stables, a harness maker, a foundry, a flax factory, a fishery, a shoemaker, a milliner, a lumber merchant and four doctors. A good deal of mule trading took place in New Hope as well.

  Once they were north of New Hope, the boatmen passed through several small communities that, before the appearance of the canal, had been sleepy little villages. One of them was Centre Bridge, a charming village connected from Pennsylvania to New Jersey in 1814 by a suspension bridge. There is no lock for the canal at Centre Bridge and so it was not a regular meeting place of canal men, as they rarely stopped between locks. But the area was a favorite of some of the American impressionists who set up studios and purchased homes in the picturesque surroundings. The Centre Bridge Inn is entwined with the history of the canal simply because of its proximity, and when the present owners, Tina and Jerry Horan, purchased the Centre Bridge Inn, they were given a lease to run the New Hope Canal Boat Company, which provides interpretive boat rides for passengers between Centre Bridge and New Hope. Drawn by mule teams—Dot, Dolly, Joe and Daffodil—these rides include a boat captain who explains what life along the canal was like in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. When not being used for interpretive presentations, the boats convey small private parties from the restaurant to give passengers a feel for what it was like when the canal was used for recreational purposes on Sundays. Not unlike many of the establishments along the Delaware River that have been hit hard by recent floods, the Horans have worked nonstop in partnership with the Delaware Canal State Park to keep the canal repaired and maintained.

  Located about one and a half miles north of Centre Bridge was a place called the Cake and Beer House, where boatmen stopped for the night, stabled their mules and ate.

  The Centre Bridge Inn continues to offer respite to weary travelers—inside and on canal barges built and operated to keep the history of the canal alive. Courtesy of Center Bridge Inn and New Hope Canal Boat Company.

  The Black Bass Hotel (once called the Lumberville House) was also famous for feeding and accommodating canal men, along with lumbermen who worked in the mills there. Lumberville was founded by Colonel George Wall, an officer in the Continental army, and even before the Delaware Canal was built, Lumberville was a thriving locale due to the abundance of fine trees—white pine, spruce, hemlock, oak, beech and chestnut—used for shipbuilding and houses. In the early days, the logs were cut, hauled to the river and floated down to Philadelphia from Lumberville. When mills were established to cut the wood for easier transportation and sale, the lumber was loaded on boats and brought to its destination by the canal. Because of the town’s proximity to the river, some of the original businesses located along the main river road had to be eliminated to make room for the canal, and the doors of houses that fronted the river were relocated to the back of their homes in order to gain access to the redirected road.43

  The LC&N stored blasting powder and other supplies at the Black Bass, which almost resulted in a tragedy when the hotel caught fire one night. If it had not been for the courage of the owner, Major Anthony Fry, who ran into the burning building to remove the explosives, it would have been blown to pieces along with some of the town. Today, despite the many floods it has endured, this establishment is a renowned bed-and-breakfast, hosting guests from all over the world.

  Jacob Oberacker ran an establishment called the Delaware House in Erwinna, and it became one of the canallers’ favorite stops. Oberacker provided a change of mules, beer, salt cakes (similar to soft pretzels) and a bed for the night. Today it is called the Golden Pheasant Inn and is on the National Registry of Historic Places. Its owners, Barbara and Michel Faure, continue to serve travelers in this charming bed-and-breakfast. Sitting on the outdoor terrace overlooking the canal, it is easy to envision what it was like during the height of the canal era.

  Benjamin Riegel founded a town and built a tavern along the Delaware Canal in 1838. Soon after, Canal Street in Riegelsville became one of the largest industrial manufacturing centers in America, dotted with mills and factories, including a paper mill owned by the Riegel family. Mansions were built on its hillsides, and the town remained prosperous well into the twentieth century. It is still one of the most charming towns along the canal.

  Many communities sprung up along the canal simply to supply provisions for the important waterway, and with the demise of the canal, many of them faded away again. Shipbuilders closed their doors, taverns closed down and stables weren’t needed any longer. Except for two or three, the stores in which boatmen and locals gathered around the stove to exchange gossip, argue politics and complain about the LC&N are gone. Sadly, most of the covered bridges along the canal were washed away by floods.

  Boatmen stopping at Jacob Oberacker’s would be served salt cakes similar to our soft pretzels. Today, this favorite stop of the canallers is called the Golden Pheasant and is owned by Michel and Barbara Faure. Courtesy of the Golden Pheasant Inn, Erwinna, PA.

  The barroom at the Golden Pheasant, then called the Delaware House, served boatmen during the height of the canal age. Courtesy of the Golden Pheasant Inn, Erwinna, PA.

  However, several suspension bridges that cross over the canal and the river remain, as do many of the charming camelback bridges. Bridges in Washington’s Crossing, New Hope, Centre Bridge and Riegelsville are all open to pedestrians and offer beautiful views of the river and canal.

  Keeping soap on the boat was a problem for the canallers because when the soap was wet, it often slipped from a person’s hands, plopped into the canal from the deck of the boat and sank into the silt and mud at the bottom of the canal, never to be seen again. Losing brown soap to the bottom of the canal was a common complaint of the boatmen.

  The owner of the store on the Morris Canal in 1891 decided to stock a new brand of soap that was white. He believed that the new Proctor & Gamble product, Ivory soap, might be easier for the boatmen to see at the bottom of the canal and they would be able to fish it out with a scoop.

  A canal captain bought a bar of the white soap from the merchant and decided to use it right away. As anticipated, the fresh bar of soap slipped out of his hands and into the canal. Annoyed that he was about to lose a brand-new bar of soap, he grabbed the scoop immediately and rushed to the s
ide of the boat to see if he could find it before it sank all the way to the bottom. Much to his surprise, he found the cake of soap floating beside the boat. He scooped it up, amazed and delighted with his new floating soap.

  He was so impressed, in fact, that he was quick to share his discovery of the new soap with every boatman he passed. He spread the news of the floating soap up and down the canal and in Phillipsburg and Mauch Chunk when he was filling up his boat with coal. Soon, all the canal men who had access to the store that carried Ivory soap bought several cakes to keep on their boats.

  A representative of Proctor & Gamble was curious when he saw the huge amounts of soap the store proprietor was selling, and he visited the store to inquire as to why the soap was selling so well there. The proprietor informed the representative that the canal men discovered “Ivory soap, it floats.” And so began the slogan for Ivory soap.44 Or at least that’s one story. Another, less amusing, is that Harley Proctor, after a chemist listed the ingredients in percentages, wrote the slogan “99–44/100ths Percent Pure: It Floats.” The canal store owner’s story is more fun.

  Ivory soap was the choice of the canallers when they discovered it floated instead of sinking to the bottom of the canal. Author’s collection.

  Chapter 6

  Snappers and Stiff Boats

  Early Travel on the Delaware

  Aside from the canoes of the Native Americans who were the first inhabitants living along its shores, the first boats on record that traveled on the graceful 360-mile river that separates Pennsylvania from New Jersey and parts of New York were captained by Europeans. European exploration in the region began with Henry Hudson in 1609, followed by Adrian Block of the Netherlands and, in 1610, English Captain Samuel Argall, who named the watercourse after Lord De La Warr, governor of Virginia.