Pennsylvania Canal (Delaware Division)
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Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal
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Delaware Canal State Park in Bristol
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| Location | Easton, Pennsylvania |
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| Coordinates | 40°41′17″N 75°12′18″W / 40.68806°N 75.20500°WCoordinates: 40°41′17″N 75°12′18″W / 40.68806°N 75.20500°W |
| Built | 1831 |
| MPS | Covered Bridges of the Delaware River Watershed TR (AD) |
| NRHP Reference # | 74001756 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 29, 1974 |
| Designated PHMC | January 1949 |
The Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, more commonly called the Delaware Canal, runs parallel to the Delaware River from the Lehigh River at Easton (home of The National Canal Museum and terminal end of the Lehigh Canal) south to Bristol, as part of the solution to the United States' first energy crisis. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania built the Delaware canal to feed anthracite stone coal to energy-hungry Philadelphia as part of its transportation infrastructure building plan known as the Main Line of Public Works—a legislative initiative creating a collection of self-reinforcing internal improvements to commercial transportation capabilities.
The Delaware Canal, like the Lehigh Canal, was primarily meant to carry the "fuel of choice" of the day, anthracite coal, and other bulk goods such as gravel and limestone, cement, and lumber—from northeastern Pennsylvania to Philadelphia. In reverse flow, the two canals carried manufactured goods, iron products and (a few decades later) steel products to the northeastern cities. The Delaware and Lehigh Canals also connected from Easton by ferry services across the Delaware River to New Jersey and the Delaware and Raritan Canal, connecting industrial loads to New York City.
First opened in 1832, the Delaware Canal still has most of its original locks, aqueducts, and overflows. Although the two canals reached their peak shipping in 1855, after which coal transport down the Lehigh corridor was taken up increasingly by railroads, the canals stayed in operation until the Great Depression in the early 1930s. According to the National Park Service, it was the "longest-lived canal in the country".
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