"North Jersey Journey"- Morris Canal near Dover, N.J. -1902
Acrylic on Panel
30 x 24 x 1.5
Available
$3,000.00 USD
A mule drawn Morris Canal Section Boat heading west toward Dover, New Jersey in the summer of 1902. Built in 2 sections hinged together so it could be disconnected when traversing the canals inclined planes.
The 40 ft wide canal, built by private investors, opened for business in 1831. When completed a few years later it extended for 102 miles across the rugged highlands of New Jersey; extending from Phillipsburg on the Delaware River, uphill to its summit at Lake Hopatcong (its prime water source), and down thru Dover, Patterson, Bloomfield, and Newark to the Hudson River in Jersey City. To accomplish this a series of 23 lift locks, 2 aqueducts, and 23 inclined planes were built to overcome the impressive elevation change of 1,674 ft., nearly twice the elevation change of the Erie Canal completed in 1821. It was the only canal built to utilize this unique arrangement. The canal boats transported up to 70 tons of cargo and took 5 days to cross the state. The canal’s famous water-powered inclined planes enabled canal boats to be raised up to 100 ft. at a time. The boat would be floated on to a wooden cradle that would then be pulled up or let down the incline on rails by a cable, manufactured by the Roebling Cable Co. in Trenton.
In the heyday of the canal, hundreds of boats carried everything from coal and iron to agricultural products…it was New Jersey’s first transportation connecting the major industrial towns and cities.The canal operated until 1924 when the ownership of its vast water resources, including Lake Hopatcong, Lake Musconetcong, and Greenwood Lake passed to the state of New Jersey.
A mule drawn Morris Canal Section Boat heading west toward Dover, New Jersey in the summer of 1902. Built in 2 sections hinged together so it could be disconnected when traversing the canals inclined planes.
The 40 ft wide canal, built by private investors, opened for business in 1831. When completed a few years later it extended for 102 miles across the rugged highlands of New Jersey; extending from Phillipsburg on the Delaware River, uphill to its summit at Lake Hopatcong (its prime water source), and down thru Dover, Patterson, Bloomfield, and Newark to the Hudson River in Jersey City. To accomplish this a series of 23 lift locks, 2 aqueducts, and 23 inclined planes were built to overcome the impressive elevation change of 1,674 ft., nearly twice the elevation change of the Erie Canal completed in 1821. It was the only canal built to utilize this unique arrangement. The canal boats transported up to 70 tons of cargo and took 5 days to cross the state. The canal’s famous water-powered inclined planes enabled canal boats to be raised up to 100 ft. at a time. The boat would be floated on to a wooden cradle that would then be pulled up or let down the incline on rails by a cable, manufactured by the Roebling Cable Co. in Trenton.
In the heyday of the canal, hundreds of boats carried everything from coal and iron to agricultural products…it was New Jersey’s first transportation connecting the major industrial towns and cities.The canal operated until 1924 when the ownership of its vast water resources, including Lake Hopatcong, Lake Musconetcong, and Greenwood Lake passed to the state of New Jersey.