The Upper Grand Near Penn Haven Junction - Lehigh Gorge State Park

For an extensive look at the Lehigh Gorge River Trail click here for a virtual tour.

After Josiah White and Erskine Hazard built the canal from Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe) to Easton, they worked to provide coal transport from White Haven on down to the harbor of Mauch Chunk. This was done by way of damming the Lehigh River, then creating gargantuan

A residence as was part of the once remote outpost along the CentralJersey mainline heading west.  For more in-depth look at the Penn Haven Junction and Planes, click here.

locks that dwarfed the height of the Lower Lehigh Canal.















These foundations can be seen just north of Penn Haven Junction on the Lehigh Gorge. According to one Central Jersey map, these walls were once part of a residence here at this lonely spot.  was the foundation of a large ice house or cold storage or perhaps it was a residence. I found old solid copper wire that could have been telegraphic wire or clothes hanging wire to the rear.

The spring carrying through this area over the years has certainly contributed to the notch the structure rests in. And currently with the Spring thaw underway, the spring is flowing well and through the remains. Whether this was the course of the spring years ago is uncertain. Higher on the hill and when facing west, the spring flows on the left side. As it approaches the foundation, it turns to the right. There is a large mound, covered in ferns in the summer that sits directly behind it. Whether it be man-made or a nicely rounded rock slide I cannot tell.

In this view, up the hill now, looking down at the remains, looking toward the east, you can see the Lehigh River in the distance, at the bottom of the east side of the Lehigh Gorge.  (White water can be seen in the swollen Lehigh River past the pine on the bottom left.)

It is a mystical place, with the greenest of green moss I’ve seen.

Where will any of this lead?

Ever ask yourself that question?

Did any of the miners of the #9 Mine in Lansford ever think as deeply as they traveled?

What was Josiah White's dream? does anyone really know just how ingenious he really was?

He invented hydraulic powered drills for the dry masons to use when boring holes into solid rock while building the canal. Many remember the storied Lower section of the canal from Jim Thorpe to Easton. Fewer realize that there was an "Upper Grand" section that ran from 'White's Haven' (White Haven) down to the Lower section. Immense dams were built to create slack water, then the boats were diverted to locks along the Lehigh River. And because the river depths were much higher than those on the Lower section, these locks were in the 30-50 foot range.
There are many lost skills and innovations that permeated this area. Did you know the Lehigh River once had hydroelectric generation, long before there was the concept of our current "power grid"? Take a minute to peek around the front of the Mauch Chunk Museum and Cultural Center on Broadway in downtown Jim Thorpe and you'll see one of the fist hydroelectric turbines ever used right here in our own Lehigh River.


Metaphorically, where has all this lead us? Where can we go now that we're here? There are plans afoot and I hope you will stay tuned.

Carbon's History - A poem by Ronald J. Rabenold

My Carbon County:
Give me a moment,
In your time and place,
Let me cross,
Your millions of years,
To see
The great gorge cut,
Let me see Sleeping Bear,
In her rested fold,
The push, the pressure, the hardened coal,
Give that to me,
Harden my role.

Send me on,
A father’s mission, to slow a son’s greed.
Let me cradle the truth for the Lenni Lenape.
Send me on
With Onoko, to the Hemlock and Oak,
Let me see Ginter’s find,
And behold Josiah’s dream,
Let me feel the buzz,
The Yankee energy,
When Foster and Packer,
Transformed the age for thee.

Give me the punch, from the Dry Mason’s hand,
Give me my peg on the Miner’s board.
Let me in and give me my role,
But let me out, to take in the light,
Keep me above and away,
Beyond the fray, beyond the Rope,
Beyond the Day the just betrayed.
Give me throaty shrills,
The squeal of steam atop the hill.
High up, looking down the plane,
Give me the sights, the speeds, the thrills.
Give me my mule,
To guide me through the lock,
Let me touch this land, this water, this rock.

Send me on
With the passion of Audubon,
The tact of Albright and
The back of the Mason.
Then I too can push mountains
And broaden horizons.
Give me
The wits of the coal miner’s wife,
To be wise and true.
Give me
The hands of the Breaker Boy,
To pick what’s best for you.

Give me
The dauntlessness of Boyle,
The inventiveness, the vision of White.
Then send me on a mission,
With the zeal of Zinzendorf,
Let me
Walk in the peace, of a Quaker’s son,
Then all our hopes can be one,
Send me on,
Send me on.

Now is my time and
You are my place.
Give me the vision you dreamed for me.
Let me stand on its pillar
So that I can see:

My Carbon County,
May I awaken,
Your dream for thee.

Carbon's History - Part 2 of 3

Give me the punch, from the Dry Mason’s hand,
Give me my peg on the Miner’s board.
Let me in and give me my role,
But let me out, to take in the light,
Keep me above and away,
Beyond the fray, beyond the Rope,
Beyond the Day the just betrayed.
Give me throaty shrills,
The squeal of steam atop the hill.
High up, looking down the plane,
Give me the sights, the speeds, the thrills.
Give me my mule,
To guide me through the lock,
Let me touch this land, this water, this rock.

Carbon's History - Part 1 of 3

My Carbon County:
Give me a moment,
In your time and place,
Let me cross,
Your millions of years,
To see
The great gorge cut,
Let me see Sleeping Bear,
In her rested fold,
The push, the pressure, the hardened coal,
Give that to me,
Harden my role.

Send me on,
A father’s mission, to slow a son’s greed.
Let me cradle the truth for the Lenni Lenape.
Send me on
With Onoko, to the Hemlock and Oak,
Let me see Ginter’s find,
And behold Josiah’s dream,
Let me feel the buzz,
The Yankee energy,
When Foster and Packer,
Transformed the age for thee.