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Lehigh River Sojourn Journal Day 3—
Greg A. June 24, 2002 This morning, after breakfast, Nick & I sat along the banks of the Lehigh taking notes. I looked across at the tree-lined mountain on the opposite shore, and realized that 160 years ago there were no trees here. They had all been removed to make the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company's new canal. The river was lined with factories, sawmills, tanneries, and coal loading docks, all dumping waste into the Lehigh without a care. The Lehigh had been described during that era as "Black flowing ooze." While today the Lehigh is much cleaner, we still have problems that result from the over-industrialization of the Lehigh Valley. Acids draining from 8 abandoned mines pollute 4 tributaries of the Lehigh: Black Creek, Sandy Run, Buck Mountain Creek, and Nesquehoning Creek. Just yesterday we rafted past Black Creek, and observed the discoloration of the water and surrounding rocks. Back to the present. We had another safety demo, after which we had on-water training in a small eddy. This was to insure that the beginners would survive the rapid that we could all hear around the bend. Rapids like these proved to be hazards to canal boat travel. To combat this, Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, creators of LC&N (Lehigh Coal & Navigation) built a series of dams across the river. The boats would float into the pool formed by the dam, and go down by a series of locks. Finally, we were off! We shot into the rapid and crested a wave. As our canoe fell into the valley between two waves, we took on water, and everyone was thrown forward and soaked. This was reminding me of yesterday on the raft. We hit many more rapids, with many more soakings. Often, we would find ourselves beside the canoe of Sarah Schlesinger and Jan Walters, who were dubbed "The only canoe to take on more water than us." We joked that when we emptied our canoes, we would cause a flood. Ahead of us, there was a long line of whitewater. This was a lowhead dam, which could easily ground us. As we pulled along the bank to wait to portage (carry canoes overland) thunder rumbled, and we heard Betsy Quant yell, "Chuck's hurt bad! We need to evacuate!" Rain started to come down, and we saw Chuck go by, lying down in a canoe that was being towed downriver. Eventually we portaged, and heard reports that Chuck was being taken to the hospital, about 1/2 mile down the river. We went through some more rapids, were we took on more water. Eventually, the boat was so swamped that I had to resort to bailing with my shoes. After this, we entered the final stretch of the river (for today). We skimmed the shallow water on the left bank, and survived, remarkably. Mr. Mauser often yelled to Nick, "Paddle aggressive! Attack those downstream V's!" Our canoe pulled up to the banks near the Walnutport Canal, where we pulled out. Nick and I set up tents while Mr. Mauser went back to Jim Thorpe (where we put in) to get his car, which had all of our bags in it. After we set up, Nick and I located Everett Kaul, who gave us extension cords to power our laptops. He is a member of the Walnutport Canal Association, which served and prepared our dinner, which Mr. Mauser enjoyed. We are all tired, so we will turn in soon.  |
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