Life along the canal centered on trade, hard work, and family labor. Canallers traded coal for vegetables and bread with people living and working along the canal, including lock tenders and their wives. Standing on a loaded L.C. & N. boat headed downstream were William Reed, Alex Gold, Joe Reed, Sr. and Louis Possie. The kitchen of the canalboat was usually on deck so food preparation did not interfere with progress. A person could become a captain as young as sixteen by proving an ability to snub for lock operations, keep accurate cargo records for pay based on miles hauled and coal tonnage delivered, and care for the mule team. A boat's rig consisted of mules, harness, tow lines, a feed box, a night hawker, a stove, and a bilge pump. Some captains owned their boats, but most rented them from Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and the captain either hired a mule driver or used family members as crew. Delaware Canal captains known as Swampers and Lehigh Canal captains known as Lehigh Dutchmen ran the lengths of both canals, loading coal in Luzerne from 1838 to 1862 or in Carbon County, delivering it to Bristol, and returning to Seigfried, now Northampton, for their pay. Locktenders ended their day at 10:00 p.m., and when canallers reached the next lock, they stabled their mules for the night, made repairs, and rested until locktenders resumed work at 4:00 a.m. Canal boats offered primitive living conditions: a typical crew of two slept on deck or in an eight by ten foot cabin below, cooked on a stove, supplemented stored food with provisions from locktenders or general stores, and relied on spring water stored in wooden barrels on deck. Families often traveled aboard, with children as young as seven driving mules along the towpath and wives cooking and sharing steering duties, so that during warmer months the canals were their entire world.