The Industrial Revolution shifted America’s economy from hand-made to machine-made products and increased the need for better transportation, manufacturing, and communication. In the early 1800's, entrepreneurs and legislators turned to canals to move raw materials and finished goods and help drive that change. In the nineteenth century, the Delaware Canal played an essential role in the growth of Philadelphia and New York, where coal, stone, lumber, and other cargo carried by canal boats was vital. Its impact also reached the small towns along its route, which grew quickly, and Bristol Borough was especially prosperous because it stood at the canal’s end. Coal yards and other canal-related enterprises developed there, while local businesses supplied canal crews with food, lodging, drink, blacksmithing, and stabling for mule teams. The canal itself provided employment for boat captains, muletenders, locktenders, toll collectors, superintendents, and maintenance workers. Men were the officially designated locktenders, but they often left the work to wives or older daughters while earning a second income elsewhere. Mules powered canal transportation, led by mule tenders who could be as young as 6 years old. Even during its commercial era, the canal also drew visitors who enjoyed outings on the waterway.
