Originally built in 1844-45, the Mt. Pisgah Plane was part of the back track connecting the loading docks on the Lehigh River with the Summit Hill and Panther Valley anthracite mines. Named and designed by Josiah White, co-founder of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, it was longer and steeper than its partner six miles to the west, the Mount Jefferson Plane. Inclined planes were built to return empty coal cars to the Summit Hill and Panther Valley coal mines more quickly and efficiently, replacing the mules that between 1827-1845 pulled empty cars back up to Summit Hill along the Down Track. For nearly 30 years, empty coal cars and occasional tourist cars climbed this steep mountainside, and by 1872, after the Switch Back Railroad's coal-hauling days had ended, the plane became part of America's first tourist railroad. The mechanized plane rose 664 feet on a 29 percent grade over a track distance of 2,322 feet, pushing excited passengers back into their seats as the safety system on the safety, or barney, car clicked in a measured beat during the upward climb.
