The Ring

On June 11, 1832, the first clearance on the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal was issued at Easton to Mauch Chunk Canal Boat No. 30, commanded by Capt. William C. Zanes and bound to Bristol with 30 tons of coal. That departure began nearly a century of traffic along the 60 mile canal division. From the 1830s to 1931, boats carrying thousands of tons of coal, lumber, grain, limestone, and other cargo passed through the canal and its locks, bypassing the Delaware River's shallow waters and dangerous rapids. At Bristol, where the river deepened, cargo continued to the markets and factories of Philadelphia and New York City, sometimes in flotillas of canal boats and sometimes in barges loaded by derricks such as the one that once stood at this site. Only the derrick's foundation remains, and although its construction date is unknown, photographs indicate that it belonged to the late commercial life of the canal.

Bristol, Pennsylvania · United States