This is a section of the D & L that runs along the Lehigh beteween the River and the Canal this is a beautiful area and a peaceful walk or Bike ride enjoy som history in the write up.
The Lehigh Canal or the Lehigh Navigation Canal is a navigable canal, beginning at the mouth of Nesquehoning Creek on the Lehigh River in Eastern Pennsylvania. It was built in two sections over a span of twenty years, beginning in 1818. The lower section spanned the distance between Easton, Pennsylvania and the town of Mauch Chunk, present-day Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.[2] In Easton the canal met the Delaware and Morris Canals, with which goods could be brought further up the east coast. At its height, the Lehigh Canal was 72 miles (116 km) long.
Although the canal was used to transport a variety of products, its most significant cargoes were anthracite coal and pig iron. Cornerstones of the American Industrial Revolution, they defined the character of the towns surrounding the canal.[3]
The route consisted of the canals and dammed-off sections of the Lehigh River. Boatmen had to navigate their barges periodically from the canal through a lock onto the river or vice versa. This design saved time and money while the canal was being built, although it made for a slower, more difficult trip for canal-boat captains.
The coal and canal businesses boomed during the 1840s and 1850s and Mauch Chunk became even busier when the Lehigh Valley Railroad, owned by Asa Packer, opened in 1855. Packer’s steam-driven railroad ran to Easton and delivered coal much quicker than boats on the Lehigh Canal.
Railroading has a rich History in the Development of Lower Carbon County as 3 Railroads ran thru this area of the Lehigh River Gap . 2 of the Trains that ran thru here were the Lehigh valley railroad and the Lehigh New England Railroad lehigh Valley ran on the Now known as D & L Trail.