Morris Canal and Banking Company

• American

Seeking to improve transportation between the coal mines of Pennsylvania, the iron forges of Morris County, and the great marketplace of New York City, the state legislature chartered the "Morris Canal and Banking Company" in 1824 to build an artificial waterway between the Hudson and Delaware rivers. When completed in 1837, the canal measured 109 miles in length and over 1,000 feet in elevation, and contained 23 inclined planes and 34 locks. Unfortunately, the company went bankrupt soon thereafter due to construction cost overruns and the depression of the late 1830s. Reorganized under new ownership, the canal company prospered briefly. Total tonnage hauled increased from 58,259 in 1845 to a peak of over 900,000 in 1866. However, newly built railroads began to cut deeply into the canal's business. The company felt obligated to lease the entire canal to the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company (LVRR), which used the right-of-way to construct an extension to its rail network in Pennsylvania. By the late 1880s, long-distance traffic on the Morris Canal had ceased altogether. - New Jersey State Archives