Anthracite was delivered by barges on canals along the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers during Easton's hey day. Bethlehem Steel and the Dixie Factory were also located close by and used both canals and later, trains, to deliver their product throughout the Eastern states of the US.

This section of the Lehigh Canal has been restored to give us a feeling of what those rivermen endured for pennies a day in the late 1800's and 1900's.

The Locktender's House up on the right was also the watermen's laundry service, so the wife was kept busy indeed as often her husband and children were manning barges while she opened and closed the manual lock gates non-stop throughout the day and still provided laundry service.