History

In the early 1800’s, America was growing rapidly. Its population was increasing, westward migration had begun, and business was booming. Poor roads and unnavigable rivers could no longer meet the young nation’s needs. Legislators and entrepreneurs looked to canals. These man-made waterways had been used successfully in Asia and Europe for centuries, as a way to provide better, faster, and cheaper transportation.

The following is a first-person account of the founding of the Friends of the Delaware Canal by its founder, Betty Orlemann.

In 1977, my husband, name, three kids and I moved to an old farmhouse on River Road in Tinicum Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. One of the things that attracted me the most about the 3-acre property was that it ran beside the Delaware Canal. However, the Canal water was frequently lowered and became a smelly, muddy ditch with no real appeal.

I discovered that the water level was controlled by the superintendent of what was then called Theodore Roosevelt State Park. In 1933, Gov. Gifford Pinchot named it for former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt who, incidentally, had never been to the Canal.

I made an appointment with the superintendent, Gene Giza, at his office in the state park headquarters at Lodi, now Upper Black Eddy. He took his job very seriously, explaining that when his crew was working on the Canal, the water had to be lowered. I learned that most of the Canal’s water came from the Lehigh River in Easton, and the amount of water carried into the Canal from its tributaries was negligible. This is true except on the lower end, which does not empty when the upper end does because a tributary in New Hope contributes to the Canal.

He told me of many problems controlling the Canal’s water level. For example, if there was a bad storm, the waste gates had to be opened, letting the water flow into the river to prevent the Canal from flooding. If the storm would end on a Friday night, then, the Canal would remain dry all weekend, because the workers wouldn’t return to close the gates until Monday.

The superintendent also explained there were many necessary and expensive repairs to be made in and along the Canal, and his budget could not pay for them. Therefore, money had to come from state park headquarters in Harrisburg through the regional office in Quakertown. Due to bureaucracy, this money was frequently not available for long periods of time. He took me on a tour of the entire Canal to emphasize the reality of these problems.

“Something has to be done!” I exclaimed. And something would be.

An organization called The Delaware Valley Protective Association (DVPA) had been founded in 1933, after the Canal boats had stopped running. The group was spurred to protect the Canal, which was already falling into ruin, as an historic asset. The organization had helped persuade the state to take over most of the old waterway in 1940, and later it once again began to carry water.

By 1978, when I met with the Canal superintendent, many DVPA members were getting on in age, and many had died. However, three of its members — Virginia Forrest, Hal Clark and C.P. (Bill) Yoder — were instrumental in having the Canal designated a National Heritage Corridor that year. I attended the dedication ceremony in New Hope, and that’s when I met Virginia Forrest, a remarkable woman who lived in Solebury, and who had many connections. She had started a group called The Bucks CountyConservation Alliance, which met monthly.

I was faithful in attending these meetings and learned a lot. I read a lot about the Canal, spent time at the Lodi headquarters, and met some fascinating people who had vast Canal knowledge. Among them were brothers Frank and Howard Swope. They had been Canal boatmen, starting out when they were still children. I grew increasingly interested in and excited about helping to preserve this precious historical treasure.

But there was much to be done: Bridges needed painting. Rock walls that had fallen into the Canal had to be replaced. There was an abundance of just plain junk in the Canal water itself that needed to be removed. By 1982, I decided to do something about it.

I told Virginia about my idea to get family, friends and neighbors together to clean up and repair the waterway. She said, “Why don’t you start an organization to protect the Canal?”

“I don’t know how,” I replied.

“My dear, simply do it!” was the stern reply from this veteran of getting things done.

She kicked into gear, marshaling her considerable resources to help us get started. She phoned Florence Schaffhausen, who wrote a column about our efforts in The Intelligencer, Doylestown’s newspaper, which ran photographer Rudy Millarg’s pictures as a photo essay, “Tinicum Woman Starts Canal Organization.”

Taking my cue from Virginia, I organized friends, neighbors and family members. We painted those bridges, took boats into the Canal and pulled out debris, and repaired stone walls. That activity brought out more newspaper photographers and reporters, and we received lots of positive attention.

Next, we planned a meeting of the new group, which we called the Friends of the Delaware Canal. I called Paul Licitra, who owned the historic Towpath House Restaurant in New Hope, telling him we needed a place to meet. He let us hold our first meeting there on a Tuesday night in October 1982 when it was not open to the public. To commemorate the event, George Schweickhardt, owner of the mule-drawn Barge Company in New Hope, offered a boat to carry people to the restaurant. Despite a heavy rain, 30 people showed up.

Virginia Forrest was there and became our first official member. Jim Greenwood also came, and was the first of many subsequent public officials to offer help. Also in attendance were poet/sculptor Raymond Granville Barger, who read a poem dedicated to the Friends of the Delaware Canal, Congressman Peter Kostmayer, Superintendent Giza and Lance Metz, the Easton Canal Museum’s historian.

I was elected the first President of the Friends. Thanks to Doylestown attorney John Toner, who offered us his services gratis, the Friends of the Delaware Canal was incorporated in January 1983. More than 30 years after the founding, I sit on the Advisory Board and am tremendously proud of the work that our group, with such humble roots, continues to do on behalf of the Canal.

As railroads began to seriously compete for freight contracts, canal-generated revenues to the Commonwealth dropped. In 1858, the decision was made to sell the Delaware Canal to private operators. From 1866 to 1931, the Delaware Canal was run by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, which also owned the Lehigh Canal.

Canal traffic and revenue declined until the “iron horse” finally beat the mule, when the last paying boat locked through in October 17, 1931. The same day, 40 miles of the Delaware Canal was deeded to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was named Roosevelt State Park by Governor Gifford Pinchot, to commemorate his fellow preservationist, Theodore Roosevelt.

It was not until 1940 that the Commonwealth finally acquired all 60 miles of the canal. By popular demand, the park was renamed Delaware Canal State Park in 1989. The significance of the Delaware Canal was recognized in 1978, when it was designated a National Historic Landmark. It is preserved today as the last towpath canal in America capable of being fully-watered and restored.