98-690: Lehigh Gorge State Park is a 4,548 acres (1,841 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Luzerne and Carbon Counties , Pennsylvania . The park encompasses a gorge , which stretches along the Lehigh River from a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood control dam in Luzerne County to Jim Thorpe in Carbon County. The primary recreational activity at Lehigh Gorge State Park is white water rafting . There are three primary access areas for
196-677: A gravity railroad , to deliver coal (and a miner to operate the mine train's brake) to the Lehigh Canal in Mauch Chunk. This helped open up the area to commerce, and helped to fuel the Industrial Revolution in the United States. By the 1850s, the "Gravity Road" (as it became known) was providing rides to thrill seekers for 50 cents a ride (equal to $ 16.35 today). It is often cited as the first roller coaster in
294-476: A brief history of their development since the first park opened in 1893. State parks range in size from 3 acres (1.2 ha) to 21,122 acres (8,548 ha) and comprise one percent of Pennsylvania's total land area. According to Dan Cupper (1993), "Pennsylvania is the thirty-third largest state, but only Alaska and California have more park land". There are state parks in 62 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties , which nearly reaches Pennsylvania's goal of having
392-531: A dance pavilion, and trails that led to the scenic Glen Onoko Falls. This area was very popular with people seeking to get away from the polluted cities in the northeastern United States. The hotel and surrounding forests were destroyed by fire in the 1910s and the Lehigh Gorge area was largely forgotten until the 1970s. The abandonment of the main line of the Central Railroad of New Jersey through
490-666: A division of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), is the governing body for all these parks, and directly operates 116 of them. The remaining parks are operated in cooperation with other public and private organizations. The first Pennsylvania state park, at Valley Forge , opened in 1893 and was given to the National Park Service (NPS) for the United States Bicentennial in 1976. There are
588-425: A household in the borough was $ 35,976, and the median income for a family was $ 43,710. Males had a median income of $ 31,141 versus $ 23,490 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $ 17,119. About 7.8% of families and 10.0% of the population were below the poverty line , including 18.3% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over. The school district is Jim Thorpe Area School District . In
686-561: A little-known planning study in the 1970s that attempted to understand the dynamics of historicism and tourism, notions that have come into their own in contemporary times. While Venturi's planning study was unique at the time, it has since become a critical factor in Jim Thorpe's rebound as a functioning and economically stable community. Jim Thorpe tourism is based on its vintage architecture, and recreation such as hiking, paintball and white water rafting . The Carbon County Section of
784-414: A massive forest fire that burned the debris, the remaining standing timber , the sawmills , and their lumber stockpiles. This forest fire brought about the end of the lumber era in the Lehigh Gorge. Lehigh Gorge was a resort area for a brief time at the turn of the 20th century. Railroads operated tourist lines that led to a resort area at Glen Onoko. The resort hotel there had 47 rooms, tennis courts ,
882-484: A month painting the birds of the area. At this time the gorge was largely untouched by human hands, but Audubon could see that this was not to last. The demand for lumber was intense during the mid-to-late 19th century and the forests of much of Pennsylvania were stripped bare. Lehigh Gorge was no exception, its old-growth forests of white pine and hemlock were harvested and sent down the Lehigh River. The wood
980-780: A poll conducted in 2009 by Budget Travel magazine, Jim Thorpe was awarded a top 10 spot on America's Coolest Small Towns. The town registered 3,920 votes to land the number 7 spot on the list. In 2012, Jim Thorpe was voted the fourth most beautiful small town in America in the Rand McNally/ USA Today Road Rally series. Jim Thorpe is becoming a tourist destination, with many businesses catering to white water rafting , mountain biking , paintball and hiking . Trails in Lehigh Gorge State Park attract hikers from all over, with Glen Onoko Falls
1078-627: A reliable water transport route to Philadelphia, and the Lehigh Navigation Company (LCN)'s had no trouble recruiting workers nor raising money to make the lower Lehigh Canal —up to the southern mouth of the Lehigh Gorge . The project would also inspire other canal works such as the Erie and Morris, Pennsylvania, and Delaware & Hudson canals. By 1820 the dams and locks of all the downstream navigations were in place up to
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#17327876728461176-475: A state park within 25 miles (40 km) of every resident in the Commonwealth. Eleven parks do not have "State Park" in their name. Three are " Conservation Areas ": Boyd Big Tree Preserve , Joseph E. Ibberson , and Varden ; four are "Environmental Education Centers": Jacobsburg , Jennings , Kings Gap (also a "Training Center") and Nolde Forest ; White Clay Creek is a "Preserve"; Norristown
1274-540: A summer tourist railroad by Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad. The former New York City to Buffalo Lehigh Valley Railroad across the river is a present-day very active freight hauling railroad operated by Norfolk Southern. In 1827, the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, a coal mining and shipping company with operations in Summit Hill , constructed an 8.7-mile (14.0 km) downhill track, known as
1372-499: A top trail destination just north of downtown. Along with these sports, Jim Thorpe is popular among railroading fans for its passenger rail service, and is known for its extraordinary architecture. The town is home to the Asa Packer and Harry Packer mansions. Asa Packer founded Lehigh Valley Railroad and Lehigh University ; Harry was his son. The mansions sit side by side on a hill overlooking downtown. The Asa Packer Mansion
1470-866: A total of seventeen former Pennsylvania state parks: four former parks have been transferred to the NPS, four to the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission , two to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , one to both the Corps and the Pennsylvania Game Commission , five to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry , and one has ceased to exist. Nine current and two former state parks have had major name changes or have been known under alternate names. The list gives an overview of Pennsylvania state parks and
1568-423: A traditional labor shortage and lack of distinct feudal structures there were few ways to draft a large enough work party to improve roads even within a township, so in the main they remained primitive. Traditional Amerindian footpaths or game trails did not co-exist readily with carts or wagons, and bridges were scarce while streams swarm along the bottom of every valley in rain-blessed Pennsylvania. High grade coal
1666-487: Is 4 miles (6 km) east of Nesquehoning , which is up a steep grade and around the bend along U.S. 209 South, and also butting up against the slopes of Mount Pisgah . This was a key element in the LC&;N's planning, for the grade from the mountain ridge down to the river enabled them to fill barges quickly, using chutes and an elevated entry from a road down the ridge face. Jim Thorpe's developed elevations range between
1764-553: Is a borough and the county seat of Carbon County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania . It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania . It is historically known as the burial site of Native American sports legend Jim Thorpe . Jim Thorpe is located in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania approximately 29 miles (47 km) northwest of Allentown , 83 miles (134 km) northwest of Philadelphia , and 117 miles (188 km) west of New York City . Jim Thorpe
1862-661: Is a "Farm Park"; and Big Spring is a "State Forest Picnic Area". Seven parks are undeveloped with no facilities: Allegheny Islands , Benjamin Rush , Bucktail , Erie Bluffs , Prompton , Swatara , and Varden ; the last four of these are in the process of being developed. Five state parks are small picnic areas: Laurel Summit , Patterson , Prouty Place , Sand Bridge , and Upper Pine Bottom . Five state parks have major U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dams and/or lakes: Bald Eagle , Beltzville , Elk , Kettle Creek , and Sinnemahoning . Three former parks now belong, at least partly, to
1960-405: Is a 26-mile (42 km), multiuse rail trail. The trail is part of the 165-mile (266 km), D & L Trail . It is open year-round for hiking and biking. Bicycle rentals and shuttle service are available. In the winter, the trail is open for cross-country skiing. A 15-mile (24 km) section from White Haven to Penn Haven Junction is open to snowmobiles. Parking for snowmobiles is available at
2058-693: Is a museum and has been conducting tours since Memorial Day of 1956. The Harry Packer Mansion is a bed and breakfast ; it served as the model for the Haunted Mansion ride at Walt Disney World in Florida. Jim Thorpe is home to the Anthracite Triathlon, an Olympic -distance triathlon open to amateur and professional triathletes. The swimming portion occurs in Mauch Chunk Lake , Which has kayaking and boating rentals for
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#17327876728462156-643: Is a north–south route that runs northeast of town, connecting to PA 115 near the Pocono Raceway , Interstate 476 , and PA 534 in Penn Forest Township . Carbon Transit provides bus service to Jim Thorpe along Route 701, which runs between Coaldale and Palmerton on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and Route 702, which runs between Nesquehoning and Palmerton Monday-Friday. Carbon Transit also operates CT Flex service in Jim Thorpe, Penn Forest Township, and Kidder Township . The town
2254-515: Is a tributary of the Lehigh River . The river's left bank community of East Mauch Chunk , which has more of the houses of modern Jim Thorpe, was settled later to support the short-lived Beaver Creek Railroad, the mines which spawned it, and the logging industry. It came into greater growth when the Lehigh Valley Railroad in 1885 pushed up the valley on the river's east bank to oppose LC&N's effective transportation monopoly over
2352-505: Is just off exit 74 of Interstate 476 via U.S. Route 209 through Jim Thorpe and across the bridge to the north bank on Pennsylvania Route 903 to the Glen Onoko neighborhood, formerly East Mauch Chunk the left bank or northern part of the borough of Jim Thorpe. This access point is on the opposite bank from the Glen Onoko nature and hiking trail which climbs up slope westerly alongside the tributary descending Glen Onoko Falls giving
2450-451: Is not permitted at the park. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission assures that anglers will have plenty of chances to catch fish by stocking trout in the waters of the Lehigh River. The following state parks are within 30 miles (48 km) of Lehigh Gorge State Park: List of Pennsylvania state parks As of 2024 , there are 124 state parks in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania . The Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks ,
2548-988: Is now Cherry Springs , "Codorus Creek" is now Codorus , "Kooser Lake" is now Kooser , "Laurel Hill Summit" is now Laurel Summit , and "Promised Land Lake" is now Promised Land ). Such minor name changes are not included in this table. The following eighteen were once Pennsylvania state parks, but have been transferred to federal ( National Park Service , U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ) or state ( Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission , Pennsylvania Game Commission , Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry ) agencies, or ceased to exist. The following are significantly different former or alternate names for two former Pennsylvania state parks. One former park dropped one word from its name ("Colerain Forge" became "Colerain" sometime between 1924 and 1937). Such minor name changes are not included in this table. Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania Jim Thorpe (known as East and West Mauch Chunk until 1954)
2646-652: Is served by the Reading, Blue Mountain, and Northern Railroad with year-round freight service. Seasonal passenger excursions to and from the town is provided by its subsidiary, the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway. As of the census of 2010, there were 4,781 people, 2,290 households, and 1,468 families residing in the borough. The population density was 332.1 inhabitants per square mile (128.2/km ). There were 2,193 housing units at an average density of 151.6 per square mile (58.5/km ). The racial makeup of
2744-652: The Alleghenies (see Allegheny Portage Railroad ), which in the early funding took most of the monies delaying the easier ditch across the Pennsylvanian Great Valley . Other factions pointed out by the early 1830s that the long channel across Pennsylvania's great valley would be expensive and that given the experience building the Allegheny Portage Railroad, a similar work could be constructed along with Navigations through
2842-585: The Delaware River where it could be barged to the cities of the east coast of the United States. England's technological lead was obvious and its extensive canal system was given much credit for the success of Britain's industries and its emergence as the sole world power at the end of the Seven Years' War . While eight mules could carry a ton, each 4-5 mules needed a human to lead them and their loads needed to be laboriously loaded and unloaded at
2940-509: The Lehigh Canal was destroyed by severe flooding in the mid-19th century and was eventually replaced by railroads . Between November 1852 and September 1855 a railway line was built for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, largely by Asa Packer 's personal credit, from Mauch Chunk, later renamed Jim Thorpe , to Easton . Naturalist and painter John James Audubon visited the Lehigh Gorge in 1829 and spent over
3038-637: The Lehigh Gorge Trail . The park is also open to hunting and fishing . Rafting is very popular in Lehigh Gorge State Park. The Lehigh River is rated a Class III river on the International Scale of River Difficulty , although this depends on the water conditions, which are generally best in the spring. The conditions are controlled by the amount of rainfall in the area and by the amount of water released from
Lehigh Gorge State Park - Misplaced Pages Continue
3136-563: The Lehigh River south through the park from the village of Port Jenkins in Dennison Township in Luzerne County to Glen Onoko in Lehigh Township in Carbon County. The history of Lehigh Gorge State Park is tied into the development of anthracite coal mining, which was once the center of the high-tech economy of northeastern Pennsylvania. It is also tied into the early-to-middle period of the United States' Canal Era and
3234-611: The Lehigh River Gorge . By that time, the city fathers of Baltimore were directly trying to compete for the trans-Allegheny trade by incorporation of the ambitious goals of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to surmount to the Monongahela and Ohio valleys via the Cumberland Narrows mountain pass , despite the early lack of power and speed in the untried railroad technologies. Moreover, LC&N had constructed
3332-765: The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and 19.13 miles (30.79 km) were maintained by the borough. U.S. Route 209 , although signed as a north–south route, tends to follow an east–west route in Pennsylvania. In Jim Thorpe and Lehighton, U.S. 209 runs in directions opposite its signage—i.e., northbound U.S. 209 runs southwards and vice versa. It intersects the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension ( Interstate 476 ) east of Lehighton, about 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Jim Thorpe. Pennsylvania Route 903 has its southern terminus at U.S. 209 in Jim Thorpe. It
3430-623: The Stockholm Olympic Stadium in which he won his Olympic medals. On June 24, 2010, one of Jim Thorpe's sons, Jack Thorpe, sued the town for his father's remains, citing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act , which is designed to return Native American artifacts to their tribal homelands. On February 11, 2011, Judge Richard Caputo ruled that Jack Thorpe could not gain any monetary award, nor any amount for attorney's fees in
3528-561: The United States Census Bureau , the borough of Jim Thorpe has a total area of 14.9 square miles (38.6 km ), of which 14.6 square miles (37.8 km ) is land and 0.3 square miles (0.8 km ), or 2.15%, is water. Jim Thorpe is 3 miles (5 km) north and upstream of Lehighton , below the Lehigh Gap which sunders Bear Mountain on the east bank from the extended ridge of Mauch Chunk Mountain . The town
3626-528: The 1930s, some mere camping and picnic areas in state forests, while others preserved unique sites. The 1930s saw a great expansion of parks and their facilities under Governor Gifford Pinchot , who cooperated with President Franklin Roosevelt , despite their being of different political parties. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established 113 CCC camps in Pennsylvania (second only to California). Using CCC and Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor,
3724-742: The Borough while alive. The municipality then obtained the athlete's remains from his widow and erected a monument to the Oklahoma native, who began his sports career 100 miles (161 kilometres) southwest, as a student at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania . The monument site contains his tomb, two statues of him in athletic poses, and historical markers describing his life story. The grave rests on mounds of soil from Thorpe's native Oklahoma and from
3822-656: The DCNR, the state parks in Pennsylvania are on more than 300,000 acres (120,000 ha) with some 606 full-time and more than 1,600 part-time employees serving approximately 36 million visitors each year. Admission to all Pennsylvania state parks is free, although there are fees charged for use of cabins, marinas, etc. Pennsylvania's state parks offer "over 7,000 family campsites, 286 cabins, nearly 30,000 picnic tables, 56 major recreational lakes, 10 marinas, 61 beaches for swimming, 17 swimming pools" and over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of trails. Pennsylvania's first state park
3920-561: The Francis E. Walter Dam at White Haven by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers . All boaters must wear life jackets that are in compliance with the rules and regulations of the United States Coast Guard . Several licensed commercial outfitters currently operate on the Lehigh River. This first white water rafting outfitter to operate on the Lehigh River was Whitewater Challengers, founded in 1975. The Lehigh Gorge Trail
4018-544: The Gorge (in 1972) provided the necessary real estate for the trail. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased this right of way from the Reading Company, leading to the establishment of Lehigh Gorge State Park in 1980. The primary recreational use of Lehigh Gorge State Park is on the whitewater of the gorge. Other uses are hiking , bicycling, sight seeing and animal/bird watching along the abandoned railroad grade of
Lehigh Gorge State Park - Misplaced Pages Continue
4116-777: The Gorge between White Haven and Jim Thorpe, with a rail link from the Susquehanna at Pittston via Ashley, Mountain Top, and White Haven which would allow goods from Pittsburgh and the Ohio river valley and coal from the Wilkes-Barre area to come east to coastal market cities. By mid-decade in the 1820s, inspired by LC&N success and the Erie Canal the state legislature had formed the Canal Commission and begun funding
4214-757: The LC&N to spearhead a similar gravity railroad from Penobscot to White Haven, whilst extending the Navigations on the Lehigh up through the Gorge and constructing a shortline railroad , the Lehigh and Susquehanna from wharves across Wilkes-Barre between its suburbs Pittston to Ashley , climbing the Mount Penobscot on the Ashley Planes Inclined Plane Railroad . However, Lehigh Gorge and its rapid waters stood in
4312-543: The Lehigh Canal , Old Mauch Chunk Historic District , Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway , Asa Packer Mansion , Harry Packer Mansion , Carbon County Jail , Central Railroad of New Jersey Station , and St. Mark's Episcopal Church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places . The former Central Railroad of New Jersey railroad line through the Lehigh gorge and through Jim Thorpe is now operated as
4410-463: The Lehigh and Susquehanna Valleys via Mountain Top and the Ashley Planes incline railway . The central access point is near Rockport , a few miles off Pennsylvania Route 93 near the borough of Weatherly , where the mountainous terrain is transitional, creating a relatively shallow sloped flat. This area was also historically important regional rail transport. The southern access point
4508-492: The NPS built five Recreation Demonstration Areas , which became Pennsylvania state parks in 1945 and 1946: Blue Knob , French Creek , Hickory Run , Laurel Hill , and Raccoon Creek . The CCC also "fought forest fires, planted trees, built roads, buildings, picnic areas, swimming areas, campgrounds and created many state parks". In 1956, there were forty-four state parks in Pennsylvania, mostly in rural areas. Forty-five parks had been added by 1979, mostly near urban areas, and
4606-731: The Sac & Fox Nation of Oklahoma joined the lawsuit, allowing it to continue. On April 19, 2013, Caputo ruled in favor of William and Richard Thorpe, ruling that the borough amounts to a museum under the law. This ruling was reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on October 23, 2014. The US Supreme Court refused to hear their appeal on October 5, 2015, assuring that Jim Thorpe's remains will stay in Carbon County . The decision to rename
4704-735: The Schuylkill Valley as well as closer to Harrisburg down the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians . Given the fundamental need of fuels, it is little wonder the financiers of the day were willing investors ready to back projects which promised to get supplies to new markets. The gorge became historic and not just scenic when such investors came together to continue the English model, canals between major cities of source and supply, if necessary carried across viaducts above streams to provide cheap bulk materials transfers. By
4802-540: The Summit Hill and Lansford mines. By 1820 the navigations had fixed the worst of the barging issues, a road from the mines was systematically being improved easing the teamster's problems and the ventures began to make substantial money; by 1822 the two companies were combined into the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company and both the navigational works and the mule road were re-routed so they reached Mauch Chunk,
4900-436: The Susquehanna and White Haven on the Lehigh at the head of the gorge. LC&N which built Navigations through the gorge by reshaping the river, initially to the foot of Mount Pisgah, Carbon County, Pennsylvania at the junction of Pisgah Ridge and Nesquehoning Ridges . Twenty dams and twenty nine locks were built between what was then known as Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe) and White Haven . The Upper Grand Section of
4998-422: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Seven parks preserve the industrial past: Canoe Creek is the site of a former lime kiln , and Caledonia , French Creek , Greenwood Furnace , Kings Gap , Mont Alto , and Pine Grove Furnace (plus one former park) are all former iron furnace sites. Eight current parks and one former park contain at least part of eight different National Natural Landmarks . According to
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#17327876728465096-501: The United States. The Switchback Gravity Railroad Foundation was formed to study the feasibility of preserving and interpreting the remains of the Switchback Gravity Railroad on top of Mount Pisgah. Jim Thorpe is located near the center of Carbon County at 40°52′23″N 75°44′11″W / 40.87306°N 75.73639°W / 40.87306; -75.73639 . In the deeps of the geologic timescale
5194-598: The White Haven and Rockport trailheads. In addition to the Lehigh Gorge Trail, there are 7 miles of hiking-only trails. These hiking-only trails are neither marked, signed, nor mapped. Hunting is permitted in much of Lehigh Gorge State Park. Hunters must follow the rules and regulations of the Pennsylvania Game Commission . Common game species are ruffed grouse , squirrels , turkey , white-tailed deer , black bear and rabbits . The hunting of groundhogs
5292-456: The beginning and end of each day's march. It was the end days of the era that had held for millennia— when shipping bulks goods was only practicable over long distances by water, and one consequence was roads were not much more than unimproved tracks frequently more muddy ruts or filled with rocky obstacles as they wandered about trees and along ridgelines striving to stay above streams. Wagons were useful only on locally improved roads and with
5390-710: The borough after a dead Native American to boost tourism revenues as "crass commercialism" while Thorpe's family called for his remains to be returned to Oklahoma. The history of the 1880s Mauch Chunk is reflected in the architecture that makes up its many 19th century styles. A former resident and architectural historian, Hans Egli, noted the vast range of styles: Federalist , Greek Revival , Second Empire , Romanesque Revival , Queen Anne , and Richardsonian Romanesque . Most of these architectural examples remained protected and intact beneath aluminum or vinyl siding that has since been removed. Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi , renowned Philadelphia architects, conducted
5488-427: The borough center near the Penn Forest Township line. It has a warm-summer humid continental climate ( Dfb ) and average downtown monthly temperatures range from 26.5 °F in January to 71.2 °F in July. PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State U The local hardiness zone is 6a. As of 2019, there were 30.08 miles (48.41 km) of public roads in Jim Thorpe, of which 10.95 miles (17.62 km) were maintained by
5586-423: The borough in 1900 was 4,020; in 1910, it was 3,952. Following the 1953 death of athlete and Olympic medal winner Jim Thorpe , Thorpe's widow and third wife, Patricia, was impatient when, after five months, the planned memorial in Shawnee, Oklahoma had yet to raise the $ 100,000 to honor him. The town's citizens had paid for her, a Thorpe son and Jim's body to be shipped from California, paid and arranged for
5684-496: The borough saw a mixed reaction by the borough's residents, many of whom still refer to the borough as Mauch Chunk. Detractors to the new name claim that the renaming was a "Tourist Lure" and protested that Jim Thorpe had never even set eyes on the borough while he was alive. There were several movements to rename the borough back to Mauch Chunk, first in 1964 after the expected boost in tourism never came and another in 1992 as Jim Thorpe's popularity waned and locals referred to renaming
5782-543: The borough was 98.4% White , 1.6% African American , 1.0% Native American , 1.3% Asian , 1.0% Pacific Islander , 1.0% from other races , and 1.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.8% of the population. There were 1,967 households, of which 28.2% had children under the age of 18, 50.6% were married couples living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.1% were non-families. 27.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.4% had someone living alone who
5880-456: The confluence of the river and Nesquehoning Creek near the mouth of the Gorge at the flats below Mount Pisgah between Mauch Chunk and Nesquehoning—a great bending flat bottomed former lake bed between steep sided valley walls. Hence LC&N had tamed the lower river and a mule road was operating reliably enough to deliver coal in a timely manner from Summit Hill and new mines being dug at what are now Lansford and Coaldale . By 1822,
5978-410: The early 1820s, the new management of the Lehigh Coal Mining Company would show the way and the LCMC would disappear as a subsidiary corporation and became a key element in one of the nation's first vertical mergers. In 1818, fed up with sporadic and unreliable deliveries by the Lehigh Coal Mining Company, several Philadelphia foundry owners, led by two known for high tech thinking, combined and leased
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#17327876728466076-405: The eponymous name to that region of the lower gorge, whilst the Lehigh descends through several sharp curves before reaching the slack water elevation of Nesquehoning Junction between Jim Thorpe and Nesquehoning. The two railroad lines which competed for trade along the Lehigh diverge to run on opposite shores at this entrance. The Lehigh River forms the border between Carbon and Luzerne counties in
6174-501: The former state parks were also chiefly historic. In addition to preserving historic sites, Pennsylvania also sought to preserve natural beauty and offer opportunities for recreation in its state parks. In 1902 Mont Alto State Forest Park was the second park established, a year after the state "Bureau of Forestry" was set up to purchase, preserve, and restore Pennsylvania's forests, which had been ravaged by lumbering, charcoal production, and wild fires. Parks were added sporadically until
6272-422: The funeral service at St. Benedict's Catholic church, and paid for the mausoleum costs at Fairview Cemetery. Then Gov. Johnston Murray vetoed a bill which would contribute funds to the erection of the memorial at Athletic Park. On Sept. 1st Mrs. Thorpe, saying she feared Jim would be buried in a potter's field, shipped the body to Tulsa where she said the Chamber of Commerce was going to build a proper memorial, which
6370-437: The head of the canal's upper works, referred to as the Grand Lehigh Canal, whose navigations shortened the Lehigh Gorge, now located in the Lehigh Gorge State Park route, cutting the distance from Philadelphia to Wilkes-Barre and the Wyoming Valley coal deposits by over 100 miles (160 km). This placed Mauch Chunk in the center of a nexus of transportation in country tough to travel through. When floods wiped out many of
6468-408: The lawsuit and that for the lawsuit to continue other members of the Thorpe family and the Sac and Fox Nation would have to join him as plaintiffs. Before Jack Thorpe could respond to the ruling he died at the age of 73 on February 22, 2011. Because of his death his representatives were given more time to respond to the ruling. On May 2, 2011, William and Richard Thorpe, Jim Thorpe's remaining sons and
6566-407: The left bank, then the borough of Nesquehoning on the right bank, with the Glen Onoko southern access point on the right bank in Lehigh Township, just before Nesquehoning. Soon both banks of the river are within the borough of Jim Thorpe, and shortly after this the park ends, just above the Pennsylvania Route 903 bridge. The Lehigh Gorge Trail , a multi-use rail trail , follows the right bank of
6664-404: The locally sensationalized 18 mile loop of Mauch Chunk & Summit Hill Railway (1827), the nation's second railway and one of its first tourist attractions, said to be the inspiration for the roller coaster —in which role it lived on in tourist trade until the 1930s, when it was sold to Japan for scrap. By 1837 a proposal extending the Pennsylvania Canal was passed enabling legislation for
6762-409: The mining rights and took over management of LCMC. They also formed the Lehigh Navigation Company (LCN) to build navigations up the Lehigh River to a place where barges, not just cargo boats could be loaded with greater coal production—and more importantly, the several rapids which swallowed many a coal boat in the prior decade could be tamed. This early 1818 plan would put coal within 12 miles of
6860-430: The mule road high enough to dump coal by chutes into barges on the town's quay. By 1824 the company was flush with cash, had been further improving the lower river with two way locks— and seeking other sources, began buying more coal lands and eventually bought lands around Hazleton and Ashley and the saddle shaped mountain pass above at Penobscot, Pennsylvania (now Mountain Top) above both south Wilkes-Barre on
6958-418: The navigations reached the broad flats of Mauch Chunk and the two companies were merged into the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company , the company which would tame the gorge. By 1824, the Lehigh Canal was shipping record amounts of coal and adding further navigations creating a two way barge highway, this set the stage to founding the Upper Grand Section of the Lehigh Canal through ambitious improvements through
7056-472: The northern part of the park. The northern end of Lehigh Gorge State Park is just below the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Francis E. Walter Dam , in Bear Creek Township on the right bank (Luzerne County) and Kidder Township on the left bank (Carbon County). The Lehigh River flows generally south and enters Dennison Township , then the borough of White Haven , the northern access point, on
7154-619: The operating rights and also formed the Lehigh Navigation Company and began to systematically put into place the original series of dams and locks and channel improvements of the navigation from Easton on the Delaware the 40 miles up to the Mauch Chunk Creek , outletting in area of today's Lehighton , which streamside trail was the easiest descent for the mule trains to reach the river about twelve miles from
7252-598: The organization, Anita Shapolsky exhibits abstract artists and contemporary artworks during the summer, and provides educational programs for children. In 2022, an upstart pro lacrosse league, the Professional Box Lacrosse Association announced a franchise called the Jim Thorpe All Americans would be based there. However, no arena has yet been announced. Other American cities with a personal name and surname as
7350-497: The park. The northern access point is at White Haven , just off exit 273 of Interstate 80 on Pennsylvania Route 940 . This is the important northern entrance into the river cut gully or gap between highlands, and was an important barge loading transshipment point on the newly extended upper Lehigh Canal fed initially by a shortline railroad from the Mountain Top yard dating from the 1837 enabling legislation set up to join
7448-458: The public to use as well as a beach. The bike course takes riders through the mining towns of Summit Hill, Nesquehoning , Lansford and Jim Thorpe. The running portion of the course is generally along the former alignment of a historic switchback railroad . The Anita Shapolsky Art Foundation was established at 20 West Broadway, in a 10,000-square-foot (930 m ) 1859 former Presbyterian church, in Jim Thorpe in 1998. There, through
7546-655: The rapid development of pragmatic railroading technologies and consequent accelerated growth and use of railroads—all contributing factors in the Pennsylvanian and North American Industrial Revolution. By the 1790s deforestation of the American East, like it had in Britain a century earlier, was making the search for alternative fuels urgent and with England's experience of coal many were willing to invest in ventures to somehow mine and ship Anthracite east to
7644-555: The region, which extended across to northwest Wilkes-Barre at Pittston on the Susquehanna River / Pennsylvania Canal . After the Pennsylvania Canal Commission smoothed the way, Lehigh Coal & Navigation built the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad (L&S) from Pittston to Ashley , building the Ashley Planes inclined railway and linked that by rail from Mountain Top to White Haven at
7742-404: The right (Luzerne) bank. It enters the borough of East Side , opposite White Haven. Leaving the boroughs, the river enters Foster Township on the right (Luzerne) bank, and returns to Kidder Township, passing Hickory Run State Park on the left (Carbon) bank. The river and park then leave Luzerne County, with the southern part of the park entirely within Carbon County. Lehigh Township is on
7840-419: The right bank, with the river entering Penn Forest Township soon after on the left bank. The river veers west here and makes a large, tight bend at Rockport and the central access point (right bank), before heading back east, then south, west, and then generally south again. Some of the land bordering the river here is Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 141. The park then enters the borough of Jim Thorpe on
7938-416: The river slack water at 540 feet (160 m) above sea level—720 feet (219.5 m) to the town's upper streets, all below the western peak of Mount Pisgah, which tops out at 1,519 feet (463.0 m) above sea level. The elevation of the Borough of Jim Thorpe ranges from 540 feet (160 m) at Broadway and Hazard Square downtown to 1,700 feet (520 m) above sea level 3 miles (5 km) northeast of
8036-547: The survey work and start up of the future Pennsylvania Canal — which was in the planning conception, Railroads being new untried technology in its infancy— to also put an actual long canal channel between the Schuylkill basin (Delaware Valley) and the Susquehanna (connecting the Potomac Valley, Baltimore, Harrisburg, Richmond and Washington, D.C.) as well as an ambitious and audacious subproject of crossing
8134-434: The system had increased by 130,000 acres (53,000 ha). This was thanks largely to the efforts of Maurice K. Goddard , who served as director of the precursors to the DCNR for twenty-four years under six administrations. The number of visitors to parks more than tripled in this time and two voter approved bond issues (Projects 70 and 500) raised millions of dollars for park expansions and improvements. All this expansion
8232-485: The twisted folds of four near-parallel ridgelines, created a level region whose settlements became the relatively flat lands on either bank of the Lehigh. The ridgelines, which run east-northeast to west-southwest, are (from north to south) Broad, Nesquehoning, Pisgah, and Mauch Chunk ridges (or Mountains)—each of which runs over 15 miles (24.1 km) west to the gaps cut by the Schuylkill River . According to
8330-477: The two shorelines of the Lehigh River occupied by the 19th-century towns of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk were situated on the bottom of an ancient river-fed tarn , a mountain lake which filled the valley on the west bank and covered the relative flatlands on the east bank. The muddy bottom of that high tarn (the range then rivaling the Himalayas in size), where the waters pooled at a lower elevation amongst
8428-490: The upper Lehigh Canal works in 1861, the L&;S Railroad was extended through the gap to supplant the canal, and the so-called switchback-twisted backtrack through Avoca , with the improved engines of the day, enabled two-way steam locomotive traction and traffic despite the steep grades. Owner LC&N Company's headquarters was built across the street in Mauch Chunk from the L&S Railroad's stylish brick passenger station that
8526-501: The way as barges could not pass the rapids. This relegated to shipping coal by slow mule train, which is labor-intensive and costly, as it is pragmatically limited to an eighth ton per mule. After 1818 fuel shortages were growing acute, and the partially barged and partial mule-trained coal deliveries by the Lehigh Coal Mining Company were unpredictable and sporadic. This problem was solved by Josiah White who leased
8624-425: The whole East Coast . Canal shipping was eventually replaced by railroad shipping. The town grew slowly in its first decade, then rapidly around 1818 grew larger as it became an anthracite coal -shipping center. (The other large city with growing coal mining in the region was Scranton , with a population of over 140,000.) Mauch Chunk is on a Lehigh River west side (right bank) flat where Mahoning Creek enters and
8722-632: Was Valley Forge State Park , purchased by the Commonwealth on May 30, 1893, to preserve Valley Forge . It was transferred to the National Park Service (NPS) on the Bicentennial of the United States , July 4, 1976. Many state parks still preserve history: as of 2012, forty-two Pennsylvania state park sites are on the National Register of Historic Places , including two National Historic Landmarks ( Delaware Canal and Point ), twenty-eight Civilian Conservation Corps sites in nineteen parks, and twelve other parks' historic sites and districts. Eight of
8820-452: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.93. In the borough, the population was spread out, with 21.0% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 17.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.9 males. The median income for
8918-707: Was but just over a ridge and a half days haul by mules away. Both mineral-finds lead directly to rapid coal mining development of the area, which began first commercially by a joint stock company , the Lehigh Coal Mining Company (LCMC) at Summit Hill in 1792. Shortly after other coal mining ventures also began up the Susquehanna in a third watershed, the Wyoming Valley west of the Poconos and also to west of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania in
9016-406: Was discovered by a hunter on Sharp Mountain in 1791 above the steep sided valleys surrounding Tamaqua, but the news quickly led to other discoveries such as on at the minor peak called Summit Hill on Pisgah Mountain six miles due east of Tamaqua and as much closer to the ship-navigable Delaware watershed —from Summit Hill, the rapids plagued Lehigh River and the higher capacity of boats
9114-618: Was founded by Josiah White and his two partners, founders of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N). The town would be the lower terminus of a gravity railroad , the Summit Hill & Mauch Chunk Railroad , which would bring coal to the head of the LC&N Lehigh Canal for transshipment to the confluence of the Delaware River , 43 kilometres (26.7 mi) downstream at Easton. It would thereby ship LC&N's coal to Philadelphia , Trenton , New York City , and other large cities in New Jersey and Delaware , and by ocean to
9212-469: Was founded in 1818 as Mauch Chunk ( / ˌ m ɔː k ˈ tʃ ʌ ŋ k / ), a name derived from the term Mawsch Unk , meaning Bear Place in Unami , the language of the native Lenape , possibly a reference to Bear Mountain, an extension of Mauch Chunk Ridge that resembled a sleeping bear, or perhaps the original profile of the ridge, which has since been changed heavily by 220 years of mining. The company town
9310-400: Was not true. When she heard that the boroughs of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk were desperately seeking to attract business, she made a deal with civic officials. According to Jim Thorpe's son, Jack, Patricia was motivated by money in seeking the deal. The two cross-river boroughs merged in 1954 and renamed the new municipality Jim Thorpe in his honor, despite Thorpe never setting foot in
9408-748: Was not without costs and by 1988 there was an estimated $ 90 million in deferred maintenance. In 1993, as the park system celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary, new tax and bond revenues were earmarked for the parks. Since 2000, parks are being improved through the state's Growing Greener and Growing Greener II and bond programs. The following are significantly different former or alternate names for nine current Pennsylvania state parks. Note that many parks were originally "State Forest Parks" or were state public camping or picnic areas in Pennsylvania state forests. In modern times, some "State Parks" have become "Environmental Education Centers", while other parks have dropped one word from their name ("Cherry Springs Drive"
9506-496: Was soon boarding passengers onto trains from New York and Philadelphia to Buffalo . The Central Railroad of New Jersey eventually took over the L&S and the station. The Lehigh Valley Railroad arrived on the river's east bank at East Mauch Chunk in 1855., Mauch Chunk was the location of one of the trials of the Molly Maguires in 1876, which resulted in the hanging of four men found guilty of murder. The population of
9604-399: Was used for lumber and the bark was used in tanneries to make leather . The second largest tannery in the United States was along the Lehigh River at the small town of Lehigh Tannery . By 1875 most of the saleable timber had been clear-cut, with many acres of dried treetops and other wooden debris left on the ground. That same year a spark from a passing coal-fired steam locomotive ignited
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