Morris Canal

Photo courtesy of the Canal Society of NJ

The Morris Canal was one of the most busiest canals in America. It started at Phillipsburg in the west and ended at Jersey City in the east. People used the Morris Canal for shipping coal from Pennsylvania as well as other goods like paper, dried fruit, animals, etc.

The Morris Canal had locks which helped raise the barge up to 10 feet higher in the water so it could keep on going. There was also something unusual at that time. The Morris Canal was the only canal to have inclined planes. The inclined planes were used to pull the boats up because there were many hills along the Morris Canal.

One lock (not to change the subject) is Lock 8 East. If you live in Denville, you know exactly where this is - it's Atillios (now La Cucina), my favorite italian restaurant!

At the time, just a little after the Morris Canal was being used a lot, trains were being used more and more to carry cargo. Eventually, trains became more popular than canals because trains were faster and they were bigger so they could carry more stuff than the barges could.

Even though a lot of the Morris Canal is now part of the Newark subway and also a part of some parks, you can still see some remains of the Morris Canal.