Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct - Construction

Construction

The bridge was begun in 1847 as one of four suspension aqueducts on the D & H Canal, a system of transportation connecting the coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania with markets on the Hudson River. The canal operated from 1828 until 1898, with enlargements after the 1840s.

The bridge was designed by Russel F. Lord and John A. Roebling and built under the supervision of both men. Roebling would design the Brooklyn Bridge twenty years later.

Two important local industries with conflicting needs brought about construction of Roebling's Delaware and Lackawaxen Aqueducts: canal traffic and timber rafting. Since the mid-18th century, timber from the Delaware valley had been floated down the Delaware to shipyards and industries in Trenton and Philadelphia. The D & H Canal operated a rope ferry crossing of the Delaware at Lackawaxen but it created a major bottleneck before the aqueduct was built, and there were numerous collisions with timber rafts headed downstream. In 1847, to alleviate both problems, the D & H Canal Company approved Russel F. Lord's plan to substitute two new aqueducts in place of the rope ferry.

After evaluating several options, Lord recommended designs submitted by John A. Roebling who had already built a wire suspension aqueduct at Pittsburgh in 1845. To raise the canal to a height sufficient to allow adequate space for the passage of ice floes and river traffic, Lord's plan called for a series of three locks to be constructed on the eastern side.

An immediate success, the Delaware Aqueduct – which cost $41,750 – and the Lackawaxen Aqueduct – which cost $18,650, and of which only the abutments remain – reduced canal travel time by one full day, saving thousands of dollars annually..