Delaware and Raritan Canal
The Delaware and Raritan Canal is a canal in central New Jersey, built in the 1830s, that connects the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelphia and New York City, transporting anthracite coal from eastern Pennsylvania during much of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The canal allowed shippers to cut many miles off the existing route from the Pennsylvania Coal Region down the Delaware, around Cape May, and up the occasionally treacherous Atlantic Ocean coast to New York City.
A section of the canal as seen from a footbridge in 2013
The canal's terminus in New Brunswick, New Jersey
This section of the Trenton Freeway was built directly over the canal, which still flows underneath
The canal lock with a dam constructed in place of the upper gate, 2005
The Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.
Raritan River as seen from Bridgewater Township, New Jersey
Confluence of the South Branch and the North Branch with the Raritan River in Branchburg
Raritan River viewed from Queens Bridge in Bound Brook
Raritan River at the Fall Line, as seen from Highland Park
