While roads and canals would contribute, the development of the slate industry in the counties of Lehigh and Northampton was directly linked with the expansion of the railroads in the district.
Above is a panoramic view of the industrial landscape around Bangor. The view shows no fewer than three visible quarries and running through the center is one of the trains which serviced the quarries in the area. This image was taken from the rise just west of the Bangor Union Quarry (also known as the Seven Hills Quarry) in Bangor.
(from a report of slate shipping dated 1887)
An early view of men loading slate onto a train car.
The Roads
The majority of material transportation from the three large slate centers of Slateford, Slatington and Chapman, prior to the 1840's, was by drawn wagon across existing roads. Most of this transportation was to the largest markets for these quarries at the time of Bethlehem, Easton and Allentown. Although not "local" by the standards of the day, none of these three markets would have been considered large scale on the level of New York or Philadelphia, but due to the weight of slate and the general quality of roads, transportation beyond these relatively close markets was financially not viable. By 1900 though, during the peak of the slate industry, a road network had superimposed itself on the Lehigh Valley that had adjusted to the slate culture offering a reasonable route for taking product to larger markets beyond. Although the roads were a means for transportation, the scale of production for the industry would never have reached the levels that it did without the railroads or the canals. While the rail lines became the biggest means of transportation for the majority of the industry, the roads themselves would continue to serve the slate industry since many of the communities did not have rails until quite late.
Image Source: Wikipedia
A map showing the route of the original Delaware Canal, passing between Walnutport and Slatington, both communities that were a vital part of the slate industry.
The Canals
The canal system, although it could have become a significant means of slate transportation, was only marginally used by the industry and much of the reason for that had to do with timing. The use of Canals had been important to the development of extractive industries through much of Pennsylvania, although the peak period for canal use in the state was prior to the most productive years for slate, being primarily driven by the coal industry. The Lehigh Canal, established by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, was started in 1818 and had full two way traffic established by 1827. This canal became a major transportation route through the region (passing through Slatington and Walnutport) carrying coal to the large cities of the east coast and offering the slate quarries closest to the waterways, a means to transport their product to Philadelphia. While the slate industry was establishing itself as early as the 1830's, it would not reach its peak until much later, going through its largest expansion period from 1850 to 1900. Slate expansion was taking place in both Slatington and the Hard Vein Region (Chapman and Edelman-Belfast) from 1850 to 1880 while Bangor had its greatest development between 1860 and 1880, and Pen Argyl would not see its largest expansion until even later, from 1880 to 1910. A second likely possibility for canal transport was along the Morris Canal which ran from Phillipsburg New Jersey, just across the river from Easton PA, across the state of New Jersey, ending in Jersey City along the Hudson. This route would have been easy for any slate companies just below the Water Gap to transport slate Down the Delaware to Phillipsburg.
The map above is interactive by using your mouse and can be expanded to full screen by clicking on the full screen icon in the top right corner of the view.
Between 1830 and 1860 an enormous railway building boom in the United States allowed railroads to replace canals as a primary mode of transportation, if for no other reason it allowed for faster movement on a large scale, but it was one event regionally that assured the future of trains. The great flood of the 4th and 5th of June, 1862, was a significant turning point for the canals in Pennsylvania. This event resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company’s costly improvements on the Upper Lehigh. It was commonly believed that the giving way of the large dams had been the chief cause of the large damage done along the entire valley, and as a result strong popular feeling rose against their being rebuilt. This opposition culminated in the passage of an act by the State Legislature, March 4, 1863, prohibiting the rebuilding of dams on the Upper Lehigh for canal purposes, "because of the peril to which they subjected people and property"1. This legislation would have a big impact on the development of the train lines that would penetrate the region to help in the transport of all extracted materials, including slate.
The Early Rails
Competition for the vaulable resource of coal proved highly beneficial for the slate industry, so by 1850 two rail lines had pierced the region. The Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, founded by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, had a connector line between Allentown and the anthracite coal region, with a line that also followed the Lehigh River, cutting the Slate Belt almost in half. The Depot in Slatington opened in 1846, and Slatington, being a stop on the line, was early to adapt to the rail lines for the transportation of slate. The second line, the Lehigh Valley Railroad, went from Reading through Allentown and Bethlehem, to Easton and New York City.
A view of the side walls of the Phoenix Quarry in Wind Gap showing boxcars at the lip of the pit ca. 1914.
The Trains
While Slatington had been able to take advantage of the railroad that had been built to accommodate the transportation of coal, other major slate communities were not as lucky. Chapman was 10 miles from the nearest rail line in Bethlehem and Slateford was 20 miles from its closest connection in Easton.
As slate production increased at a tremendous rate during the 1860's and 1870's, the railroads capitalized on the revenue and competed for the resource. The Lehigh Valley Railroad constructed a line from Allentown up the west bank of the Lehigh River to Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe) and Wilkes Barre. During the same period the Lehigh and Lakawanna Railroad completed a spur from Bethlehem to Chapman. Originally named the Bethlehem Railroad, it took almost a decade for the rails to run from Bethlehem all the way through to Wind Gap. The immense product of Chapman quarries made a railroad almost a necessity, and the charter of the Bethlehem Railroad Company was amended in order to authorize the extension of the road to Stroudsburg, at which time the name was changed to "The Lehigh and Lackawanna Railroad Company," by supplement, dated April 8th, 1864. The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company agreed to advance money necessary to complete the railroad to the Chapman quarries, John Brown playing a major role in this development. Brown would eventually own the North Bangor quarry in 1871, and was an employee for the LCNC, with his last position being in connection with the management of all their canals and their railroads prior to his retirement in 1877. By 1872 all major slate producing regions had rail connections to the large markets of the Lehigh Valley and beyond.
Image Source: The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center
Image Source: United States Library of Congress
Three different panoramic views of communities in the Slate Belt show the clear relationship between the quarrying companies and the train lines. The top image is a portion of a view of Chapman Quarries from 1885 which shows how close the rails ran to the actual quarries, and in fact the C.R.R. in the view are the initials of the Chapman Railroad. The second view from 1918 shows two different independent train lines weaving through the quarries of Bangor. The third panoramic view is of slatington from 1884. Number 23 represents the Williams Quarry while number 32 represents the Berks County Railroad. This close proximity to rail was typical of all the successful quarries in the reigion. (click on an image to see any of these view as full representation.)
From: Portrait and Biographical Record of Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon Counties, Pennsylvania, 1894
An 1895 Map of Lehigh and Northampton County showing all of the railroad interests in the region including the Bangor and Portland; The Lehigh and Susquehanna; the Lehigh and Lackawanna; the Reading; and the Pennsylvania, Poughkeepsie and Boston (aka: the Lehigh and New England) (Click on the map to see it larger)
By 1900, five new railroad concerns served the Slate Belt
The red lines in the map above represent train routes through the Slate Belt district while the blue dots represent actual quarries.