NORTH BRANCH CANAL LOCK NUMBER FOUR AT BLOOMSBURG
The site of the Bloomsburg lock was two blocks west of Railroad
Street, on the north side of Eleventh Street in the area of Barton
Street near where it intersects with Ninth Street.
The North Branch Canal between Northumberland and West Nanticoke had
seven lift-locks since the latter was sixty feet higher than the former.
Whenever there was an important change in the elevation of the terrain
the canal traversed, there would be a lift-lock that could either raise
or lower the boat depending on which way it was traveling. Four of these
locks were in present day Columbia County: Berwick, Lime Ridge,
Bloomsburg, and Rupert. They were seventeen feet wide, ninety feet in
length, and had various depths depending on how much lift was required.
A lock had two wooden gates that would create a chamber filled with
water enabling the boat to ascend or descend to a different level as the
canal’s elevation changed. The Bloomsburg lock raised the boat 5.25
feet as it made its way to lock number five at Lime Ridge.
In building a lock the two interior sides consisted of stone blocks
with their exterior surface reinforced with earthen walls. The interior
stone walls were "covered with a wooden sheathing fastened to the
stones by iron rods and wedges. The capstones along the walls [of the
Bloomsburg lock] were of Pottsville conglomerate, fastened together with
iron staples sunk in holes previously filled with melted lead."
There were two wooden gates, one at each end of the lock; when they
closed, they held the water in the lock causing the boat to rise or when
opened, they released the water allowing the boat to come down to a
lower the level.
To learn more about the North Branch Canal, read Anthracite and
Slackwater: The North Branch Canal 1828 – 1901 by F. Charles
Petrillo.
