Locks and Planes of the Morris Canal

Morris Canal Locks and Planes
World's Greatest Canal Hill Climber

Through a series of water turbine powered inclined planes, locks and aqueducts built above and across rivers, the Morris Canal was the world's biggest hill climber and with the help of mules on towpaths traversed 102 miles transporting mostly Pennsylvania coal but also iron ore and other goods across the face of northern New Jersey. The Morris Canal largely unknown today had the world's greatest elevation change of 1,674 feet. The elevation change was 914 feet from the eastern terminus on the Hudson River at Jersey City, New Jersey at sea level to the summit in the Port Morris hills. The elevation change from the summit to the Delaware River at the western terminus by Phillipsburg, New Jersey was 760 feet as the river was at an elevation of 154 feet. The water powering the entire canal, using gravity and ingenuity, came from Lake Hopatcong and Greenwood Lake. The Morris Canal underwent various changes during its life by combining and eliminating some locks; the canal was deepened, lengthened and widened to transport larger boats. The locks were renumbered to meet its changing face. The locks and planes were numbered from the summit both east and west, so Plane 4E, or Plane 4 East was the fourth plane from the Morris Canal summit towards the east and numbered conversely for those on the west of the Canal summit.. The inclined plane powerhouses on the east were two stories tall while those on the west were three stories. With the exception of Lock 18E, (no known existing photo), all photos are complete. By clicking on the 1871 lock or plane names, you obtain more info and see a photo too. To close the photo, please click on the upper right hand "X close box" on your browser.
Names in 1836	Location	Names in 1871	Distance Miles	Lift Feet	Height Feet
Western Terminus	Phillipsburg	West Elevations	0	River	154
Plane 11 West	Phillipsburg	Plane 11W	0.01	35	189
Plane 11W and Delaware Inlet were discontinued in 1894 as the Pennsylvania locks were damaged. A trolley had been used to transport canal boats using a elevated cable guide across the Delaware River.
Lock 7 West	Phillipsburg	Lock 10W	2.10	9	198
Lock 6 West	Lopatcong	Lock 9W	2.34	9	207
Lock 5 West	Pohatcong	Lock 8W	2.55	9	216
Plane 10 West	Lopatcong	Plane 10W	3.08	44	260
Plane 9 West	Port Warren	Plane 9W	4.50	100	360
Plane 8 West	Stewartsville	Plane 8W	6.38	62	422
Lock 4 West	New Village	Lock 7W	7.65	10	432
Plane 7 West	Bowerstown	Plane 7W	14.75	73	505
Lock 3 West	Port Colden	Lock 6W	17.25	10	515
Plane 6 West	Port Colden	Plane 6W	17.86	50	565
Plane 5 West	Port Murray	Plane 5 W	19.75	64	629
Guard Lock	Saxton's Falls Musconetcong River	Lock 5W	30.64	0	629
Lock 2 West	Guinea Hollow	Lock 4W	31.50	10	639
Guard Lock	Waterloo, Musconetcong River (Old Andover)	Lock 3W	33.75	0	639
Plane 4 West	Waterloo	Plane 4W	34.20	80	719
Plane 3 West	Mt Olive	Plane 3W	34.90	55	774
Lock 1 West	Stanhope	Lock 2W	36.00	12	786
Plane 2 West	Stanhope	Plane 2W	36.76	70	856
Guard Lock (Built 1845)	Stanhope Lake Musconetcong	Lock 1W	36.85	0	856
Plane 1 West	Port Morris	Plane 1W	38.10	58	914
Morris Canal Summit - Plane 1 West, Port Morris to Plane 1 East, Shippenport (now Landing) West:11 Inclined Planes, 7 Lift Locks, 760 ft rise East: 12 Inclined Planes, 16 Lift Locks, 914 feet rise					914 Feet
Hopatcong	Lake Hopatcong Feeder - Canal Spur	Brooklyn Outlet Lock	0.67	Lake	926
Plane 1 East	Landing	Plane 1E	39.90	50	864
Plane 2 East	Ledgewood (Drakesville)	Plane 2E	41.24	80	784
Plane 3 East	Ledgewood	Plane 3E	41.56	48	736
Lock 1 East	Ledgewood	Lock 1E	42.03	10	726
Plane 4 East	Wharton (Baker's Mills)	Plane 4E	45.22	52	674
Lock 2 East	Wharton	Lock 2E	45.57	8	666
Plane 5 East	Wharton	Plane 5E	47.00	66	600
Lock 4 East	Port Oram Dover	Lock 3E	47.44	9	591
Lock 5 East	Dover Town	Lock 4E	47.60	9	582
Lock 6 East	Dover Town	Lock 5E	48.18	9	573
Lock 7 East	Dover Town	Lock 6E	48.35	0	564
Guard Lock	Dover Town	Lock 7E	48.60	0	564
Plane 6 East	Rockaway	Plane 6E	52.18	52	512
Lock 8 East	Denville (Rockaway Valley)	Lock 8E	55.71	7	505
Lock 9 East	Powerville	Lock 9E	57.21	7	498
Lock 10 East	Powerville	Lock 10E	57.37	8	490
Guard Lock	Powerville east side of Rockaway River	Lock 11E	57.61	0	490
Lock 11 East	Boonton - west side	Lock 12E	58.25	10	480
Plane 7 East	Boonton	Plane 7E	58.60	80	400
Lock 12 East	Boonton	Lock 13E	59.15	12	388
Plane 8 East	Montville	Plane 8E	60.35	76	312
Plane 9 East	Montville	Plane 9E	60.60	74	238
Plane 10 East	Lincoln Park (Beavertown)	Plane 10E	64.42	56	182
Lock 13 East	Lincoln Park	Lock 14E	66.10	8	174
Pompton Feeder	Pompton Plains	Feeder Dam	71.81
Pompton Feeder Lock	Pompton Plains	Feeder Lock	71.81
Plane 11 East	Bloomfield	Plane 11E	83.58	54	120
Lock 14 East	Bloomfield	Lock 15E	84.80	10	110
Lock 15 East	Newark	Lock 16E	89.40	10	100
Plane 12E	Newark	Plane 12E	89.65	70	30
Lock 16 East	Newark	Lock 17E	90.50	20	10
Lock 17 East	Combine 16 and 17 ca. 1841	Newark		20	10
Passaic River Outlet	Newark	Lock 18E (no known photo)	90.60	0	10
Lock 18 East	Newark Passaic River	Lock 19E	92.52	10	0
Passaic River Tide Lock	Newark Passaic River	Lock 20E	92.89	0	0
Hackensack River Tide Lock	Jersey City - west end	Lock 21E	94.30	0	0
Hudson River Tide Lock	Jersey City - east end	Lock 22E	102.15	0	0
Jersey City	Jersey City		102.30	Harbor	0

References:

a. Daniel P. Jones and Joseph R. Klett, Guide to the Morris Canal and Banking Company Microfilm Collection, Division of Archives and Records Management, New Jersey Depart of State, Trenton, NJ, 1995

b. James Lee, The Morris Canal, A Photographic History, published by Delaware Press, P.O. Box 454, Easton, PA, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 79-54797, Reprint 1994.

c. Robert R. Goller, Images of America, the Morris Canal, Across New Jersey by Water and Rail, published by Arcadia Publishing, 2 Cumberland St, Charlestown, SC, 29401, ISBN 0-7385-0076-3, 1999

d. Robert R. Goller, Reflections on the Morris Canal, Number 10, Winter 2000-01, published by Canal Society of New Jersey.

e. Brian H. Morrell, Historic Preservation Survey of the Morris Canal in Warren County, NJ, published by Warren County Morris Canal Committee, Sep 1983.

f. Herbert M. Wilson, The Morris Canal and its Inclined Planes, Scientific American Supplement, Feb 24,1883.

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