Inclined planes used water power to raise or lower canal boats as much as 100 feet at a time. Water from the upper canal level was used to create the motive power to raise and lower the boats. The water then flowed back in to the next lower level and was used over and over farther down the canal. The original inclined planes, built in the 1820s, used a counter balance system powered by an overshot water wheel. Although these planes worked, they were not powerful enough to be economically successful. When canal engineer William Talcott redesigned the planes in the 1850s, he used more powerful cast-iron reaction turbines. The new planes could raise and lower boats carrying 70 tons of cargo.

Canal Reservoirs

• Lake Hopatcong: A dam, built by the MC&BC, raising the level of Great Pond a total 11 feet to create the primary water source that would fill both the east and west divisions of the Morris Canal.
• Greenwood Lake and the Pompton Feeder: In 1836 the MC&BC acquired the right to dam Long Pond to create a canal reservoir now called Greenwood Lake. Water passed down the Wanaque River to a 4.26 mile long feeder that joined the main line of the canal at Mead’s Basin, now Mt. View.
• Lake Musconetcong: In 1845 the canal company increased its water supply once again by damming the Musconetcong River at Stanhope to create a new reservoir that we now know as Lake Musconetcong.

Aqueducts

• Little Falls Aqueduct across the Passaic River: Supported by a stone arch spanning 80 feet
• Pompton Aqueduct between Mountain View and Lincoln Park:
  • 1830 aqueduct: 236-foot span on 9 stone piers
  • Circa 1850 aqueduct: 275-foot span on 6 stone piers

Long Levels

• Bloomfield to Lincoln Park: 17.5 miles
• Saxton Falls to Port Murray: 11 miles
• Washington to Lock 7 West: 7 miles