On their way back to work after a hearty lunch, a number of graphic designers of The Morning Call art department stopped at Hess's Department Store in Allentown and looked at the latest electronic devices for sale. One highly advertised item was a keyboard in front of a small television screen from which a thin cable was attached. At the end was a small oval object called a "mouse." When it was moved, a "cursor" appeared on the screen. The saleslady called it a "personal computer." It seemed a curiosity, which no one thought would amount to anything. That was back in 1985. What followed became known as the "dot com" era of the Internet and the World-wide Web.

Looking back to 1791, Philip Ginter discovered a shiny black stone at Summit Hill in Carbon County. Like the sudden appearance of the computer age, this shiny "anthracite coal" was also a curiosity and seemed just as useless - let alone a potential source of fuel like its rival, bituminous coal.

In 1806 at Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe), William Turnbull filled a wooden "ark" with several bushels of anthracite and floated it on the Lehigh River when the water level ran high. As the ark reached the Delaware River at Easton, its journey continued southward and arrived at Philadelphia. When managers of the Philadelphia Water Works experimented with a portion of the coal, they "ultimately rejected it as unmanageable" and saw no potential for public use.

As for the unused pile of anthracite, "the remainder was broken up and spread on walkways instead of gravel," observed Erskine Hazard. Such was anthracite's inglorious introduction to Philadelphia.

Following the War of 1812, bituminous coal became scarce and expensive in eastern markets. Meanwhile, White and Hazard successfully used the "hot blast" method to manufacture iron nails and proved that anthracite could be used in iron foundries. Other blacksmiths adopted the "hot blast" method for iron production and the demand for anthracite coal spiraled - which raised the question: how to transport the anthracite? The answer came in 1822, when Josiah White, Erskine Hazard and George Hauto drew up a charter for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. Their concept was to transport anthracite coal by boat along the Lehigh River. Legally, the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company had control of all the water flowing in the Lehigh River by reason of legislation passed by the Pennsylvania Assembly for the construction and use of the Lehigh Canal.

Completed in 1829 at a cost of $800,000 (over $20 million in today's money), the canal linked Mauch Chunk to Easton, a distance of 46 miles. River water diverted into 20 dams assured the anthracite-filled boats a smooth transition by the use of 29 locks. Mules walked on towpaths that paralleled the canal, pulling the boats at a modest five miles per hour.

The Lehigh Canal employed 1,500 men and contributed to the livelihood of an additional 10,000 along its route. Though business was brisk, Hazard and Erskine sought to increase revenue when another idea emerged - passenger service from Mauch Chunk to White Haven.

This was achieved by the construction of "packets," originally small boats that traveled at intervals for the delivery of mail. Two packets put into service, the "Swan" and the "Washington," traveled from Easton to White Haven. Seated on the packet's flat, top deck, passengers enjoyed breath-taking views of the Lehigh River valley never seen before. Below deck, the captain, two boatmen and two mule drivers slept in cramped quarters in the bow. A ladies' dressing room and men's dormitory were located next to the main cabin, a 36-by-45-foot-long dining room and salon with a bar - though alcoholic beverages may not have been served because of the packet's strict Quaker ownership.

In 1838, George Crane's hot-air blast patent for the production of anthracite iron was published in the Journal of the Franklin Institute. Greatly inspired, Erskine Hazard made a transatlantic trip to Wales to engage someone to duplicate the same principle of making anthracite iron. Crane suggested ironmaster, David Thomas, who had all the qualifications and experience. Hazard offered Thomas a five-year contract to erect a blast furnace with anthracite delivered via the canal, and a place for his family to live in Catasauqua. In 1840, Thomas put a furnace into blast at the Crane Iron Works he named for George Crane. Thomas made the first successful production of iron with anthracite coal in the western world.

But the canal was not without certain risks and natural forces were a constant threat. If bitterly cold temperatures didn't freeze the canal, then spring thaws and summer thunderstorms overwhelmed it with "freshets" or floods. Though the flood of 1840 wiped out a major portion of the canal system, it was quickly rebuilt.

Even more disastrous was the flood of 1862, which completely destroyed the Lehigh Canal from White Haven to Mauch Chunk. With that segment gone and never rebuilt, all packet passenger service ended.

River perils of this kind inspired canal boat-builder, Asa Packer to realize an alternative - his Lehigh Valley Railroad. Completed in 1855, the railroad was built on higher ground along the Lehigh River. Traveling upwards of 35 miles per hour, the railroad transported anthracite from Wilkes Barre to Mauch Chunk - and farther south to Philadelphia. Later, both the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey sapped the canal's coal transportation business.

On the death of Josiah White in 1850, Hazard became head of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company - but the transition was not an easy one. While the Lehigh Valley Railroad continued to compete for business on the canal, a secret and powerful organization, the Mollie Maguires launched a sinister war on coal operators. On Feb. 26, 1865, when the Maguires attacked coal operators in Mauch Chunk, Hazard was summoned to quell the assault but never survived the trip - Hazard died of a heart attack at the age of 65.

In spite of railroad competition, the Lehigh Canal continued operations until it officially closed in 1930. Segments of the canal still exist along its 46-mile journey, where tourists once enjoyed romantic packet excursions and coal deliveries were made to towns along the river.

Today, the glory days of the canal's transportation system can be captured at the National Canal Museum and the Emrick Technology Center in Hugh Moore Park in Easton. Visitors may experience a mule-drawn canal boat ride through refurbished operating locks, and tour a Locktender's House along a restored section of the canal.

Through American ingenuity and free enterprise over 200 years ago, the use of anthracite iron production was made possible by the Lehigh Canal - before electricity, computers and the Internet ever came into existence.