POWER HOUSE

PowerShaft

Tub Valve

Penstock

The power house stood tall against the skyline with a third story cupola that gave the plane tender a view of both the top and the bottom of the plane. The headrace fl ume brought tons of water to turn the reaction turbine in the chamber below.

A historic view of the controls used to operate the inclined

plane.

AMorris Canal Inclined Plane was a huge and powerful machine that could raise or lower a fully loaded canal boat one hundred feet in less than fi fteen minutes. To provide the power, water was brought

to the power house from the upper level of the canal in an overhead trough called the headrace fl ume. From the end of the fl ume the water was dropped 47 feet down a wood and iron penstock pipe to operate a reaction turbine, housed in a chamber below. The column of water in the penstock weighing many tons forced the rotor to turn like a huge lawn sprinkler. A shaft transmitted power from the turbine rotor to gearing that turned a cable drum in the power house above. The used water fl owed out the turbine chamber down a tailrace tunnel and into the lower level of the canal to be used at the next inclined plane.

It took two men to operate the plane. The plane tender manned the controls and operated the machinery at the power house. The brakeman rode the cradle car, organized the loading and unloading of the boats and operated a brake when needed.

From his perch in the cupola atop the power house, the plane tender could see the brakeman’s signals from either the top or the bottom of the plane. When a boat was secured in one of the cradle cars, the plane tender raised the tub valve at the end on the headrace fl ume dropping thousands of tons of water to turn the turbine below. A simple clutch engaged the cable drum in the appropriate direction to move a canal boat up or down the plane.

If the inclined plane was not in operation excess water could fl ow out of the headrace down a bypass fl ume and channel and into the lower level of the canal. This allowed water to bypass the turbine in the power house and assure the canal could maintain the proper water level.

REACTION TURBINE

Nozzle

WaterIntake

Spindle

TurbineRotor

Power Shaft

Bronze BearingPlates

Bypass Flume

arre

n C

ount

y ha

s be

com

e a

lead

er

in th

e pr

otec

tion

of th

e re

mna

nts

of th

e M

orri

s C

anal

by

prom

otin

g a

gree

nway

cor

rido

r an

d pr

eser

ving

the

hist

oric

re

mai

ns o

f the

can

al a

s an

impo

rtan

t par

t of

the

Cou

nty’

s tr

ansp

orta

tion

hist

ory.

T

he v

isio

n is

to h

ave

this

gre

enw

ay e

xten

d ac

ross

War

ren

Cou

nty

with

the

cana

l as

a lin

k to

rec

reat

iona

l, cu

ltura

l, an

d hi

stor

ic a

reas

in

clud

ing

stat

e pa

rk tr

ails

, and

mun

icip

al a

nd

coun

ty p

ublic

ope

n sp

ace.

Thi

s gr

eenw

ay w

ill

exte

nd b

etw

een

Phill

ipsb

urg

and

the

hist

oric

W

ater

loo

Vill

age

– a

rest

ored

can

al to

wn.

I

n so

me

plac

es th

e to

wpa

th w

ill b

ecom

e a

recr

eatio

nal t

rail

open

to th

e pu

blic

for

non-

mot

oriz

ed a

ctiv

ities

. In

oth

er p

lace

s po

cket

pa

rks

will

be

esta

blis

hed

for

the

publ

ic’s

en-

joym

ent.

Whe

n co

mpl

eted

, thi

s gr

eenw

ay w

ill

be a

livi

ng r

emin

der

of th

e C

ount

y’s

tran

spor

-ta

tion

heri

tage

whi

le p

rom

otin

g th

e ec

onom

ic

bene

fi ts

of c

ultu

ral a

nd h

erita

ge to

uris

m.

W

arre

n C

ount

y of

fers

a w

ide

rang

e of

rec

re-

atio

nal o

ppor

tuni

ties

and

its r

ural

nat

ure

and

scen

ic b

eaut

y ar

e w

orth

y of

long

-te

rm p

rese

rvat

ion.

GR

EE

NW

AY

VIS

ION

W

atio

nal o

ppor

tuni

ties

and

its r

ural

nat

ure

and

scen

ic b

eaut

y ar

e w

orth

y of

long

-te

rm p

rese

rvat

ion.

TH

E M

OR

RIS

CA

NA

LL

isted

on

the

Stat

e an

d N

atio

nal

Reg

ister

s of H

istor

ic P

lace

s

MO

RR

IS C

AN

AL

WA

RR

EN

CO

UN

TY M

OR

RIS

CA

NA

L C

OM

MIT

TE

EFu

ndin

g p

rovi

ded

by

War

ren

Cou

nty

Boa

rd o

f C

hose

n F

reeh

olde

rs

His

tori

c Ph

otos

: Cou

rtes

y of

Jam

es L

eeD

esig

n: M

acG

raph

ics

WA

RR

EN

CO

UN

TY P

LA

NN

ING

DE

PAR

TM

EN

TC

ount

y A

dmin

istr

atio

n B

uild

ing

165

Cou

nty

Roa

d 51

9 So

uth

Bel

vide

re, N

J 0

7823

908-

475-

6532

WA

RR

EN C

OU

NTY

MO

RR

IS C

AN

AL

CO

MM

ITTE

E

c/o

War

ren

Cou

nty

Pla

nnin

g D

epar

tmen

t

WA

RR

EN

CO

UN

TY B

OA

RD

OF R

EC

RE

AT

ION

C

OM

MIS

SIO

NE

RS

c/o

War

ren

Cou

nty

Offi

ce

of

L

and

Pre

serv

atio

n90

8-45

3-26

50PU

BL

IC I

NFO

RM

AT

ION

AN

D

TO

UR

ISM

DE

PAR

TM

EN

T

908-

475-

6580

800-

554-

8540

WE

B SI

TE

S: w

ww

.co.

war

ren.

nj.u

sw

ww

.mor

risc

anal

.org

ww

w.c

anal

soci

etyn

j.org

WA

RR

EN

CO

UN

TY

, NE

W J

ER

SEY

Fo

r F

urt

her

Info

rmat

ion

Co

nta

ct:

Pre

par

ed b

y:

INC

LIN

ED

PLA

NE

9 W

EST

A L

INK

TO

OU

R H

IST

OR

Y

A P

AT

HW

AY

TO

OU

R F

UT

UR

E

AB

OV

E:

Th

e In

clin

ed

Pla

ne

9 W

est

po

wer

h

ou

se o

nce

ho

use

d

the

mac

hin

ery

that

p

rovi

ded

th

e p

ow

er t

o

rais

e an

d lo

wer

can

al

bo

ats

100

feet

in a

bo

ut

15 m

inu

tes.

RIG

HT:

A

mo

der

n v

iew

loo

kin

g

the

incl

ined

pla

ne.

3

2

PlaneTender’sHouse

Brakeman’sHouse

PlaneSummit

Upper CanalLevel Lower Canal

Level

Tailra

ce

Bypass Channel

Headrace Flume

Cradle Car & Canal Boat

Cable

Tailrace TunnelBypassFlume

Cradle Car & Canal Boat

THE INCLINED PLANE THE WATER

The stone foundation of the power house is still intact with its opening covered with iron bars. You can see the reaction turbine that once powered the plane still in place in the cham-ber below. Nearby are assembled pieces of the penstock and parts of the machinery. Across the driveway is the plane itself marked by a double row of sleeper stones. A modern reconstruction shows how the plane rails were supported on heavy wooden timbers that provided a fl exible cushion between the rail and the sleeper stones.

Downhill from the power house is the iron arch that frames the end of the tailrace tunnel. Here, used water from the turbine chamber and water from the bypass fl ume joined to fl ow down the tailrace channel and into the lower level of the canal at the bottom of the plane. When tours are being offered, it is possible to walk up the tail-race tunnel and into the turbine chamber. The

The water to power the inclined plane was brought to the powerhouse from the upper level of the canal in a

headrace fl ume supported on a wooden trestle and stone piers. At the power house the water was dropped 47 feet to turn a reaction turbine located in a chamber below. Used water exited the turbine chamber through a tailrace tunnel and fl ows into the lower canal level to be used to power the next inclined plane. When the inclined plane was not in oper-ation, water was routed through a bypass fl ume and channeled directly to the lower level of the canal.

huge reaction turbine that once powered the plane almost completely fi lls the room. When the plane tender opened the tub valve above, the pressure of thousands of tons of water would send the head of the turbine spinning at about 60 revolutions per minute. Water from the turbine’s four nozzles would fi ll the chamber and send a river surging down the tailrace tunnel.

At the top of the plane the summit acted as a dam to contain the water in the upper level of the canal and divert it into the headrace fl ume. A double set of tracks came up the plane, over the summit and back down into the water. The 90-foot-long canal boats and cradle cars were built in two hinged sections that could fl ex as they crossed the summit of the plane. Plane 9 West’s double set of tracks and two cradle cars, allowed boats to go up and down the plane at the same time.

The two-inch-diameter wrought iron cable formed a loop traveling on idler pulleys from the cable winding drum in the power house to sheave wheels located under water in the upper and lower levels of the canal. As the cable drum turned it pulled the cable and moved the cradle cars loaded with canal boats up and down the plane.

THE CABLE

THE CRADLE CARS Canal boats were transported up and down the

inclined plane on wheeled cradle cars riding on iron rails. To facilitate loading and unloading the boats the rails extended down into the bottom of the canal at both ends of the plane. The cradle cars rolled down into the water and the boats were fl oated on. A brakeman supervised the loading, rode the cradle car up and down the plane, and applied a brake to keep the car under control. Both the boats and cradles were built in two sections so that they could fl ex as they crossed the summit of the plane.

CABLE DIAGRAM

Upper Canal Level

Power House

Headrace Flume

TailraceLower Canal Level Turbine

Inclined

Plane

WATER FLOW

DIAGRAM

Upper Canal Level

Lower Canal Level

CableDrum

Cradle Cars

SheaveWheels

Sheave Wheel

o help the canal climb over the New JerseyHighlands on its way from Phillipsburg toJersey City, the Morris Canal & Banking

Company developed inclined planes to raise and lower its canal boats up to 100 feet at a time. Built in the 1830s and redesigned in the 1850s, these huge machines were up to 1,400 feet long and capable of moving boats loaded with 70 tons of cargo from one canal level to the next. The canal used 23 of these inclined planes and 23 lift locks to overcome an elevation change of almost 1,700 feet, an unbroken world record. After years of service, the canal was abandoned in 1923 and much of its infrastructure was dismantled. However, at Inclined Plane 9 West the plane tender’s house, turbine chamber and tailrace tunnel are still in place making this site one of the best remaining examples of these engineering marvels.

T The Power House1

The Tailrace2

The Plane Summit3

Power House

Idler Pulleys

The Plane 9 West power house is seen above, while below water fl ows from the

bypass trough on the left and the tailrace tunnel on the right.

The headrace fl ume, measuring eight feet wide by fi ve feet deep, brought water from the upper level of the canal to the power house.

A cradle car and canal boat on its way up the inclined plane.

An empty cradle car sits in the water at the bottom of the inclined plane.