Note 50 — TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR OF NORTH AMERICA, IN THE YEARS 1832, 1833, AND 1834 (continued 2)

Josiah White, early interested in mechanics, purchased an estate on the Schuylkill, five miles above Philadelphia, constructed a dam across the river, and erected there a wire mill. Later, he sought a contract for furnishing Philadelphia with water by means of power generated at this dam. After long negotiations the city purchased the plant, belonging to White and Gillingham, his partner, and constructed the Fairmount water works. White, together with Erskine Hazard, then directed his activities to the Lehigh coal fields, and became the active promoter of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. White resided at Mauch Chunk from 1818 to 1831, and then moved to Philadelphia where he died (1850) at the age of seventy. His name is inseparably connected with the canal system of Pennsylvania; see History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon (Philadelphia, 1884), p. 670.—Ed.