The Lehigh River - looking downstream from the PA-33 bridge near Freemansburg - was once a major transportation artery. Before the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company built the canal along the left bank of the river, anthracite coal producers near Mauch Chunk had to wait for periods of high water to float arks of coal as far as Philadelphia via the Delaware. Even so, arks often foundered on the rocks around Bethlehem where locals would sometimes scavenge coal from the riverbed at low water before the owners could reclaim it.