Description
Gilbert, Joan S. (2004). Mule boy. Canal History and Technology Press. 243 Seiten. ISBN 978-0930973308
Mule Boy presents the history and operation of Pennsylvania’s Lehigh and Delaware canals through the fictional adventures of a boating family; the Oberfeldts. As Captain Manfred, his wife Mary; thirteen-year-old daughter Annie, and ten-year-old son Wilhelm — his father’s neophyte mule driver — journey back and forth along the canals onboard the Onoko Princess during the months of March, April, May and the first three days of June 1862, vignettes and anecdotes taken from the oral histories et canalers have been woven into the tapestry of the story.
The Oberfeldt family and their mules Lucy and Max work for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company of Mauch Chunk, carrying anthracite from the coalfields to Philadelphia. Ther knew everyone who lives along and works on the canals, and you will meet many of them in this book. The year 1862 was a fateful one in the history of the Lehigh River and the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. Young Wilhelm and his family experienced dramatic events that changed the canal forever.
