Formed March 13, 1843; named for its coal deposits; coal was first discovered by Philip Ginter in 1791, on top of Sharp Mountain, now town of Summit Hill, nine miles southwest of Mauch Chunk. In 1818 the Lehigh Navigation Company and the Lehigh Coal Company were formed; under skilful management the almost insuperable obstacles in the way of transportation were overcome; boats 18 feet wide by 25 feet long, two or more hinged together, were floated by artificial freshets on the Lehigh; owing to the great fall in the river and consequent rapidity of its motion, dams were constructed near Mauch Chunk, with sluice gates, invented by Josiah White, a manager of the Navigation Company; they were the first on record used permanently; Lehigh coal is the hardest known anthracite in the world. Other mineral productions are iron, slate, and mineral paint. Wire rope was first invented in Mauch Chunk. The first settlers were Moravian missionaries who, in 1746, purchased 200 acres on the north side of Mahoning Creek above its mouth, for converted Mohican Indians; each Indian family possessed their own lot of ground and Gnadenhütten became a town; the church stood in the valley, with the Indian houses forming a crescent on one side, on the other side was the missionary’s house and burial ground. The road to Wyoming lay through the settlement, being the [Illustration: CARBON COUNTY] famous Warrior’s Path over Nescopec Mountain. In August all partook of their own first fruits in a love feast. Christian Ranch and Martin Mack were the first missionaries residing here; several parts of Scripture had been translated into the Mohican language; the Holy Communion was administered every month, the Indians calling that “The Great Day.” In 1749 Bishop (Baron) John de Watterville went to Gnadenhütten and laid the foundation of a large church; Indian congregation 500 persons. After Braddock’s defeat in 1755 the whole frontier was open to the savage foe; suddenly in 1757, the mission house on the Mahoning was attacked and burnt by French and Indians, and many inhabitants were murdered; a broad marble slab, placed there in 1788, near LEHIGHTON, marks the grave of those massacred. In 1756 Benjamin Franklin was authorized by the Provincial Government to erect forts on the Lehigh; one opposite Gnadenhütten was named Fort Allen, for William Allen, the Chief Justice. At WEISSPORT, in the rear of the “Fort Allen House” may be seen the well dug under Franklin’s supervision; it was within the inclosure of the fort and supplied the soldiers with water. Weissport was settled by Colonel Jacob Weiss, Quartermaster General in the Revolutionary Army, on site of Fort Allen. Municipal parks are at Lehighton and Weissport, given by Jacob Weiss. Also at Lehighton is All Saints’ Chapel, early English Gothic.