Hauling Pennsylvania anthracite and backloads of iron ore among mountain mines, inland ports and tidewater cites along its 106-mile route, the Morris Canal (1824-1924) with its water-powered inclined planes performed an engineering feat ofworldwide note. The Morris Canal and the Age of Ingenuity traces the rise and fall of this hybrid canal-and-railway from technological marvel to quaint curiosity over the course of a century. Built as part of an ambitious network ofnineteenth-century internal improvements, it combined with other canals and railways to solve America s first energy crisis, relieving rising seaboard cities of dependence on depleted woodlots and mud roads. Though superseded by all-season railroads of far greater capacity, the canal fills a formative chapter in the backstory of America s rise from colonial backwater to global economic powerhouse. For those who recognize the importance of innovation to economic growth, the Morris Canal also presents a historical lesson of timely interest."