There are lots of pleasures in collecting obsolete paper money, and not a few lessons as well. The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company isued this note in 1826. It caught my eye for a number of reasons including the odd town name of Mauch Chuck (Pennsylvania). The signer, Josiah White, is credited with founding the town. But where, I wondered is Mauch Chuck? I checked a couple of atlases, but couldn't find Mauch Chuck. Turning to modern technology to help me, I did a search on the World Wide Web. I found Mauch Chuck mentioned as the earlier name for a town now called Jim Thorpe. From one odd name to another. Jim Thorpe, the famed American Indian Olympic athlete, was from there. The town honored him with the name change in 1954. Mystery solved - the town is in eastern Pennsylvania, midway between Wilkes-Barre and Allentown.

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