It enters the borough of East Side, opposite White Haven, on the left (Carbon) bank. Leaving the boroughs, the river enters Foster Township on the right (Luzerne) bank, and returns to Kidder Township, passing Hickory Run State Park on the left (Carbon) bank. The river and park then leave Luzerne County, with the southern part of the park entirely within Carbon County. Lehigh Township is on the right bank, with the river entering Penn Forest Township soon after on the left bank. The river veers west here and makes a large, tight bend at Rockport and the central access point (right bank), before heading back east, then south, west, and then generally south again. Some of the land bordering the river here is Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 141. The park then enters the borough of Jim Thorpe on the left bank, then the borough of Nesquehoning on the right bank, with the Glen Onoko southern access point on the right bank in Lehigh Township, just before Nesquehoning. Soon both banks of the river are within the borough of Jim Thorpe, and shortly after this the park ends, just above the Pennsylvania Route 903 bridge. The Lehigh Gorge Trail, a multi-use rail trail, follows the right bank of the Lehigh River south through the park from the village of Port Jenkins in Dennison Township in Luzerne County to Glen Onoko in Lehigh Township in Carbon County. The history of Lehigh Gorge State Park is tied into the development of anthracite coal mining, which was once the center of the high-tech economy of northeastern Pennsylvania in its day. It is also tied into the early-to-middle period of the United States' Canal Era and the rapid development of pragmatic railroading technologies and consequent accelerated growth and use of railroads—all contributing factors in the Pennsylvanian and North American Industrial Revolution. By the 1790s deforestation of the American East, like it had in Britain a century earlier, was making the search for alternative fuels urgent and with England's experience of coal many were willing to invest in ventures to somehow mine and ship Anthracite east to the Delaware River where it could be barged to the cities of the east coast of the United States. England's technological lead was obvious and its extensive canal system was given much credit for the success of Britain's industries and its emergence as the sole world power at the end of the Seven Years' War. While eight mules could carry a ton, each 4-5 mules needed a human to lead them and their loads needed laboriously loaded and unloaded at the beginning and end of each day's march.