Schuylkill Navigation Company

The Schuylkill Canal opened in 1825 as the Schuylkill Navigation Company's interconnected series of canals and slack water pools along the Schuylkill River in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Schuylkill Navigation Company was a company chartered in 1815 to build navigation improvements in the Schuylkill River. At the time, the river was the cheapest and most efficient method of transporting bulk cargo. As a result of this improved transportation, coal-mining grew as the major source of industry between Pottsville and Eastern markets, and nowhere was the connection of the anthracite reach so discernible as in Pottsville. Mules pulled small barges of coal from Port Carbon to Pottsville, to the ports of Philadelphia.

History

The Schuylkill Navigation Company was chartered in 1815 to build a series of navigation improvements in the Schuylkill River. A waterway of 108 miles (174 km) was completed in 1827 linking Philadelphia to Port Carbon in the anthracite coal fields or the Coal Region of Pottsville. Combining 62 miles (100 km) of separate canals, often referred to as "reaches", with 46 miles (74 km) of slack water pools, the Schuylkill Navigation used 92 lift locks to overcome a difference of 588 feet (179 m) in elevation between its terminal points. The Union Canal, built between 1821 and 1828, connected with the Schuylkill Canal at Reading; the two canals combined to make a water link between Philadelphia and the Susquehanna River at Middletown. This route competed with and became secondary to the east–west divisions of the Pennsylvania Canal on the Main Line of Public Works between Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh. The Schuylkill Canal also featured the first transportation tunnel in America.^[2] This 450 foot (137 m) bore through a hill near Auburn, was completed in 1824, but due to increased traffic, it was bypassed in 1857.

Due to its ability to transport bulk cargoes and provide water power, the Schuylkill Navigation transformed the towns of Reading, Norristown, and Pottsville into early manufacturing centers. By using the Delaware River and the Delaware and Raritan Canal, manufactured products and anthracite from the Schuylkill Valley could also reach New York Harbor. The Schuylkill Navigation system quickly assumed a monopoly position in the transportation of anthracite coal from the coal mines of Schuylkill County to Philadelphia. By 1841 the Schuylkill Navigation was annually transporting over 737,517 tons of cargo. However, in 1841 the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad was completed as a competing means of transporting coal from the Schuylkill anthracite fields to Philadelphia. A rivalry between these two forms of transportation soon developed.

Competition with the railroad

By 1845 the railroad was able to haul three times as much anthracite to Philadelphia each year as the Schuylkill Navigation. To counter this threat, the Schuylkill Navigation Company began a major expansion program. By 1847 the canals had been enlarged to allow the passage of boats carrying 230 tons of coal. In 1850 a price fixing arrangement with the railroad stabilized prices for the transportation of anthracite. This decade was the Schuylkill Navigation's most prosperous period, transporting 1,700,000 tons of cargo during the peak year of 1859. However, in that same year the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad carried over 2,500,000 tons.

Decline

During the 1860s the canal entered a period of decline. In 1869 it was damaged by a flood. Surrendering to the competition in 1870, the Schuylkill Navigation Company leased its waterway to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad for a period of 979 years. Under the railroad's control, the Schuylkill Navigation continued to decline. Since the Delaware and Raritan Canal was owned by the competing Pennsylvania Railroad, Schuylkill boats were denied access to this important New Jersey waterway. As a result, traffic on the Schuylkill decreased rapidly. By 1890 only 144,994 tons of cargo passed through the Schuylkill Navigation. The Schuylkill Navigation was also greatly hindered by the problems of coal silt deposits which made its upper sections almost unusable. By 1891 the portion of Navigation above Port Clinton was abandoned. By 1904 the anthracite traffic had almost completely ceased, and after 1913 only an occasional cargo passed between Port Clinton and Philadelphia. Excursion vessels and pleasure boating remained active on the Schuylkill Navigation until much of the waterway was destroyed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during 1947–1979 in efforts to remove coal silt from the Schuylkill River.

Chester County Canal

The Chester County Canal was an extension of the Schuylkill Canal built by the Schuylkill Navigation Company in 1928 to connect the industrial section of Phoenixville to the slackwater pool above the Black Rock Dam (and thus to the rest of the canal). This canal paralleled the top end of the Oakes Reach, on the opposite side or the river. The Chester County Canal was initially built to provide water power to a mill in Phoenixville. In 1847 there was scheduled passenger service between Phoenixville and Norristown.^[3]

Present day canal

Functional Lock 60 gates and bridge after their 2004-5 restoration.

Canal aqueduct over Crossman's Run, near Oaks

There are two watered stretches of the canal still in existence. Some 2.5 miles (4.0 km) of the 3.5 miles (5.6 km) long Oakes Reach between Oaks and Mont Clare and a 1 mile (1.6 km) stretch in Manayunk.

Oakes Reach

The head of the Oakes Reach is at the Black Rock Dam (Dam #26), near Mont Clare. The canal passes through the dam structure at Lock #60. The volunteer Schuylkill Canal Association has restored Lock 60 to operating condition[1]. The nearby locktender's house has also been restored[2]. The Reach runs under Pennsylvania Route 29 in Mont Clare, directly across the river from Phoenixville, then through Port Providence. An impounding basin from the silt removal project cuts the canal after Longford Road and the final mile of the Reach, has been filled in. An old stone aqueduct, that carried the Canal over Crossman's Run, and the Locktender's House are still existent; but Lock 61, Brower's Lock, was filled in.

This reach is named for Thomas Oakes, chief engineer of the Schuylkill Navigation Company. The Oakes Reach canal, locks, locktenders' houses, Black Rock Dam, and the slackwater pool extending up to the Pennsylvania Route 113 bridge form the "Schuylkill Navigation Canal, Oakes Reach Section" historic district.

Manayunk Reach

The head of the Manayunk Reach is at the Flat Rock Dam (Dam #31), near Shawmont. The canal passes through the dam structure at Lock #68. This stretch of canal forms the northern side of Venice Island, which is facing develoment pressures. At the downstream end of this reach, the canal runs through Manayunk and returns to the river via Locks 69 & 70. All three lock structures still exist.

Schuylkill River Trail

The Schuylkill River Trail (SRT) now overlays portions of the canal route. In Manayunk, the Trail uses the canal towpath.

In 2008 the extension of the Schuylkill River Trail from the Perkiomen Creek to Longford Road in Oaks opened. This length of the Trail makes use of the general course of the filled portion of the Oakes Reach and temporarily uses the old canal aqueduct to cross Crossman's Run. On 14 February 2008, a meeting was held to announce the survey work for the extension of the Schuylkill River Trail along the towpath of the watered portion of the Oakes Reach. It is expected that the towpath restoration itself will commence around March 2009.^[4]

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
^ "The Schuylkill and Transportation". Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
^ Pennypacker, Samuel Whitaker (1872). Annals of Phoenixville and Its Vicinity: From the Settlement to the Year 1871. Philadelphia: Bavis & Pennypacker, printers, p. 176.
^ "Schuylkill Canal Towpath Restoration Project". Retrieved on 2008-03-15.

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