Schuylkill Canal

The Schuylkill Canal, also known as the Schuylkill Navigation, was used for transportation in the 19th century. It was a system of canals and slack water pools that connected along the Schuylkill River. Construction began in 1815 and later opened in 1825. At the time, the river was the least expensive and most efficient method of transporting bulks of cargo. It also fostered the mining of anthracite coal, which was the major source of industry between Pottstown and Eastern Philadelphia at the time. The canal was used up until 1931, and completely filled by the 1950s. Since it is not used as a main source of transportation anymore, some of the remaining water reached are being use today for recreation.

The original name for the Schuylkill Canal was Oakes Reach, named after Thomas Oakes, who was the navigation's first principal engineer and the designer in 1820. A reach is which is the flat water of a canal between two locks, that is where the original name of the canal came from. The navigation originally flowed for three and half miles, from Lock 60 to Lock 61 at Oaks. It flows past the past settlements of Quincy Ville and Jacobs, which are now known as Mont Clare and Lumberville.

The Schuylkill Canal was not the first attempt at building a canal in Montgomery County. The Delaware and Schuylkill Navigation Company was founded to build a canal to connect two rivers in 1792. The planned canal was supposed to run from 17 miles to ease transportation and bring in fresh water to Philadelphia. This canal was never built resulting to the Schuylkill canal that now stands to get built in early 1800s.

During the 1830s, boat traffic increased, causing the Navigation Company to expand. The original Lock 60 was removed, and two lock chambers were built further down the stream where the canal was wider. This caused the town on Lumberville to flourish since the entire area to grow even more, supporting hundreds of passing boats. Since this was the only stop between Norristown and Pottstown a lot of businesses were created. General stores, boat supplies, and stabling for mules were all available at this stop.

The body of water created a bond between the people who lived near the canal. A committee was created called the Schuylkill Canal Advisory Committee. Their job was to create ideas to help and save the canal without major taxpayer expense.

The Canal did well until the 1920s when boat traffic collapsed due to new methods of transportation created. After the collapse the navigation system was not being used for its original purpose, and the old canals were used for recreation. Boats still traveled from Philadelphia to Reading, taking people on extortions. Reaching Port Providence and Mont Clare, lots of homes had access to the canal from their backyards. All having small docks being used for canoes and rowboats.

Since the major source of industry was coal at the time, the Navigation was a great transportation method between Pottstown and Philadelphia. Within time, the canal started to experience some competition in 1842 when the Philadelphia and Reading railroad opened. In the first 4 years, the railroad was able to transport 4 times the amount of coal transported from the Schuylkill Navigation each year. This led to the canal to expand even further, and by 1847, the canal had a passed of boats carrying nearly 230 tons of coal. 1859 was considered the canal's peak year, where it transported 1.7 million tons of cargo.

During the 1860s, railroads were the main method of transportation, which caused most American canals to decline. The Schuylkill Navigation experienced its first major decline in 1869, facing a lot of damaged due to a flood. The board of the canal surrendered to the competition with the railroad and leased the waterway to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad.

The Schuylkill Canal , The Schuylkill Canal Association. Accessed July 5th 2022. https://www.schuylkillcanal.org/page-326428.

CANAL, Schuylkill canal history. Accessed July 19th 2022. http://schuylkillhavenhistory.com/CANAL.html.

Roman, Karen Rodemich . The Schuylkill Cana. Images of America. PA. Arcadia Publishing, 2015.