Schuylkill Canal
| Schuylkill Navigation | |
|---|---|
Lock 60, guard lock of the Oakes Reach.
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| Specifications | |
| Length | 90 miles (140 km) (originally 108 mi or 174 km) |
| Maximum boat length | 110 ft 0 in (33.53 m) |
| Maximum boat beam | 18 ft 0 in (5.49 m) (originally 13 ft 0 in or 3.96 m) (Size of Lock 60) |
| Locks | 44 (originally 72) |
| Maximum height above sea level | 618.75 ft (188.60 m) (above mid tide of Delaware River) |
| Status |
Mostly infilled |
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Schuylkill Navigation Canal, Oakes Reach Section
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| Nearest city | Phoenixville, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 40°07′57″N 75°30′09.5″W / 40.13250°N 75.502639°W |
| Area | 155.3 acres (62.8 ha) |
| Built | 1821 |
| Architect | Thomas Oakes |
| NRHP Reference # | 88000462 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | May 6, 1988 |
| Designated PHMC | September 4, 1994 |
| History | |
| Principal engineer | Thomas Oakes |
| Construction began | 1815 |
| Date completed | 1827 |
| Date closed | 1947 |
| Geography | |
| Start point |
40°34′42″N 76°01′35″W / 40.57833°N 76.02639°W (originally 40°41′37″N 76°09′52″W / 40.69361°N 76.16444°W) (18 miles (29 km) above Port Clinton abandoned by December 1887) |
| End point | 39°58′02″N 75°11′16″W / 39.96722°N 75.18778°W |
Mostly infilled
Schuylkill Canal is the common, but technically inaccurate, name for the Schuylkill Navigation, a 19th-century commercial waterway in and along the Schuylkill River in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The "canal" was actually a system of interconnected canals and slack-water pools in the river, which is called a navigation. Chartered in 1815, the Schuylkill Navigation opened in 1825 to provide transportation and water power. At the time, the river was the least expensive and most efficient method of transporting bulk cargo, and the eastern seaboard cities of the U.S. were experiencing an energy crisis due to over forestation. It fostered the mining of anthracite coal as the major source of industry between Pottsville and eastern markets. Along the tow-paths, mules pulled barges of coal from Port Carbon through the water gaps to Pottsville; locally to the port and markets of Philadelphia; and some then by ship or through additional New Jersey waterways, to New York City markets.
The Schuylkill was in operation until 1931 and was almost completely filled in the 1950s. Some remaining watered reaches are now used for recreation.
The incorporation of the Schuylkill Navigation Company, the application for a charter to improve the Lehigh, and the Erie Canals, all in 1815, raised the national consciousness about the differences between the United States and Europe's and especially Great Britain's water transportation networks. But it took the lower Lehigh Canal project's test shipments of coal in 1819 proving the Lehigh's locks concept, the temporary market-glut caused by their 1820 achievements of delivering over 365 tons of Anthracite to Philadelphia, and then the regularly increasing tonnages shipped down to Philadelphia's docks over the next 2–3 years, to excite and inspire the movers and shakers of Pennsylvania and attract far-sighted investors and speculators from all along the Eastern Seaboard cities to capitalize and fund companies. which began a deluge of private canal projects in the 1820s (or act to finish those well begun, but long lacking funding and resources, like the Schuylkill Canal and the Chesapeake & Delaware Ship Canal)—vastly accelerating the nascent North American Canal Age; the Delaware and Hudson Canal companies, the Delaware and Raritan Canal, the Morris Canal, the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal and various others were conceived, incorporated, funded or finally constructed as a result of the successes in 1821 & 1822 of the Erie and Lehigh projects.
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Wikipedia