Canals in Pennsylvania

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The Schuylkill Navigation Company
The Schuylkill Navigation Company provided for the construction of a lock navigation system to extend from Philiadelphia to Port Carbon, PA, a distance of 108 miles. "The entire navigation system was completed in 1825. It was an immediate success. For the next 50 years, canal boats brought millions of tons of anthacite downriver, fueling the industrial revolution in every town along the way. Return trips, up river, carried manufactured goods, clothing and building materials."⁽⁴⁾
Schuylkill Canal freighter, Blue Mtn Dam, N of Hamburg 1906 H. C. Wilson(5)	Schuylkill Canal, Birdsboro	Schuylkill Canal, Blue Mtn Dam, Hamburg 1914	Schuylkill Canal , Hamburg locks
Schuylkill Canal, Hamburg 1907	Schuylkill Canal lock, Hamburg 1906	Schuylkill Canal , Hamburg	Schuylkill Canal, Fricks Locks near Pottstown
Schuylkill Canal, Gilles Locks1907	Schuylkill Canal lock, Leesport	Schuylkill Canal, Oaks Brower's Locks	Schuylkill Canal, Mont Clare
Schuylkill Canal Black Rock Dam, Lock #60, Mont Clare	Schuylkill Canal boats , Norristown	Schuylkill Canal, Norristown	Schuylkill Canal Pigeon Creek , Parker Ford
Schuylkill Canal , Parker Ford near lock #56	Schuylkill Canal lock 56, Parker Ford	Schuylkill Canal lock 57, Parker Ford	Schuylkill Canal lock 57, Parker Ford
Schuylkill lock , Phoenixville 1906	Schuylkill lock , Phoenixville 1905	Schuylkill lock , Phoenixville 1910	Schuylkill Canal Phila Reading Dock, Port Clinton 1907
Schuylkill Canal Phila, Port Clinton	Schuylkill Canal Laurel Hill Locks, Potstown	Schuylkill Canal , Potstown 1920	Schuylkill lock #47, Reading 1906
Lewis's or Big Reading Dam #24, and Lock #50 , entrance to the Girard Canal, Reading 1907	Schuylkill Canal boat , Reading	Schuylkill Canal Ritz's Lock, Reading	Schuylkill Canal Wetzel's Lock, Reading
Schuylkill Canal Wetzel's Lock, Reading	Schuylkill Canal, Reading	Schuylkill Peacocks lock , Reading	Schuylkill Canal , Royersford
Schuylkill bridge, Spring City 1908	Schuylkill Canal, Spring City	Schuylkill Canal boats, Schuylkill Haven	Schuylkill Canal, Schuylkill Haven 1907
Schuylkill Canal lock, Schuylkill Haven 1911	Schuylkill Canal, Shoemakersville 1907	Schuylkill Canal, Shoemakersville 1907	Schuylkill Canal, Tuckerton 1907
Schuylkill Canal Exhange Bridge, Waterloo, N of Hamburg 1907		Schuylkill Canal , Waterloo, N of Hamburg
Pennsylvania Canal System.
"In 1826, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania began building a 1,200 mile system of canals to connect Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Lake Erie . These new transportation routes would carry the raw materials and manufactured products that would power this country's industrial revolution."⁽⁷⁾ The main line of the system was completed by 1834. As the railroad industry grew more powerful, the canal systems became obsolete and by the 1850's most of Pennsylvania's canals were abandoned. The Pennsylvania Railroad purchased the entire Mainline Canal system in 1857. The Susquehanna Division ran 41 miles from Clarks Ferry in the south to Northumberland in the north. It had a total lift of 86.5 feet with 14 locks, including the two outlet lots at either end. The canal was completed in 1831 and, although financially unsuccessful, gave impetus to the anthracite coal industry. North Branch Canal originally ran 72.5 miles from Northumberland to the Lackawanna River above Pittston, PA. The canal passed through Danville, Rupert, Bloomsburg, Berwick and Willes-Barre. It also served Catawissa and other points on the side of the river (Susquehanna) opposite the canal. The canal had several extensions to it and was fully opened in 1856 when the boat "Towanda" passed Pitston to Elmira, NY with a cargo of coal. Delaware Division was was built to connect with the Lehigh Navigation at Easton and carry coal from this water-way to tidewater at Bristol, PA. The canal was completed in 1832, with 24 locks. The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company took over 1858, and operated the Lehigh Navigation and Delaware Canal as a single system until 1932."⁽⁶⁾ The main purpose of the Delaware Canal was to serve as an extension to the Lehigh Canal to transport anthracite coal from the mines near Mauch Chunk to seaboard markets.
Pennsylvania Canal, N branch, Berwick	Pennsylvania Canal, N branch, Berwick 1881	Pennsylvania Canal, N branch, Berwick	Pennsylvania Canal, N branch, Espy 1910
Delaware Canal, Briener's - Upper Black Eddy near Pt Pleasant	Delaware Canal 6 Mile Level North, 36Upper Black Eddy near Pt Pleasant	Pennsylvania Canal, Delaware Div, Bristol 1906	Pennsylvania Canal, Delaware Div, Bristol 1910
Pennsylvania Canal, Delaware Div, Bristol 1908	Pennsylvania Canal, N branch, Profile Rock,Catawissa	Pennsylvania Canal, N branch, DL&W Train in Catawissa, PA	Pennsylvania Canal, N branch, Chickies Rock, Columbia
Morris Canal Store Penn Canal, Delaware Div, Easton	Penn Canal, Delaware Div , Kintnersville	Penn Canal, Delaware Div , Kintnersville 1911	Pennsylvania Canal, Del Div, Morrisville 1909
Pennsylvania Canal, Del Div, Morrisville 1921	Penn Canal , Narrows	Penn Canal, Delaware Div, boat w/ mules, New Hope	Penn Canal, Delaware Div, boat w/ mules, New Hope
Penn Canal, Delaware Div, boat "W A Leisenring", New Hope 1907	Penn Canal, Delaware Div, Lock 11, New Hope	Penn Canal, Delaware Div, New Hope	Penn Canal, Delaware Div, New Hope
Penn Canal, Delaware Div, New Hope	Penn Canal, Delaware Div, New Hope 1970	Penn Canal, Delaware Div, New Hope 1912	Penn Canal, Upper Dock Delaware Div, New Hope, boat #273
Penn Canal, Upper Dock Delaware Div, New Hope 1920	Penn Canal, Delaware Div River House, New Hope 1920	Penn Canal, Delaware Div , Palisades near Riegelsville 1913	Lower Lock, Delaware Canal , Point Pleasant
Belmont Canal , Philadelphia 1906	Penn Canal, Delaware Div , Raubsville	Penn Canal, Delaware Div , Raubsville	Penn Canal, Delaware Div , Raubsville
Penn Canal, Delaware Div, Riegelsville 1933	Penn Canal, Delaware Div, Riegelsville	Penn Canal, Delaware Div, Riegelsville	Penn Canal, Delaware Div, Durham Lock Riegelsville
Penn Canal, Delaware Div, Yardley 1906	Penn Canal, Delaware Div, Yardley	Penn Canal, Delaware Div, Yardley	Penn Canal, N Branch , Danville
W. branch Penn Canal, Lock below Montoursville	W. branch Penn Canal, Muncy	Penn Canal, Last Days , Northumberland by Boust 1889	Penn Canal, Good Times, Northumberland by Boust 1889
Penn Canal, Looking North, Northumberland by Boust 1889	Penn Canal, W. branch , Watsontown	Pennsylvania Canal, N Branch , houseboat, Wilkes-Barre 1885	Pennsylvania Canal, N Branch , South St Bridge Wilkes-Barre 1870
Pennsylvania Canal, N Branch , closeup-South St Bridge Wilkes-Barre 1870		Pennsylvania Canal, Susquehanna branch , Falmouth
Originally Middletown was to be the start of the canal, but in 1828, canal officials changed the starting point to Columbia where the canal would interchange with a railroad from Philadelphia. The Columbia canal closed in 1901. A canal basin at Columbia offered an outlet lock to the river and it was here that workers shifted freight between boat and railroad cars and let boats in and out of the lock. Passenger boats were designed in sections so for a trip west workers would assemble the parts into one boat and launch it in the basin, and east bound boats would be hauled on special railroad cars.
(4)Schuylkill Canal Assoc. (5)"The Blue Mtn and Reading Story" by Therman W. Maderia (6)National Canal Museum (7)History of the Delaware Canal

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