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 man-made canals and slack-water pools in the river, which is called a navigation. The Schuylkill Navigation System opened in 1825 to provide transportation and water power. At the time, the river was the cheapest and most efficient method of transporting bulk cargo. As a result of this improved transportation, anthracite coal-mining grew as the major source of industry between Pottsville and Eastern markets. Mules pulled barges of coal from Port Carbon to Pottsville; to the ports of Philadelphia; and, continuing through additional waterways, to New York City markets.
The canal eventually declined due to the rise of rail transport, and was almost completely filled in the 1950s. The two remaining watered reaches are now used for recreation.
Read more about Schuylkill Canal: History, Chester County Canal, The Navigation in The Present Day
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“My impression about the Panama Canal is that the great revolution it is going to introduce in the trade of the world is in the trade between the east and the west coast of the United States.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)