Reading Area Community College - The Schuylkill Navigation System

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  • Subject = Surveying

About This Collection

The Schuylkill Navigation Company was incorporated in 1815 for the purpose of making the Schuylkill River navigable. In the State Archives of Pennsylvania Manuscript Group 110 there are copies of the legislative acts, minute books, correspondence, reports, and other documents of the company from 1815 until 1947 when the property was contributed to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In the 1947 report Appraisal Schuylkill Navigation Company Canal for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania a "Brief History Of The Property To Be Appraised" is included. The "canal" or navigation system was constructed between Port Carbon and Philadelphia and covered a distance of 108 miles. Harry L. Rinker in his book, The Schuylkill Navigation: a Photographic History, points out that this "canal" was more properly a "navigation system" because it consisted of 18 dams, 23 canals which covered 57.73 miles, 120 locks, 17 stone aqueducts, one 450 foot long tunnel, 50.50 miles of slack water pools, 23 canals covering 57.73 miles, and 31 houses for toll and lock keepers when it was completed in May 1825. After 1825 efforts to improve the navigation system were ongoing, so the above number of structures changed over the years. There are photographs of some of the dwellings still in existence in 1947 in the Appraisal Schuylkill Navigation Company Canal for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Schuylkill Navigation Company collection at Reading Area Community College also includes drawings of reach profiles, canal boats, bowstring bridges, mechanical parts and scows.

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Schuylkill Navigation Company, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Engineering drawings, Reading (Pa.), Bridges—PA, Surveying, Canals—PA, Blueprints
Blueprint of 8-7
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Engineering drawings, Reading (Pa.), Bridges—PA, Surveying, Canals—PA
Canal from Grist Mill to Penn Street Bridge
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Engineering drawings, Reading (Pa.), Canals—PA, Towpaths—PA, Surveying
Lock, dry dock, towpath, & bridge (Big Reading)
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Engineering drawings, Canals—PA, Leesport (Pa.), Surveying, Locks (Hydraulic engineering)—PA
Canal & lock at Leesport
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying
Schopp's survey of 1860 (cover page)
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Schuylkill County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 from Palo Alto to Pottsville at lock 2
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Schuylkill County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 from Pottsville to Dam 5
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Schuylkill County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 from Dam 6 to Dam 7
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Schuylkill County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 from Schuylkill Haven to Dam 10
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Schuylkill County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 from Dam 10 to Dam 12
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Schuylkill County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 from Orwigsburg to Auburn
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Schuylkill County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 from Auburn to Dam 14
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Schuylkill County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 from Dam 14 to Dam 15
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Schuylkill County (Pa.), Berks County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 from Port Clinton to Dam 17
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Schuylkill County (Pa.), Berks County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 from Port Clinton to Dam 17 (copy of A-11-08)
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Berks County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 from Dam 17 to Hamburg
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Berks County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 from Lock 31-32 to Jacob Sieger's property
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Berks County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 from John Hoffman's to Jacob Snyder's properties
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Berks County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 from Mohrsville to Dam 18
Schuylkill Navigation Company, Engineering drawings, Schuylkill River (Pa.), Surveying, Berks County (Pa.)
Schopp's survey of 1860 at Duncan Canal