| Schuylkill River | |
|---|---|
 The Schuylkill River withCenter City, Philadelphia's skyline in the background, May 2024 | |
 The river's watershed drains parts of the western side ofBroad Mountain and theridge-and-valley Appalachians of the south central PennsylvaniaCoal Region. | |
| Etymology | "hidden/skulking creek" inDutch |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Pennsylvania |
| Counties | Philadelphia,Montgomery,Chester,Berks,Schuylkill |
| Cities | Philadelphia,Norristown,Pottstown,Pottsville,Reading |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | East Branch Schuylkill River |
| • location | Tuscarora,Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States |
| • coordinates | 40°46′24″N76°01′20″W / 40.77333°N 76.02222°W /40.77333; -76.02222 |
| • elevation | 1,540 ft (470 m) |
| 2nd source | West Branch Schuylkill River |
| • location | Minersville,Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States |
| • coordinates | 40°42′51″N76°18′46″W / 40.71417°N 76.31278°W /40.71417; -76.31278 |
| • elevation | 1,140 ft (350 m) |
| Source confluence | |
| • location | Schuylkill Haven,Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States |
| • coordinates | 40°38′01″N76°10′49″W / 40.63361°N 76.18028°W /40.63361; -76.18028 |
| • elevation | 520 ft (160 m) |
| Mouth | Delaware River |
• location | Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, United States |
• coordinates | 39°53′04″N75°11′41″W / 39.88444°N 75.19472°W /39.88444; -75.19472 |
• elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
| Length | 135 mi (217 km) |
| Basin size | 2,000 sq mi (5,200 km2) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Philadelphia |
| • average | 2,875 cu ft/s (81.4 m3/s) |
| • minimum | 995 cu ft/s (28.2 m3/s) |
| • maximum | 40,300 cu ft/s (1,140 m3/s) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Berne |
| • average | 1,120 cu ft/s (32 m3/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Little Schuylkill River,Perkiomen Creek |
| • right | Tulpehocken Creek,French Creek |
TheSchuylkill River (/ˈskuːlkɪl/SKOOL-kil,[1]locally/ˈskuːkəl/SKOO-kəl)[2] is ariver in easternPennsylvania. It flows for 135 miles (217 km)[3] fromPottsville southeast toPhiladelphia, the nation's sixth-largest city, where it joins theDelaware River as one of its largest tributaries.
The river'swatershed of about 2,000 sq mi (5,180 km2) lies entirely within the state of Pennsylvania, stretching from theRidge-and-Valley Appalachians through thePiedmont to theAtlantic Plain.
Historically the Schuylkill lay within the territory of theSusquehannock andLenape peoples. In 1682,William Penn founded the city of Philadelphia between the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers on lands purchased from theLenape Indian tribe. The Schuylkill River became key in the development of the city and the surrounding region.
While long used for transport, the river was made fully navigable via theSchuylkill Canal in 1825, followed by the construction of theReading Railroad Main Line in 1838 and theSchuylkill Branch of thePennsylvania Railroad in 1884. Through these corridors, millions of tons ofanthracite coal flowed down the Schuylkill from theCoal Region to its north inNortheast Pennsylvania.[a] The canal was abandoned in 1931, while theSchuylkill Expressway was completed in 1959.
Industrial pollution and mining silt plagued the river in the 19th and 20th centuries. Early concerns over water quality led to the creation ofFairmount Park in 1812. Protections came with the 1972 passing of theClean Water Act, and the Schuylkill was designated as the firstPennsylvania Scenic River in 1978. Water quality has largely recovered in the years since.
The Schuylkill River aboveFairmount Dam has been a major rowing venue since the founding of theSchuylkill Navy in 1858. In recent decades theSchuylkill River Trail cycle and foot path has been constructed along the river. TheSchuylkill Heritage Corridor was designated a Pennsylvania Heritage Park in 1995 and aNational Heritage Area in 2000 to promote the river's historic, environmental, and recreational significance.[4]
The source of the Schuylkill's eastern branch is in heavily mined land, one ridgeline south of Tuscarora Lake along a drainage divide with theLittle Schuylkill River, about a mile east of the village ofTuscarora and about a mile west ofTamaqua, at Tuscarora Springs inSchuylkill County. Tuscarora Lake is one source of the Little Schuylkill.
TheWest Branch starts nearMinersville and joins the eastern branch at the town ofSchuylkill Haven. It then combines with theLittle Schuylkill River downstream in the town ofPort Clinton. TheTulpehocken Creek joins it at the western edge ofReading.Wissahickon Creek joins it in northwest Philadelphia. Other major tributaries include:Maiden Creek,Manatawny Creek,French Creek, andPerkiomen Creek.
The Schuylkill joins the Delaware River at the site of the formerPhiladelphia Navy Yard, now the Philadelphia Naval Business Center, just northeast ofPhiladelphia International Airport.
The Schuylkill's name derives from the Dutch wordsschuilen, meaning to hide, andkil, meaning stream,[5] apparently because of the "retired and hidden situation of its mouth".[6] According toJohn Heckewelder, a missionary who worked among the localLenape Indians, the native name for the river wasGanshowe-hánne, meaning "roaring stream".[7] The river was also sometimes called theManaiunk in European sources,[7] which derives from a Lenape place-name meaning "place to drink".[8] This name appears on a Swedish map of 1655 in the formMenejackse Kijl.[9]
The mightySusquehannock confederation claimed the area along the Schuylkill as a hunting ground, as they did to the lands down along theChesapeake Bay to the left bankPotomac River across from thePowhatan Confederacy when traders first stopped in theDelaware River and settlers arrived in the first decade of the 1600s.[10] With ample tributary streams, the Schuylkill was ground zero during the early years of theBeaver Wars, during which theLenape tribe became tributary to the victorious Susquehannocks. The Susquehannocks were an Iroquoian people also often in contention with their relatives:[10] theErie people west and northwest through thegaps of the Allegheny in easternOhio and northwestern Pennsylvania between the upperAllegheny River andLake Erie and the Five Nations of theIroquois, another Amerindian confederation eastwards from theright bank of theGenesee River through theFinger Lakes region ofUpstate New York down theSt. Lawrence River.
The Lenape had settlements on the river, including Nittabakonck ("place where heroes reside"), a village on the east bank just south of the confluence of Wissahickon Creek, and the Passyunk site, on the west bank where the Schuylkill meets the Delaware River.[11][12][13]
Americanpatriot paper makerFrederick Bicking owned a fishery on the river prior to theAmerican Revolution, andThomas Paine tried in vain to interest the citizens in funding an iron bridge over this river, before abandoning "pontifical works" on account of theFrench Revolution. TheHessian Camp, which held POWs during the American Revolution was located on the banks of the Schuylkill outsideReading, for multiple years, until it was relocated to a larger site onMt. Penn.
Over the next few decades, industrialistsJosiah White and protege and partnerErskine Hazard built iron industries at the Falls of the Schuylkill during theJefferson's administration, where White built a suspension bridge with cables made from their wire mill. During theWar of 1812, the two took delivery of anark of anthracite coal which was notoriously difficult to combust reliably and experimented with ways to use it industrially, providing the knowledge to successfully begin resolving the ongoing decades long energy crises around eastern cities.[14] The two then heavily backed the flagging effort to improve navigation on the Schuylkill, which efforts date back to legislation measures as early as 1762.
By 1816, needing energy resources and disenchanted with the lack of urgency found in other investors to accelerate the anemic and underfunded construction rate of the Schuylkill Canal, the two jumped to option the mining rights of theLehigh Coal & Navigation Company, which disenchanted stockholders were giving up on. They then waited until a charter to improve the Lehigh went delinquent, resulting in two groups of investors forming two complementary companies in 1818 that jump-started theIndustrial Revolution: theLehigh Coal Company and the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company. Following White's plan, the latter company improved down river navigation on theLehigh River, using his Bear Trap Locks design to deliver over 365 tons of anthracite to Philadelphia docks by December 1820, four years ahead of promises to Stockholders. The success, along with the pending opening of the first operable sections of New York'sErie Canal spurred stockholders of the Schuylkill Canal to finally fund the works. A project which had languished for over a decade got capitalized and began operations in 1822—the same year the Lehigh companies combined into the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, having had to raise additional funds for repairs due to badly ice-damaged improvements, a common problem with northern canals.
The success of these projects and the rosy promise of anthracite (a new wonder fuel in the day) to alleviate energy problems spurred canal construction for the next decade in the east, and commercial opportunities funded three decades of investment from Illinois to the Atlantic Ocean, including the ambitious 1824Main Line of Public Works bill to connect Philadelphia with the newly emerging states of theNorthwest Territory via theAllegheny &Ohio valleys atPittsburgh and toLake Erie— leveraging the wide-ranging branches of theSusquehanna River in the state's center. In the 1830s railway technology and new railroads grew in leaps and bounds, and the Schuylkill Valley was at the heart of these developments, as well as the newAnthracite iron and mining industries. From 1820 to the 1860s Iron works, foundries, manufacturing mills, blast furnaces, rolling mills,rail yards, rail roads, warehouses and train stations sprang up throughout the valley. Tiny farm villages grew into vibrant company towns then transitioned into small cities as a major industry and supporting businesses transformed local economics and populations swelled.
Restoration of the river has been funded by money left for that purpose inBenjamin Franklin's will.[15]
The river is known to have been on fire more than once throughout history, for example in November 1892 when the surface film of oil that had leaked from nearby oil works atPoint Breeze, Philadelphia, was ignited by a match tossed carelessly from a boat, with fatal results.[16]
Silt and coal dust from upstream industries, particularly coal mining and washing operations in the headwaters, led to extensive silting of the river through the early 20th century. The river was shallow and filled with extensive black silt bars. By the early 20th century, upstream coal operations contributed over 3 million tons of silt annually to the river.[17]In 1948, led by then governorJames H. Duff, a massive cleanup effort began. Twenty three impounding basins were excavated along the river, to receive dredged silt. The 1945 Desilting Act helped begin this cleanup task.[18]
The quality of the river has improved much over the past decades. A fish ladder to supportshad migration has been constructed at the Manayunk dam. Mayfly hatches (signifying good water quality) now occur yearly along the Montgomery sections of the river.
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The Schuylkill River valley was an important thoroughfare in the eras of canals and railroads. The river itself, theSchuylkill Canal, theReading Railroad, and thePennsylvania Railroad were vital shipping conduits from the second decade of the 19th century through the mid-20th century. The rise of trucking capabilities and state & county development of road and highway networks progressively took increasing amounts of business away from both competing transport industries. By the mid-1930s the canals inflexibility and a geographically limited pool of customers steadily shifting energy usage away from anthracite doomed most eastern canals, so the Lehigh, Delaware and Schuylkill Canals all ceased operations during theGreat Depression years. The zooming rise of automobile ownership post-World War II, the development of suburbs, and dispersal of industrial buildings into far flung parks serviced by the government supported highways and new interstate highways doomed intercity rail transport. Interstate Commerce Committee regulations required railway operating companies to maintain passenger rail services past their economic viability, further imperiling the railroad's profits and leading to a widespread collapse of the industry in the 1960s and 1970s.
Rail freight still uses many of the same valley rights-of-way that the 19th-century railroads used. Passenger and commuter rail service is more limited. In the 21st century, the old rail bedrights-of-way along the river betweenPhiladelphia andNorristown containSEPTA'sManayunk/Norristown Line, formerly Reading Railroad and theSchuylkill River Trail.
There are efforts to extend both rail and trail farther upriver than they currently reach. The Schuylkill River Trail continues upriver from Norristown toMont Clare, and designers plan to connect it to sections abovePottstown. SEPTA Regional Rail service currently does not go farther upriver than Norristown.
The Schuylkill Expressway (Interstate 76) andU.S. Route 422 follow the course of the river from Philadelphia toValley Forge toReading. Above Reading,Pennsylvania Route 61 continues along the main river valley toSchuylkill Haven, then follows the east branch to Pottsville.U.S. Route 209 continues along the east branch of the river to its head inTuscarora. In Philadelphia,Kelly Drive, formerly East River Drive, and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, formerly West River Drive, flank the river.
The Schuylkill River is popular withrowing,dragon boat, andoutrigger paddling enthusiasts. TheSchuylkill Navy was established on the riverside adjacent to the city of Philadelphia to promote amateur rowing in 1858. TheDad Vail Regatta, an annualrowing competition, is held on the river nearBoathouse Row, as is the annualBAYADA Home Health Care Regatta, featuring disabled rowers from all over the continent, and in autumn the annualHead of the Schuylkill Regatta takes place in Philadelphia. Also, theStotesbury Cup Regatta, the biggest high school regatta in the world, takes place there. The Chinese sport of dragon boat racing was introduced to the United States on the Schuylkill in 1983, and two major dragon boat regattas are held there in June and October of each year.
The section betweenFlat Rock Dam and thePhiladelphia Canoe Club is used bywhitewater canoeing andkayaking enthusiasts.[19] Water skiing, swimming and other aquatic sports are also common outside of Philadelphia city limits.[20]
TheSchuylkill River Trail,[21] which generally follows the river bank, is a multi-use trail for walking, running, bicycling, rollerblading, and other outdoor activities. The trail presently runs from Philadelphia, throughManayunk to the village ofMont Clare, the latter of which are the locations of the last two remaining watered stretches of theSchuylkill Canal. There is also a section of trail starting atPottstown and running upriver toward Reading. Plans are underway to complete the trail from the Delaware River to Reading.
The Schuylkill River is the setting of the fictional estate White Acre inElizabeth Gilbert's 2013 novelThe Signature of All Things, based onThe Woodlands.[22]
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