Coal & Canals Traveling the Schuylkill River Trail from Pottsville to Reading Text and photographs by Cindy Ross ur cycling adventure along the Schuylkill River, traveling south to- ward Philadelphia, begins in Schuylkill County, where in 1790, a hunter named Necho Allen discovered the largest Oknown deposit of anthracite coal at the base of Broad Mountain near Pottsville. Over the following decades, millions of tons of coal would be mined and shipped via canals (and later railroads) along the Schuylkill River. Ironworks, foundries, mills, blast furnaces, rail yards, warehouses and train stations sprang up along the valley, changing the landscape from bucolic farm pastures to bustling company towns. Today, the coal boom is over, the canal era has faded into oblivion and almost all of the rails of the Pennsylvania Railroad have been removed or paved over. The Schuylkill River Trail For 130 miles from Pottsville follows the former route to Philadelphia, the Schuylkill of the Pennsylvania River Trail (SRT) serves as both Railroad. Along the 130 a recreational opportunity for miles from Pottsville cyclists and a history lesson to Philadelphia, many about a time when coal reigned interpretive signs have supreme in these parts. been installed to tell To date, about half of the the historical tale of the crushed-stone, multi-use trail effort to ship coal down- is complete, while the remain- stream and the com- ing miles will take us along munities of people who rural roads (ample directional lived along the path. 34 Vol. 40, No. 4 | www.pa-mag.com Pennsylvania Magazine | July/August 2017 35 SRT markers show the way). If you want to Schuylkill River to join the fisherman’s trail, follow the river in one continuous jour- while those going further south on the ney, you could easily spend a week cycling trail will exit onto Tunnel Road and follow the trail while exploring the hamlets and blacktop roads to the Auburn trailhead. cities along the way. Or you could plan a The Auburn Dam in Landingville is shorter trip by scheduling your bike ride the first sediment basin on the Schuylkill around a single festival (see box on page 39) River. Years ago, coal was washed in the or sampling a specific section of the trail river to remove the dirt and silt from the in an afternoon. sizeable coal, and the fine particles left Whatever your preference, unload your behind contributed to an enormous load of bicycles and mount up for your ride. sediment. In the mid-20th century, dams were constructed to serve as silt traps, The John B. Bartram Section and the dredged sediment was poured ON THIS FIRST SECTION of the developed into desilting basins and later reclaimed. Schuylkill River Trail, the landscape The next short section, less than a mile around the Landingville marsh rings with in length, from Auburn south is narrow bird song (211 species of breeding birds have and pretty. It ends on River Road, which been counted here), and wildflowers line the continues past the remnants of an old lock route. We travel the 1.5-mile trail, which on the right. When the coal rush began, joins up with a one-mile-long fisherman’s men were so eager for the riches the coal trail, to circumvent the watery basin. industry offered that they hauled the early Along the way, we spy ospreys, herons, canal boats themselves, pulling them along bald eagles and ducks. from shore by tying ropes to stout sticks The three northern segments of the slung across their chests. When the canal Schuylkill River Trail are called the John opened its full length in 1825, mules on tow- B. Bartram Trail, in honor of a local pedia- paths were used instead to pull the boats. trician who supported the Schuylkill River The 6.5-mile route of the John B. Bar- Greenway Association and was largely tram Trail from Hamburg to the Auburn responsible for the original purchase of Railroad Bridge is arguably the most the Pennsylvania Railroad properties, on beautiful section, with great walls of dense which this section of trail resides. He is a rhododendron, forest floors covered in Many transportation routes have been (above) As early as the mid-1800s, railroad tracks direct descendent of 18th century naturalist hay-scented ferns and shady pitch pines cut through this gap, where the Schuylkill were laid in Port Clinton, Schuylkill County, to re- John Bartram, “the Father of American that carpet the trail in soft, peach-colored River flows through the mighty Blue place the canal boats that moved materials down- Botany,” whose home on the west bank needles. In June, when the rhododendrons Mountain, and Port Clinton is a histor- stream. Today, the Blue Mountian and Northern of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, are in bloom, the whole mountainside is ically significant canal town as well as an Railroad carries freight and operates rail excursions where the trail ends, is the oldest surviving speckled with massive white bouquets important hub for long-distance hikers on for passengers through the valley. botanical garden in America. of flowers. the Appalachian Trail, who use the facilities (right) The canal system along the Schuylkill RIver Bartram made a series of botanical This section of the trail hugs the Blue here to resupply and reconnect. became a victim of its primary user, the coal journeys to distant parts of the country, Mountain and looks down on the Schuylkill In the mid-1800s, tracks were laid in mines. So much silt traveled downstream that as but his first in 1736 was to the source of River and across the drainage to the far Port Clinton when the railroad replaced early as 1853, part of the canal was shut down the Schuylkill River, where our trail today ridge. Not far from the start, an iron truss canal boats as the prominent mover of in Port Clinton. By the mid-1900s, the state had begins and where his distant descendent bridge, constructed between 1890 and goods. Today, the Blue Mountain and embarked on a major desilting project that moved came to live. Fittingly, this 130-mile journey 1905, crosses over the active rail line below. Northern Railroad still carries freight as much of the silt and coal dust materials from the will begin and end with the Bartram family, well as passengers through the valley on river into the former canals. only hundreds of years apart. A Detour to Port Clinton rail excursions. From the trail, cyclists are At the trail’s beginning on Main Street THREE MILES INto THE Hamburg-Auburn provided a bird’s-eye view of the scenic in Landingville, a restored arched railroad section of the trail, we intersect with the rail yard, which was rebuilt in the 1990s tourists come for the massive plates of bridge crosses over Mahannon Creek. At national scenic Appalachian Trail, the to replicate stations of a bygone era. homemade French fries and burgers. the far end of the section is the Auburn longest continually marked footpath in Port Clinton is a worthy off-bike detour. munities and industries also polluted the Pollution of the Schuylkill River Act (oth- Tunnel, the nation’s first transportation the world. Here, the trail heads south up You can visit the Port Clinton Peanut Shop Cabela’s Wetland Trail river and canal by draining sewage and erwise known as the Desilting Act) and the tunnel, which was cut into the rock by a steep grade or north down to the rail and purchase old-time penny candy and DURING CoaL’S HEYdaY, stoRMwatER carried other wastes from oil refineries, slaugh- Clean Streams Act—and efforts to clean the Schuylkill Navigation Co. in 1818 and yard of the Blue Mountain and Northern peanuts roasted onsite and sold in paper fine coal dust particles, a byproduct of the terhouses, woolen mills, iron factories up the river began. opened in 1856. An interpretive panel at Railroad and the borough of Port Clinton. bags. Next door, the Port Clinton Hotel, coal mining industry, into the Schuylkill and other industries. Seven dams, three desilting basins, and the site explains the tunnel. An important railroad town, Port Clin- an early 1800s hotel and tavern that served River. Over time, this sediment choked In the middle of the 20th century, two 26 impounding basins were constructed Walkers and cyclists opting for the short ton was named for New York’s Dewitt as a stagecoach stop, is a Schuylkill Canal the river and canal and contributed to the acts were passed that led to the cleanup to help dispose of the dredged materials, loop will head west toward the dammed-up Clinton, the champion of the Erie Canal. landmark. Hikers, trail riders and area closing of the navigation system. Com- of the Schuylkill River—the Prohibiting which by 1955 had totaled more than 20 36 Vol. 40, No. 4 | www.pa-mag.com Pennsylvania Magazine | July/August 2017 37 refrigerated cars to Philadelphia to be sold Overnight at Reading local Utz pretzels. Over the decades, the to city-dwellers who used the ice to cool IN THE READING AREA, the Schuylkill River famous establishment has been visited their food in the summer. Trail is called the Thun Trail after Wyo- by such celebrities as singer Frank Sina- The lock in Leesport ensured transpor- missing industrialist Ferdinand Thun. tra, entertainer Red Skelton and novelist tation was big business there. Merchants The trail runs for another 18.3 miles to John Updike. would dock their boats in the large basin, Pottstown, the headquarters for the trail, After dinner, we hop on our bikes for stay overnight in the lock tender’s house but we decide to spend the night in the the half-mile ride to the 1873 Overview and buy goods in town to take back to Phil- city of Reading before starting the next Mansion on Center Avenue for a night’s adelphia on their canal boats.