Getting around in the Old Days
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, most roads were little more than mud paths. The trail that became the Swamp Pike was so rough in the 18th century that carts were known to upset, and some passengers, rather than ride, would walk along side wagons. Lacking bridges, streams were forded. Indeed, until 1797 the Great Road (later the Ridge Pike) had, at Collegeville, no bridge over the Perkiomen Creek, a major waterway. Teamsters and travelers simply waited for high water to recede.
In the colonial era, Philadelphia ranked second only to London in the value of imports and exports. At one time some 7,000 Conestoga wagons supplied Philadelphia with food, fuel, and exports while hauling imports back to the hinterlands.
Freight costs were a real bottleneck in the growing economy. One source claims that in the early 19th century it cost $8 to $10 a ton to ship products from Reading to Philadelphia by freight wagon. If true, this was a major expense.
Little recognized by history is the freight traffic the Schuylkill River carried before the 1828 opening of the “Navigation” as the Schuylkill Canal was called. In the early 18th century cargoes of wheat, whiskey, flour, and anything else was freighted down river in large dugout canoes that carried several tons. Lesser loads were carried upstream in those same dug-outs. But by about 1760, Schuylkill boat men had copied the successful Durham boats of the Delaware River, and whole fleets of these sturdy craft transported an astonishing volume of merchandise all along the way from the headwaters at Port Clinton to Philadelphia.
Norristown newspapers commented frequently on river traffic. From the Norristown Herald and Weekly Advertiser, March 6, 1802: “Reading. Within the present week were taken on Schuylkill to the mills and city of Philadelphia, in the boats from this place, in one day, the following articles: 1201 barrels of flour, 1425 bushels of wheat, 17 tons of bar iron, 1492 gallons of whiskey, 365 pounds of butter, 500 hats and 500 pounds of stuff.” Apparently this was the freight of one day!
Much of the river traffic was in spring when the water was high. April 13, 1814, “Last week (Schuylkill being remarkably high) an ark, containing 600 bushels of Schuylkill coal, passed this place, destined for the falls of Philadelphia. This being the first attempt to convey valuable coal by water to the city, we hope the enterprising proprietors may find it in their interest to persevere in the undertaking.”
Just upriver from Philadelphia there was a six mile section of falls in the river that prevented navigation all the way to the city. Low water and shallows at various places, though, were the perpetual impediment to the passage of freight.
About this time there developed an acute firewood shortage in the city. The surrounding countryside had been denuded of woodlands by the charcoal industry and by the insatiable demands of tens of thousands of stoves, fireplaces, and kilns. Transporting upstate coal to the city was out of the question; the cost would be astronomical.
The following timely notice appeared on April 5, 1815, “In conformity to an act of assembly passed the 8th day of March inst. entitled ‘An act to authorize the governor to incorporate a company to make a lock navigation on the river Schuylkill,’ the undersigned commissioners are appointed to obtain subscriptions…” and so was begun the canal with an appeal to private investors.
Continuing with articles from the Norristown Herald…September 22, 1819, “The Schuylkill navigation progresses finely. Last week the dam built at Matson’s Ford, a few miles below this borough was closed, which dams the water into the lower lock below the Swede’s Ford, and makes a complete slack water navigation from that place to Philadelphia. The canal and locks on the west side of Schuylkill will be completed this season. Next summer we may have the steam boats plying up and down the Schuylkill.”
Indeed, the Herald reports on July 15, 1827, “Last Sunday the new steam boat, SCHUYLKILL, Capt. Parish, arrived here from Philadelphia. In the afternoon she returned to the city. We understand she is to ply between Philadelphia and Reading.”
The story of steam boats on the Schuylkill is one that should be investigated.
In addition to bulk freight such as coal, wheat, or iron, the newspaper articles also show that the canal provided rapid transport for smaller parcels. July 25, 1826, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Last Sunday a young man of the name of John Shrader, while in the act of bathing himself in the river Schuylkill, about a mile from this borough, was unfortunately drowned. A person who accompanied him would, in all probability, share a similar fate, had not the Norristown packet boat COMET, timely appeared in sight, and rescued him from a watery grave.”
But despite all the hoopla, the canal boat was never to be the major transportation link its builders envisioned. That honor went to the locomotive: workhorse of the industrial age.