Manayunk Canal Locks 69 & 70

The Manayunk Canal, begun in 1819, started two miles upstream at Flat Rock Dam and ended at Locks 69 and 70 as part of a 108 mile system of canals, locks, dams, and slackwater pools built by the Schuylkill Navigation Company to transport goods and anthracite coal from Schuylkill County. Flat-bottomed boats carrying cargo were pulled by mule teams walking on a raised towpath along the canal's river side, and the canal also supplied water power that helped Manayunk develop as a nineteenth-century textile mill center. Locks 69 and 70 were rebuilt after their initial low-quality construction, and boats passed through the double lock to be lowered or raised more than 24 feet; below the locks, mules were carried on boats and poled across the Schuylkill River to continue the trip. A wooden mule towpath bridge was later built and was eventually replaced by a bridge cantilevered from the railroad bridge. The Schuylkill Navigation Company remained successful against the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company until 1870, but after a devastating drought and then a catastrophic flood depleted its funds, the system was leased to the railroad. The iron truss bridge, the Venice Island rail spur, and track laid over the original towpath show the canal's obsolescence, and the present towpath was established in the 1970s.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States