Ruins of a lock on the old Schuylkill Canal. The canal functioned for just over a century and played a major role in the economic development of the region carrying millions of tons of coal, as well as agricultural and other products south and manufactured goods back to the north. The canal stretched from Port Carbon (near Pottsville the county seat of Schuylkill County) to Philadelphia serving the cities of Reading (Berks County) and Pottstown (Montgomery County) and many smaller communities some of whose names preserve a bit of that heritage (Port Clinton and Leesport, for example). At its peak, the Schuylkill Canal moved more tonnage than any other canal in the country.