Welcome to my trains and railroad page! It's in the Blood
Transportation has been a common thread throughout my family's history, starting with my great great grandfather John Bausman, the locktender at lock #12 on the Schuylkill Canal at Schuylkill Haven. Before him our family was engaged in agriculture. John was an employee of the canal, and so was my great grandfather Henry Moses Deibler, who, along with his son, George, was employed as a boatman on the canal. The canal had a huge impact on the borough of Schuylkill Haven, essentially putting the town on the map. The entire street of Parkway in the borough was originally the right-of-way of the canal, and boats plied their way along the street, then called Canal Street, in the same way as automobiles and trucks do in the present day. Streets that crossed the canal, Main, Union, Columbia, Market, Penn, William, and West Liberty Streets crossed Canal Street on bridges. The canal passed through Betz' lock at the northern entrance to Canal Street.
Just below Schuylkill Haven there was a boatyard where canal boats were both built and repaired.
The town of Port Carbon was originally the terminus of the canal, but soon after the canal was opened siltation closed off the stretch from Port Carbon to below the Tumbling Run dam outlet. The two dams at Tumbling Run were installed by the Schuylkill Navigation Company, the parent company of the Schuylkill Canal, to provide a flow of water during dry seasons. In addition the freezing of water in the canal forced the canal to shut down between October and April of each year. So from a practical viewpoint, the canal was unable to produce during the winter every year.
Thus, with the advent of the railroad, the canal was doomed. Not only could freight be moved more quickly and expeditiously, but winter did not faze the train.