By Niki Ingram
When you live or work in the Philadelphia area there is a lot of background conversation about the two rivers that flow through the city – the Schuylkill and the Delaware. People in Center City use the term “from river to river” to refer to geography; in the suburbs people talk about “the other side of the river,” and the traffic reports often tell you whether or not the Delaware River bridges are backed up. While these two rivers surround the city and have shaped its culture, landscape and development, I realized that I didn’t know that much about either of them beyond their basic existence, so I went down a rabbit hole of discovery.
The two rivers that frame this community are very different. To me, the Delaware River looks like a river and feels like a river. There is a grandeur to it. is wide, and it is deep. You can feel the weight of history as you imagine all that it has seen. We know the story of Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas Day 1776 and the significance of that event during the Revolutionary War, but that is just a small part of the river’s history. The Delaware begins in upstate New York near land that was originally inhabited by the Lenape nation. There is a western branch of the river and an eastern branch, both of which begin in the Catskill Mountains and then come together in Hancock, New York to form the Delaware.
If you compare rivers, the Delaware is longer than the Hudson River, but not as long as the Susquehanna. At its deepest point, it is 113 feet deep, but in the Philadelphia area it is approximately 45 feet deep. The Delaware flows south for 282 miles and actually forms borders for Pennsylvania and New York; Pennsylvania and New Jersey; and New Jersey and Delaware. The Upper Delaware River, which is the river above Trenton, is still relatively undeveloped, and the water from that part of the Delaware Water Basin provides drinking water to New York City and parts of Philadelphia. South of Trenton, the river becomes more industrial and navigable and supports ports, not only in Philadelphia and Trenton, but also in Camden and Wilmington, Delaware. Container ships, barges and the tugboats that help them to navigate shipping lanes can be seen throughout the day on the banks of the southern part of the river near these ports.
Not only does the navigability of the Delaware change as it flows south, but its composition also changes. The water is freshwater in Philadelphia, but by the time it reaches Wilmington, which is only 23 miles to the south, it becomes brackish. At its juncture with the Delaware Bay, where it meets the Atlantic Ocean, it is salt water.
This vast body of water which connects the Delaware Valley and all of its parts impacts our day-to-day life as many of cross the river each day. There are actually 48 bridges which cross the Delaware at various points, but seven of those are major spans in the Delaware Valley: The Betsy Ross, the Tacony-Palmyra, the Ben Franklin, The Walt Whitman, the Commodore Barry and the Delaware Memorial Bridge. According to the Delaware River Port Authority, these bridges are crossed by hundreds of thousands of people on any given day.
Our other river is the Schuylkill, and it is more intriguing to me than the Delaware. From the skyscrapers of Center City you can look down and see the “S” shape that the Schuylkill forms as it hugs the city. It feels more personal than the Delaware. When you ride along Kelly Drive or the West River Drive you watch the river flow and see the crew teams as they practice or individual kayakers on the water. It is easy to walk or bike alongside it or to simply sit along the river. And nothing says Philadelphia like the lights along Boathouse Row on any evening.
Not only does the Schuylkill feel different than the Delaware, it is different as it is only 135 miles long, and it exists only in Pennsylvania. It begins in Pottsville and ends in Philadelphia at the old Navy Yard where it actually runs into the Delaware River and is one of the Delaware’s largest tributaries. It is shorter than the Delaware and narrower. These dimensions and the fact that it flows through the city may be why it feels to be more a part of the rhythm of Philadelphia than does the Delaware.
Like the Delaware, the Schuylkill was originally on land that was inhabited by the Lenape people. This river was an important part of the economic development of Philadelphia. It became navigable once the Schuylkill Canal was built in 1825, and was used by the Reading and Pennsylvania Railroads during the19th and the early part of the 20th centuries to help move coal south from Northeastern Pennsylvania. The pollution from mining and the buildup of resulting silt contributed to the poor quality of the river’s water, as did the dumping of large amounts of wastewater from treatment plants along its banks.
The Canal was abandoned in 1931, and there have been concerted efforts since then to improve the quality of the water in the river. In 1978 the Schuylkill became the first designated Pennsylvania Scenic River, but water quality remains an issue. The portion of the river which flows through Philadelphia is used primarily for water sports, and the river itself is the hub of the Schuylkill Trail, which is now 30 miles long and continues to grow.
Although the Schuylkill may not have the magnificence of the Delaware, I find it to be more mysterious, and that may be because it is deceptive. The Schuylkill flows through terrain that it is flat and heavily populated. In some senses, it is the backyard river. On its path through the city and into the Delaware, currents are swifter than they look. Since 2015 more than 18 people have died in the river due to accidents or suicide. This statistic doesn’t include the number of people who fall into river and are rescued. The Schuylkill’s proximity to so many people may make them underestimate the potential danger of the river.
My fascination with both rivers continues to grow, as I went deeper down this rabbit hole than I expected. The next time you hear about either river, I hope that you think about the stories that each holds.
Niki Ingram is co-editor-in-chief of The Philadelphia Lawyer and president of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation.
