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French Creek (Schuylkill River tributary)

Protected areas of Berks County, PennsylvaniaProtected areas of Chester County, PennsylvaniaRivers of Berks County, PennsylvaniaRivers of Chester County, PennsylvaniaRivers of Pennsylvania
Scenic Rivers of PennsylvaniaTributaries of the Schuylkill River
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French Creek, once known as Saukanac Creek, is a 22.6-mile-long (36.4 km) tributary of the Schuylkill River in Berks and Chester counties, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The water course was also known as the Vincent River, after Sir Mathias Vincent, who purchased land (now West and East Vincent Townships) along it in Chester County in 1686.French Creek travels through the Hopewell Big Woods, including French Creek State Park, and joins the Schuylkill in Phoenixville. French Creek is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River. The French Creek valley was an important early industrial region, particularly iron, in the United States. Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site along French Creek interprets this history. The Phoenix Iron Works site in Phoenixville, an active iron and steel producer from colonial times until the late 20th century, sits astride the creek just before it joins the Schuylkill. In 1994, the Green Valleys Association (GVA) with its 38 co-petitioners filed a petition with the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board for the upgrade of the French Creek watershed from a designation of High Quality (HQ) to Exceptional Value (EV). In September 1998, the French Creek watershed west of PA 100 and the Birch Run watershed were granted this upgrade. In 2003, Green Valleys and its 48 co-petitioners successfully filed a petition to obtain an upgrade from HQ to EV of the lower reaches of French Creek, from the Kennedy Covered Bridge in East Vincent and East Pikeland Townships upstream to PA 100 in South Coventry Township as well as the entire Beaver Run. This petition was accepted by the Environmental Quality Board in February 2004 and is currently being reviewed.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article French Creek (Schuylkill River tributary) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

French Creek (Schuylkill River tributary)
Phoenix Iron Canal Trail,

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N 40.1363 ° E -75.5101 °
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Phoenix Iron Canal Trail

Phoenix Iron Canal Trail
19460
Pennsylvania, United States
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Black Rock Dam (Schuylkill River)
Black Rock Dam (Schuylkill River)

The Black Rock Dam is a low head dam in the Schuylkill River. Originally constructed as a stone filled, timber crib dam in the early 19th century by the Schuylkill Navigation Company, the dam was one of dozens built to create a slack water pools for the Schuylkill Navigation System. The dam is a contributing property of the "Schuylkill Navigation Canal, Oakes Reach Section" registered historic district. The dam is located between Phoenixville and Mont Clare in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA. The original dam structure is "L" shaped. There is the usual perpendicular crossing creating the low head spillway. However the majority of the structure is a long forebay for the canal, parallel to the left bank. The forebay has two spillways and ends with the structure of Lock 60. Lock 60 is the guard lock of the Oakes Canal portion of the Navigation. In 1828 a lock was added to the right side of the dam as part of the Chester County Canal addition to the Navigation, which provided water power and later transport to Phoenixville. In 1869 this canal was ruined by a flood. In 1902 three hydroelectric generators were added to the forebay by the Reading Traction Company to power a local trolley. The generators have been removed, but the dam is still owned by power company, Exelon. In the later 20th century, the perpendicular section was extended across the end of the forebay, creating a straight bank to bank dam and capping the forebay. In 2008, as part of a project to restore the migratory American shad to the Schuylkill, a fish ladder was added to the dam on the Chester County side. During construction, remnants of the Chester County Canal feeder lock were uncovered and documented by an archeologist.