The Schuylkill and Susquehanna Navigation Company was a limited liability corporation founded in Pennsylvania on September 29, 1791. The company was founded for the purpose of improving river navigation, which in the post-colonial United States era of the 1790s meant improving river systems, not canals. In this Pennsylvania scheme, however, two rivers, a large river, the Susquehanna and a smaller one, the Schuylkill were to be improved by clearing channels through obstructions and building dams where needed. To connect the two watersheds, the company proposed a 4 miles (6.4 km) summit level crossing at Lebanon, a length of almost 80 miles (130 km) between the two rivers. The completed project was intended to be part of a navigable water route from Philadelphia to Lake Erie and the Ohio Val