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The Union Canal was a towpath canal that existed in southeastern Pennsylvania during the 19th century.  First proposed in 1690 to connect Philadelphia with the Susquehanna River, it ran approximately 82 miles from Middletown on the Susquehanna below Harrisburg to Reading on the Schuylkill River. 

Construction began in 1792 during the George Washington Administration, however financial difficulties delayed its completion until 1828.  It was called the "Golden Link," it provided a critical early transportation route for shipping anthracite coal and lumber eastward to Philadelphia.  Closed in the 1880's, remnants of the canal remain, most notably the Union Canal Tunnel, a hand-built engineering marvel that is the oldest existing transportation tunnel in the United States.  The tunnel is a National Historic Landmark.