Susquehanna River

The Indians described the Susquehanna as the "long reach river".  It's north branch began near modern Cooperstown, New York.  Flowing erratically for 444 miles and emptying into the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace, Maryland.  From the point where the Lackawanna River joined the Susquehanna near modern Pittston, downriver to a gap in the mountains south of Nanticoke, lay an area the Indians simply described as Wyomink, meaning the expansive plain.  Early visitors described this piece of real estate as an "august and stupendous work of creation."  It extended for 16 miles along the river and "contained several good islands, good large meadows on both sides about four miles to the east mountain and three to the west."  Its soil was found to be "deep, strong, fat black, and fine, exceedingly kind, and warm."

    In 1675, (seven years before William Penn received his charter), the Iroquois Indians defeated the Susquehannock Indians who were moving north on the river into the Wyomink Valley.  With this victory they claimed the Wyoming Valley and the headwaters of the Susquehanna as their own lands.  These claims based on conquest were recognized as valid both by English an Colonial governments and by other Indians.  The Iroquois, felt keenly that the valley had to be occupied by friendly forces.  Since they could not afford to dispatch their own tribesmen to settle here, (they were controlling upper NY),  they made it a refugee camp for displaced Indians of the East Coast.  At the invitation of the Iroquois, Shawnees came to Wyoming as early as 1701, and some stayed till the 1740's.  They planted the flatlands near modern Plymouth until they moved on, first north and then west.  The Conoy or Piscataway Indians came originally from the mouth of the Potomac in Chesapeake Bay and later from around Washington D.C.   Their close relatives, the Nanticokes, came form the eastern shore of Maryland in 1748 and stayed five years, leaving behind their name and traces of their residence.  The Tuscaroras from North Carolina spent some time near Pittston before joining the Iroquois as the sixth nation of the confederation.  Of all the tribes to reside here, none better demonstrate the crises between Indian and white relations than the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians.  This great tribe once dominated the area from Delaware Bay to Manhattan, but contact with the whites ruptured their society.  Their population shrank with exposure to diseases such as measles and smallpox for which they had no natural resistance.  They saw the benefits the white man derived from guns, for hunting and defense, and soon became dependent on him for this technology.  Many also became dependent on the distilled spirits, especially rum, which whites had introduced.  Some converted to Christianity, but others tried valiantly to maintain their own traditions.  From their number emerged a truly remarkable man, Teedyuscung, self-proclaimed "King of the Delawares."  In 1754 he led a few of his people to Wyoming, where he tried to preserve the Valley as an Indian Sanctuary. 

    A stone lock of the North Branch Canal, completed in 1828, still stands in West Nanticoke.  The vertical channels held the  timbers, (traces of which remain), that held the lock's plank lining in position.  When the canal was extended to Pittston in the 1830's politics pushed it to the east side of the Susquehanna, and canal boats had to be towed across the river above a shallow dam.  In Hanover, the canal followed Solomons Creek inland before curving to a path just east of Back Street in Wilkes Barre. 

    Although the Susquehanna is a scant quarter mile in breadth at Wilkes Barre, the river caused an impediment to travel that ferries could only partially reduce.  The first of four bridges to span the river at Market Street opened in 1818 and collapsed the following year.  The next bridge lasted until 1826 when a gale demolished it. 

    The Susquehanna ark was an ingeniously efficient means of moving cargo. An Ark was built at the point of embarkation and then filled with coal, lumber, grain, or any other bulky commodity.  Once filled, the ark went only one way, downstream.  Upon reaching its destination, the ark was unloaded and dismantled for the lumber that it contained.  Because the river is so shallow, arks could be used only during the period of high water caused by the spring thaw.  Unfortunately this amounted to only about 12 days a year. 

    By 1828 a 55 mile two-ditch canal with eight locks connected Nanticoke with Sunbury; and by 1834 this system had been extended to Pittston, opening the entire Wyoming Valley to an integrated transportation system available to deep-draft boats.
    To read more about the history of the Susquehanna and the Wyoming Valley get the book:  Wyoming Valley, An American Portrait by Edward F. Hanlon & Paul J. Zbiek   They are local authors 

 Other Historical Notes

1867   The first fishway was constructed at the Columbia Dam on the             Susquehanna River.

1873    2.7 Million young shad hatched and planted in the Susquehanna River.

1876     Calico Bass planted in the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg.

1884     The "Rogers" fish ladder was erected at the Columbia Dam on the Susquehanna River.

1888      The first recorded planting of rainbow trout in the Susquehanna River.

1910       Holtwood Dam was built on the Susquehanna River by the Pennsylvania Water & Power Co. forming Lake Aldred.

1922       First PA Fishing License established. $1 for adults over 21.